Employee Relations Manager

BENEFITS OF WORKING FOR BERKELEY

Berkeley, California is a small city with a big reputation. At just ten square miles of land and seven square miles of water, Berkeley is famous around the globe as a center for academic achievement, scientific exploration, free speech, and the arts, and home to over 50 parks, a top-ranked university, and the largest public marina in the San Francisco Bay.

As an employer, the City of Berkeley offers all the benefits of a career in the public sector while fostering diversity, creativity, and innovation. Join a team of high-caliber, experienced staff with a shared mission of serving the Berkeley community and promoting an accessible, safe, healthy, environmentally-sound and culturally-rich city.

JOB OPPORTUNITY

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The City of Berkeley invites you to apply for Employee Relations Manager in the Human Resources Department! In this role, you'll have the opportunity to manage essential programs in employee and labor relations, workers' compensation, safety, and benefits. In addition to supervising a team of up to ten professional and technical staff, day-to-day responsibilities include interpreting and implementing labor contract language, representing the City with its bargaining groups, and resolving employee relations issues.

The City currently maintains agreements with eight bargaining units representing over 1000 employees. The Employee Relations Manager will play a key role in Spring 2026 renegotiations with public safety labor groups through research, coordination, and participation in negotiations, training the management bargaining team, and working closely with the Director of Human Resources to make recommendations for approval.

Our ideal candidate is a subject matter expert in the area of labor relations and negotiations, who can tactfully navigate conflict and ambiguity. This person can confidently present information and recommendations to governing bodies, develop and implement effective performance management and discipline procedures, and effectively train assigned staff.

Employee Relations Manager is an unrepresented, at-will classification. This classification receives a 5% salary differential (non-pensionable) for a total base salary up to $210,513.

See the full job class specification here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/berkeley/classspecs/105077

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A typical way of gaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities for this position is:
Education
Equivalent to graduation from a four-year college with major course work in business or public administration, industrial relations, or a closely related field.

Experience
Four years of progressively responsible experience in public personnel administration and management and labor relations, including one year in a lead, supervising, or management capacity. Experience in a municipal public agency setting is desirable. Additional professional-level experience as outlined above may be substituted for the college education on a year-for-year basis.

Licenses, Certifications, and Other Requirements
Must be willing to work such hours as are necessary to accomplish the job requirements. Must be able to travel to various locations within and outside the City of Berkeley to meet the program needs and to fulfill the job responsibilities. When driving on City business, the incumbent is required to maintain a valid California driver’s license as well as a satisfactory driving record.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications must be received by 5:00 PM Pacific on November 24, 2025 and must include a completed application and answers to the supplemental questions. Please note that resumes are not a substitute for a completed application.

Applications are available in alternative formats (audio-format, braille, large print, electronic text, etc.) upon request to ada@berkeleyca.gov. Please allow 10 days for production of the material in an alternative format.

EXAM PROCESS

The exam process will include, but may not be limited to:

• Application review for minimum qualifications (qualifying experience will be calculated based on the application filing period closing date)
• Review of answers to supplemental questions
• Oral Board Exam (tentatively scheduled for December 15 and/or December 16, 2025)
  

PRE-EMPLOYMENT PROCESS

Candidates under final consideration for employment with the City will undergo an employment background/reference check that may include, but is not limited to: employment history, confirmation of educational credentials and degrees, licenses including driver's license, registrations, certificates, other credentials, credit check, criminal history check, and Live Scan fingerprinting.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY (EEO) EMPLOYER

The City of Berkeley is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All employment actions shall be administered regardless of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, age, physical or mental disability or medical condition, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, political affiliation, veterans’ status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

DISASTER SERVICE WORKER

All City employees are required to provide services as Disaster Service Workers in the event of an emergency/disaster.