Policy Development Specialist

Department: The People Team | HR Operations – People Governance & Leadership Team
Location: Remote (Northeast U.S. Only)
Employment Type: Full-Time, 1-Year Contract
Start Date: September 7
Work Schedule: 37.5 hours per week, Monday–Friday, generally 8:00 AM–5:00 PM with flexibility.
Pay Rate: $43-48/hr, this is a W2 position ONLY! You must be able to work legally in the US.

Position Summary

The People Team for a clean energy company in Albany, NY is seeking an experienced Policy Development Specialist to join our People Governance & Leadership Team on a one-year contract. This is a unique opportunity to play a critical role in modernizing and strengthening our organization's people policies, procedures, and governance framework.

Working as part of a small, highly collaborative team of two, you will lead the review, analysis, revision, and development of company policies and the employee handbook. Your primary objective will be to create a clear, consistent, and compliant policy framework that removes ambiguity, improves operational efficiency, mitigates organizational risk, and supports long-term business growth.

This role is ideal for a policy professional who enjoys building structure, simplifying complex information, and partnering with stakeholders to implement meaningful organizational change.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct a comprehensive review of the organization's 100+ page employee handbook.
• Analyze, revise, and modernize existing HR policies, procedures, and governance documentation.
• Develop new policies and procedures from the ground up to address organizational needs.
• Ensure policies align with applicable federal, New York State, and local labor laws and regulatory requirements.
• Perform comprehensive gap analyses and risk audits of policies, procedures, and handbook content to identify regulatory non-compliance, operational inconsistencies, contradictions, and process inefficiencies.
• Identify compliance gaps, operational inefficiencies, and areas of organizational risk while recommending practical, sustainable solutions.
• Audit existing policies, procedures, and governance documentation for consistency, compliance, and usability.
• Develop standardized policy frameworks and future-proof workflows that improve clarity, governance, and scalability.
• Partner with key stakeholders to gather input, validate policy recommendations, and ensure alignment across the organization.
• Create supporting documentation and recommend training programs to facilitate successful policy implementation and organizational change.
• Effectively communicate policy updates and educate stakeholders on new or revised policies.
• Work independently while collaborating closely with the Hiring Manager and Director throughout the project.

Qualifications

Required Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in policy development, policy analysis, governance, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience drafting, editing, and implementing organizational policies and procedures.
• Experience reviewing, restructuring, and maintaining employee handbooks.
• Strong technical writing and document editing experience, including developing policies and procedures from scratch.
• Proven experience conducting gap analyses and risk audits of policies, procedures, and employee handbooks to identify regulatory non-compliance, operational contradictions, and opportunities for increased efficiency.
• Experience auditing policies, procedures, governance documentation, and employee handbooks.
• Knowledge of:
  • Federal employment laws
  • New York State employment legislation
  • Local labor laws and regulatory requirements
• Experience identifying compliance risks and implementing risk mitigation strategies.
• Ability to evaluate business processes and recommend operational improvements that strengthen compliance and efficiency.
• Experience designing sustainable policy governance frameworks and future-ready workflows.
• Strong change management, communication, stakeholder engagement, and training capabilities.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work autonomously while collaborating with a small, high-performing team.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting HR Operations or People Governance functions.
• Experience leading large-scale employee handbook modernization initiatives.
• Background in compliance, governance, risk management, or HR policy consulting.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, you will transform a 100+ page employee handbook into a clear, accessible, and compliant resource that eliminates ambiguity and enhances the employee experience. You will establish a stronger policy governance framework, improve organizational compliance, identify and remediate policy gaps and operational risks, and create sustainable documentation, workflows, and training recommendations that support the organization well into the future.

Interview Process

• Interview with the Hiring Manager
• Final interview with the Director

Why Join Us?

This is an exciting opportunity to make a lasting impact on the organization's People Team by shaping the policies and governance framework that support employees across the company. If you are passionate about policy development, compliance, technical writing, governance, and creating practical solutions that improve organizational effectiveness, we'd love to hear from you.

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