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HR Director

Jackbox Games is looking for an HR Director.

Who are We?

Jackbox is a small, but growing game studio (~60 people) best known for our Jackbox Party Pack franchise: a set of five social party games released every fall. Since 2014, our games--like Quiplash, Drawful, and Trivia Murder Party-- have been featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, by Polygon, and in living rooms and finished basements across the world.

Each year we have hundreds of millions of users. And we have hard evidence that one of those users was Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron.

You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about how our games work (spoiler: your phone is the controller!) and who we are and what we make at jackboxgames.com.

What’s the Job?

We’re looking to add an HR Director to our team. Specifically, someone with broad experience managing people stuff for a fast moving company. Currently, HR duties at Jackbox are split among a number of people and departments who also have lots of other duties on their plates. As we’ve grown, it’s become clear that it’s time to add someone specifically devoted to HR initiatives to make sure that they get the time they deserve. We’re looking for someone with experience in the HR or Organizational Development space who will bring us innovative ideas – someone with their finger on the pulse of what the best companies are doing to develop and support their people. To that end, the gig entails…

• Helping us grow. We’re looking to hire more than a handful of people in the coming year. You’ll work with internal teams to define and refine job postings, ensure they reach a broad and diverse audience of potential applicants, help with phone screens, schedule interviews, and find ways to improve our hiring process.

• Preserving and improving our culture of feedback. Giving honest but kind feedback to each other is one of the bedrock principles of Jackbox’s culture. If we aren’t honest about where we need to improve, we won’t grow. But if we can’t be kind and respectful when we give tough feedback, we won’t thrive. To help us both grow and thrive, we will be looking to you to run our new hire review process and quarterly check-in / annual review processes – and beyond these formal processes, constantly innovate on how to make feedback an everyday part of how we work. Giving good feedback is hard, and we need someone to help train, coach and encourage everyone at Jackbox to do it well.

• Working on our diversity and inclusion efforts. We’re actively looking to increase diversity at Jackbox across many lines – and to ensure that everyone at Jackbox feels welcome, included, respected, and empowered to speak up and contribute. You’ll partner with hiring managers, and folks throughout the company on ways to attract more diverse talent and be as inclusive a workplace as possible.

• Keeping us on track and updated with the latest HR knowledge. We need someone who will keep us on the straight and narrow by monitoring and ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations. You will cultivate knowledge of trends, best practices, regulatory changes, and new technologies in human resources, talent management, and employment law; and communicate changes in policy, practice, and resources to upper management.

• Manager training and leadership development. Jackbox has gone from being an incredibly flat organization where almost everyone reported directly into the CEO, to an organization with management levels. Working closely with the leadership team, you’ll expand new manager training, run annual manager feedback surveys, and work with departments across the company to help managers develop the skills they need to be excellent leaders and mentors – through formal training, collecting and disseminating resources, and informal coaching.

• Onboarding and training. We’re looking to build a more robust company onboarding program. Currently, each department has its own approach to training new members – some with very thorough and repeatable training processes, others on a more ad hoc basis. We look forward to you bringing us new ideas for our big picture onboarding process, and working closely with teams across the company to provide resources and support as they refine and develop role and skill-specific training.

• Supporting employee-driven initiatives. We have an amazing group of employees here – and they routinely come up with great ideas for getting to know each other, networking, ongoing education, team-building, etc. You’ll be a resource to employees who want to actively shape our culture – providing them support and guidance as they put together cool Jackbox stuff to do.

• Supporting employee health. You’ll assist with the high-level management of employee benefits and help ensure our employees are healthy and happy in the workplace - via office space planning, championing work-life balance, helping to establish remote work best practices, and keeping people connected and communicating both in the office and via remote work environments.

WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

To be a great fit for this role, we’re looking for someone who is:

• A true people person. You need to be someone who enjoys getting involved, attending events, and striking up conversations with people you’ve never met before on a daily basis. We’re looking for someone who doesn’t mind – and in fact loves – having a day punctuated by any number of people asking, “Hey, can I talk to you about something that’s just come up?” This role will manage a number of projects and initiatives, but being accessible in the office for all of the stuff that “just comes up” is just as important.

• Super organized. You’ll often have multiple initiatives, contracts, conversations, and cups of coffee going at the same time. You need to be a master at moving multiple projects forward simultaneously while making time for all of the things that require your counsel in the moment. Staying supremely organized as you handle it all is important. It’s a good thing.

• Creative and flexible in your approach to HR. Jackbox tries to take a very employee-first approach to traditional HR matters. We want to be open, honest and trusting in the way we communicate and manage at Jackbox. So while we want you to understand market-standard approaches and best practices, we’re often going to deviate from what established HR says you “must” do if a different approach will be better for our people and our culture (like maintaining flexible hours and PTO as we grow). Being flexible will be crucial.

• An amazing communicator. In-person, on the phone, and in writing. You will be responsible for communicating both internally and externally with so many different folks in so many different roles that your communication skills really need to be excellent, and on-brand for Jackbox. No HR jargon, please.

• Discrete, trustworthy and with stellar judgment. In this role people throughout the company will discuss delicate issues with you, and will expect you to keep private information private. You will need to very quickly establish a sense of trust with employees and managers throughout the company. And when people come to you to discuss sensitive topics, you will need to have impeccable judgment on how to react in the moment and appropriately follow up on the conversation in a way that is respectful of the individual and responsible to the company. It’s the delicate balancing act of HR – and we’re looking for someone who makes it look easy.

WHAT KINDS OF EXPERIENCE SHOULD YOU HAVE?

We’re looking for someone to bring expertise from prior experience. Specifically, we’re looking for someone with:

• 5+ years of experience in HR or Organizational Development. You don’t need deep experience in all of the areas listed above – but we are looking for experience in or exposure to professional development initiatives, performance management processes, manager training, corporate communications, D&I, and culture-building – working as a strategic HR partner, not just a coordinator.

• Experience with and ideas for diversity and inclusion. Our leadership and our employees are passionate about being a diverse place where everyone can thrive and where we can talk honestly about any biases that might be standing in the way of being the best company we can be. Experience with diversity and inclusion initiatives is important.

• A track record of executing on strategic HR initiatives. We need someone skilled at identifying and defining areas where a company can improve, gathering information from within and without the company to suggest strategies and solutions, working across the company to execute the solution, and then evaluating the success of the initiative for ongoing improvement.

• HR Credentials. An appropriate degree in HR and HRCI or SHRM certification is preferred.

• Insight into how to successfully transition from a small company to a mid-sized company. We’re still a somewhat small company, so we try to be flexible and scrappy in the way we do things. We don’t have a ton of structure, which could be either liberating or frustrating to folks who are used to a big company atmosphere. The ideal candidate is someone who has worked as an HR Business Partner in a small company that has grown into a mid-sized company or large company, or has been involved in HR at a larger company and genuinely wants the opportunity to be a part of a more personalized, less bureaucratic, process.

We only hire clever, kind, motivated and creative people. Jackbox Games is a group effort and you must work collaboratively. Everyone here shares a commitment to excellence and a desire to work in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere.

Jackbox Games is committed to providing employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, ancestry, age, veteran status, or disability.

OKAY, BUT WHAT ARE THE PERKS?!

• Competitive pay and benefits. 401(k) with matching. And we pay 100% of the cost of premiums for medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance for our employees. We also cover a really nice chunk of the cost of premiums for spouse/partner/dependent medical, dental and vision insurance. Paid parental leave.
• Casual dress and a flexible schedule. Come in a sweatshirt, jeans, or whatever (at least when we’re back to working in the office. We are all remote at the moment).
• Creative work environment. We are lucky to work in a place that is full of talented and innovative folks. Most of the day, the place is pretty quiet (we’re a focused bunch), but this is punctuated with hilarious outbursts and general merriment.
• Easy transportation. We’re very close to the “L” and the Halsted (#8) bus (right by the Apple Store and Mega Whole Foods if that’s your kind of thing), and we have a transit FSA that allows you to dedicate pre-tax dollars to public transportation expenses.
• Free food. Every week, we stock our kitchen with snacks.

HOW TO APPLY

• Submit your resume.
• Submit a cover letter that highlights three reasons you think you’d be a great part of our HR team, focusing on how your past work experience has prepared you for this kind of position. We weigh cover letters heavily. Include a list of HR initiatives, policies, and organizational development procedures you have worked on and your role in their success. Feel free to write in your own voice - most cover letters are standard and boring, and that just isn’t us.

We know it is a time commitment to prepare an application and we respect that effort by thoughtfully reviewing every complete application and responding one way or the other. But that kind of thoughtful review means that it sometimes takes us a while to get back to applicants, so please be patient with us and no phone calls.

Thanks for your interest in Jackbox Games!

F.A.Q.

• I'm not sure if I'm qualified. Should I apply?
  We would much rather read your application than miss out on a great candidate, so please err on the side of applying. If you are passionate about games and are an HR Director, give it a shot! Worse thing that happens is you don't get the job, but we promise you're not wasting our time.
• What if I’m too qualified and have extensive work experience?
  You should still apply. We are looking for the best candidates and we will adjust responsibilities (and compensation) to match your experience.
• Do I need to live in or relocate to the Chicago area for this position?
  Short answer: yes. Long answer: We are still working remotely due to COVID-19 at the moment, so there’s not a rush, but the expectation is that eventually, you will work out of our Chicago office.
• Do I need to be legally eligible to work in the United States to apply for this position?
  Yes.