Senior HR Generalist - HR Business Partner

Duke History

Founded in 1925, Duke Manufacturing is a privately held leader in foodservice equipment and integrated solutions designed to help customers improve throughput, efficiency, and quality in their operations. For more than 100 years, Duke has been committed to delivering innovative solutions that connect people, equipment, and technology. Our purpose is simple but powerful: Nourish Our World by helping customers improve performance through smarter, more connected foodservice operations.

As a privately held company, Duke takes pride in its rich history, strong culture, and values-driven approach to business. We are committed to doing the right thing, embracing new possibilities, and continuously learning and improving. Duke operates more than 700,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Sedalia, Missouri and Houston, Texas, with our corporate headquarters located in St. Louis, Missouri.

Position Summary

Duke Manufacturing is seeking an experienced HR professional to support leaders and employees across multiple locations and business functions. Serving as a trusted advisor to both Operations and Corporate leaders in Sedalia and St. Louis, this role translates business priorities into people strategies that strengthen employee engagement, organizational effectiveness, workforce capability, and business performance. The position combines strategic partnership with hands-on execution, providing leadership coaching, employee relations support, workforce planning, talent management, and data-driven recommendations that help leaders make informed people decisions.

This position is ideal for a strong Senior HR Generalist ready to broaden their business impact or an experienced Human Resources Business Partner who enjoys balancing strategic partnership with hands-on HR execution. The successful candidate will be comfortable operating independently, influencing leaders at all levels, utilizing workforce data to inform decisions, and managing complex employee and organizational matters across multiple locations.

Primary Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted HR partner to leaders and employees across multiple locations and business functions, providing guidance on employee relations, performance management, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness.
• Coach and support leaders in making informed people decisions that align with business objectives, employee experience, and compliance requirements.
• Lead employee relations activities, including investigations, corrective actions, workplace concerns, performance management, and risk mitigation.
• Partner with leaders to identify and address talent, staffing, retention, succession planning, engagement, and leadership development needs.
• Analyze workforce data and trends to develop practical recommendations that improve organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, and business performance.
• Support compensation initiatives, including market benchmarking, job evaluations, and pay-related recommendations.
• Lead and contribute to HR projects, process improvements, policy implementation, HR technology initiatives, and organizational change efforts.
• Collaborate with HR colleagues, business leaders, and external partners to deliver effective and consistent HR solutions across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Organizational Leadership, or a related field strongly preferred. Education, experience and certification may be considered together.

• 5+ years of progressive Human Resources experience.

• Strong experience in employee relations, performance management, leadership coaching, and employment law.

• Experience with workforce planning, compensation analysis, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness initiatives.

• Demonstrated ability to influence leaders and build credibility across multiple levels of an organization.

• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and relationship-building skills.

• Experience supporting multiple business functions, departments, or locations.

• Experience with Paycom or comparable HRIS platforms.

Work Location & Travel

This role supports employees and leaders across multiple Duke Manufacturing locations and business functions.

Candidates may be based in either the Sedalia, MO or St. Louis, MO area:

• Team members residing near Sedalia will typically work onsite in Sedalia two to three days per week, with periodic travel to the St. Louis office and other locations as business needs require.
• Team members residing near St. Louis will typically work from the St. Louis corporate office two to three days per week, with periodic travel to Sedalia and other locations as business needs require.
• Regular face-to-face interaction with leaders and employees across locations is an important component of this role. Flexibility in travel and scheduling is expected to effectively support assigned client groups.