Senior Human Resources & People Operations Leader
Employee Relations • Organizational Effectiveness • Leadership Development • Change Management
Most organizations don't have a people problem.
They have an alignment problem. I fix it.
Senior Human Resources & People Operations Leader | Employee Relations | Organizational Effectiveness | Leadership Development | Change Management
Available for Director, Senior HR Business Partner, People Operations Manager, HR Manager, and Consulting roles. Open to full-time (W2), interim, fractional, and contract opportunities.
1,500+
Employees Led
13
States Managed
10+
Years Experience
5+
Industries Served
Stabilizing teams. Aligning leaders. Building systems that scale.
Who I Work With
Hiring for a Director-Level or People Leader?
I bring 10+ years of experience operating at Director-level scope across media, entertainment, staffing, and multi-state workforce environments — leading employee relations, compliance, onboarding, organizational design, executive partnership, and people operations often as a department of one.
Department-of-One Leadership
I've operated as the sole People leader in environments where I had to build, manage, and scale the entire HR function from scratch—while simultaneously supporting executive strategy and managing day-to-day employee relations.
This is rare. And it's powerful.
This experience means I can:
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Design HR infrastructure that doesn't exist yet
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Operate independently and with minimal handholding
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Move fast in high-stakes, ambiguous environments
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Build systems that scale beyond your current size
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Partner directly with executive teams, not just HR teams
Results at Executive Scale
Reduced onboarding time by 50% across a multi-state workforce — accelerating time-to-productivity in complex, distributed environments.
Increased compliance completion from 60% to 90% — strengthening audit readiness and reducing enterprise risk exposure.
Built and led the HR function at REVOLT TV — operating as the sole People leader in a high-visibility, fast-scaling media organization with direct SVP partnership.
Acted as strategic HR partner across Urban One (TV One + Radio One), supporting 1,500+ employees across 13+ states and aligning leadership, culture, and operations.
Built and scaled the property management division at HireOne Staffing from inception — transforming a two-person operation into a multi-manager, 24/7 workforce model supporting enterprise and government clients
Contributed to organizational growth and operational scale leading to a multi-million dollar acquisition — supporting workforce expansion, infrastructure buildout, and sustained revenue delivery through 2020
Selected speaker at the 2025 NAMIC Annual Conference (39th) — Turning Turbulence Into Triumph: Leading Teams Through Transformational Change and 2023 Cynopsis Big TV Conference — delivering insights on leadership, transformation, and People strategy at the national level.
I don’t just support organizations—I build the systems they rely on to scale.
People Operations Leader | Organizational Strategy | Execution at Scale
Artis Johnson is a People Operations leader focused on building, stabilizing, and scaling organizations through executive-aligned strategy.
Based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, he has led HR functions and people strategy across media, entertainment, and staffing environments — including Urban One, where he supported a workforce of 1,500+ employees across 13+ states, as well as REVOLT TV, TV ONE, and HireOne Staffing.
He operates at the point where most organizations begin to feel strain: rapid growth, leadership misalignment, inconsistent people practices, and operational gaps that quietly impact performance, retention, and scalability. Artis partners directly with executive teams to diagnose root issues, implement structure, and restore clarity — before those challenges become costly.
Artis holds a Certified Staffing Professional (CSP) credential and is a NAMI Peer-to-Peer mentor, bringing both operational HR discipline and lived human-centered leadership perspective to his work. He is the author of the GROUNDS™ (formerly TRIUMP) framework — a seven-pillar model for leading teams through transformational change, delivered at the 39th Annual NAMIC Conference in 2025. Additionally, he has spoken at Cynopsis Big TV on leadership effectiveness, transformation, and people strategy, along with various recruiting events.
Artis is currently available for Director of HR, Head of People, or VP of People Operations roles, as well as strategic consulting engagements with organizations navigating growth, transition, or operational complexity.
Where I've Driven Impact
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How I Work With Organizations
For organizations that need senior-level People strategy without a full-time hire.
Strategic Advisory
You have misalignment between leadership, strategy, and execution. I identify the gaps and fix them before they cost you.
Organizational Design &
Workforce Planning
Your org structure is slowing you down. I build operating models and reporting lines that actually support how your business runs.
Leadership & Manager Effectiveness
Your managers are inconsistent. I turn them into accountable operators who drive clarity and results, not just activity.
Employee Relations & Risk Management
Complex people issues left unresolved become expensive. I resolve them with precision while protecting leadership credibility.
People Operations & Infrastructure
You're growing but your HR systems aren't. I build scalable infrastructure that reduces friction instead of creating it.
How I Work
1
Business-First Thinking
Every decision ties back to performance, not policy.
2
Direct & Executive-Level Partnership
I work directly with leadership to drive alignment and accountability.
3
Practical, Not Theoretical
No theory—everything is designed to work in real environments.
4
Build for Scale
Solutions are designed for where you're going—not where you are.