Head of People - Seattle

About Ascend

Ascend empowers entrepreneurial CPAs to reach their goals with an innovative growth model that brings their firms into the new age. Backed by private equity from people-focused Alpine Investors, Ascend is building a modern platform for regional accounting firms that enables them to stay independent while accessing the resources of a large CPA firm to help them grow. Ascend provides access to growth capital, robust talent acquisition, best-of-breed technology, a catalytic leadership system, shared back-office services, and modernized equity incentives so that firms can surmount today’s industry challenges and reach their full potential. Founded in January 2023, the company attained revenues sufficient to qualify it as a Top 100 U.S. accounting firm within six months of operations.

For more information, visit ascendtogether.com.

About Alpine Investors

Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm that is committed to building great companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine prides itself on fostering cultures where people value empowerment, diversity, fairness, integrity, and intellectual honesty. Founded in 2001, Alpine specializes in investments in companies in the software and services industries. Alpine has over $15 billion in AUM and has offices in San Francisco, New York, and Salt Lake City.

For more information on the firm, visit www.alpineinvestors.com

Position Summary

Ascend is seeking a Head of People to support one of our local partner firms to develop and lead talent programs that attract and retain a team of highly engaged professionals who will serve as the Firm’s future leaders. This position will oversee all People / Human Resources and administrative operations, including talent acquisition, talent engagement / employee relations, performance management, and learning & development. The Director, People will enable business growth by devising and deploying strategic initiatives that deliver best-in-class HR solutions for our partner firm.

Key Responsibilities

People Leadership & Strategy

• Serve as a key advisor to the leadership team on strategic human capital needs of the business.
• Develop a data- and research-informed human capital strategy, ensuring the execution of People-focused objectives on the Firm’s strategic plan.
• Maintain a deep understanding of the business’s talent needs that takes into account the competitive dynamics of the Accounting industry, refreshing strategic outcomes as needed to support the business.
• Collaborate with the leadership team to deploy programs focused on talent attraction & retention, professional development, and seamless integrations of newly-acquired assets.
• Leverage compensation data to develop standardized pay scales based on relevant market analysis to ensure our partner firm remains competitive in the talent market.
• Drive forward opportunities for continuous improvement, proactively addressing & mitigating talent-related risks and staying apprised of changes in relevant regulations, policies, and industry protocols.

People Operations

• Ensure best-in-class delivery of all employee services (i.e. benefits enrollment, employee relations, payroll, etc.) while addressing relevant employee questions proactively and in a timely manner.
• Manage internal communications on all relevant People matters, ensuring relevant information is clear, accessible, and actionable.
• Manage all compliance for personnel matters, including hiring and termination procedures.
• Lead the development and monitoring of People KPIs for the partner firm, identifying leading indicators and anticipating / tackling issues proactively.

Professional Development and Talent Management

• Lead the buildout of “Academy” programs that include comprehensive training programming in partnership with Ascend People leadership.
• Direct semiannual performance evaluations based on role scorecards that create supportive and meaningful feedback loops for partner firm employees; incorporate best practices and teach managers how to provide consistent, effective performance management strategies and bonus evaluations.
• Partner with Ascend’s Head of Professional Development to implement relevant learning pathways by role / level, leveraging existing resources (e.g. LumiQ, LCVista).
• Ensure the firm has A players in all key roles for driving future growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
• Track record of supporting People- and / or Talent-focused objectives with clear, effective, and actionable strategies
• Superior EQ and influencing skills paired with outstanding oral and written communication abilities
• Excellent leadership attributes with the capacity to inspire and motivate cross-functional teams
• Strong organizational, critical thinking and prioritization skills

At Ascend, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Ascend hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.