Director, People Business Partner
About the Role
The Director, People Business Partner (PBP) at CBRE operates at the intersection of business strategy, human insight, and data-enabled decision-making. As a trusted advisor to senior leaders, the PBP leader translates business priorities into People strategies that drive performance, build capability, and shape culture. The role demands strategic credibility, the courage to challenge constructively, and the judgment to balance evidence with human context. The PBP leader is not a service provider; they are a co-architect of the organization’s future, including how human and AI workforces are designed, deployed, and governed.
What You’ll Do
Ledger and manage the team’s daily activities. Establish work schedules, assign tasks, and cross-train staff. Set and track staff and department deadlines. Mentor and coach as needed.
Delegate with intent, developing others' capability and decision-making confidence.
Lead by example and model behaviors consistent with CBRE RISE values. Persuade managers and colleagues to act while being guided by the organization’s functional business plans.
Translate business strategy into a coherent People agenda, anticipating workforce and organizational impacts 12-36 months ahead
Advise and constructively challenge senior leaders on organization design, capability gaps, and talent risk
Lead organizational design, including role architecture in a hybrid human-AI workforce, to enable strategy execution
Envision and plan projects that are strategic in nature, affecting several functional areas
Focus on the achievement of departmental goals and make significant contributions toward functional goals
Implement required HR initiatives and best-demonstrated practices in conjunction with management
Provide interpretation of company policies and procedures, including sensitive information, employee relations, performance management, and succession planning
Advise management on the proper handling of all reductions in labor and other business scenarios
Identify training and development gaps and offer appropriate plans and ideas
Understand the business and be closely aligned with business partners and team members. Provide insight into operational issues and goals
Uphold employment legislation, data privacy requirements, and internal policy frameworks, proactively surfacing risks before they escalate
Communicate, negotiate, advise, and influence stakeholders with great latitude. Manage and represent internal stakeholder relationships. Promote internal collaboration across functions
Speak to larger groups on a wide range of topics, including highly complex subjects
Negotiate with external partners, vendors, and customers of divergent interests to reach a common goal
Use intuition and experience to complement data. Evaluate key business and organizational challenges. Direct the resolution of business problems where issues are ambiguous and sometimes complex
Identify and solve multi-dimensional, complex, operational, and organizational problems by leveraging appropriate resources within or outside the department
Significantly improve and change existing methods, processes, and standards within job discipline. Implement solutions requiring a short- to medium-term view
Leverage people analytics and AI-generated insights to identify workforce trends, risks and opportunities
Critically evaluate AI outputs — interrogating assumptions, identifying bias, and applying human judgement before decisions
Translate complex data into clear, compelling recommendations for non-specialist audiences
Ensure responsible, ethical, and transparent use of people data and AI tools in all People decision-making