Lead HR Business Partner

About the role

The Lead HR Business Partner is an advanced to mastery level position that provides support in aligning business objectives with employees and management in designated business units. This role supports partnerships across the HR function to deliver value-added service to management and employees that reflects the business objectives of the organization.

The Lead HR Business Partner provides advanced/mastery HR business partner functional support, manages a client-base independently, and serves as the face of HR for employees up to VP/GM’s level leaders (non-officer leadership) and below within their respective business unit. This position requires a proactive individual who can navigate and lead in situations of ambiguity and is passionate about people and committed to supporting the workforce in delivering premier performance.

This position will be filled in The Woodlands, TX, with New Orleans, LA also considered. Hybrid work flexibility is available.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate and lead discussions on prioritized meetings related to people and talent programs within respective business units.
• Consult and mediate for employees up to VP/GM’s level leaders (typically non-officer leadership) by providing HR guidance when appropriate.
• Identify and communicate trends and metrics in partnership with the HR group, providing recommendations and leading solutions for business activities to drive desired outcomes.
• Conduct organizational assessments, identify root causes of performance gaps, design solutions aligned with business strategy, build organizational capacity, and measure the impact of organizational development initiatives on business outcomes.
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of labor relations and compliance requirements to reduce legal risks and ensure regulatory compliance, partnering with the legal department as needed.
• Provide day-to-day leadership coaching and guidance for up to VP/GM’s level leaders (e.g., coaching, counseling, career development).
• Partner and collaborate with leadership to improve work relationships, build morale, and increase productivity and retention.
• Translate and navigate HR policy guidance and interpretation, delivering consultative support regarding talent and culture initiatives.
• Compose clear, concise, and empathetic messages to deliver sensitive or challenging information, adapting communication styles as needed.
• Identify training needs for business units and leadership coaching needs by leveraging data and insights.
• Lead and implement change management initiatives within respective business units.
• Deliver recommendations as a liaison between the business and other Centers of Excellence (CoE) departments to optimize program impact and change.
• Develop and facilitate relevant presentations and proposals leveraging data related to HR and people programs.
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence by understanding and managing one's own emotions, effectively reading and responding to others, and navigating challenging situations with empathy and composure.
• Advocate for, participate in, and provide recommendations to enhance employee experiences and work environments.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources or a related field, and/or equivalent work experience.
• Five (5)+ years of HR or related experience with a degree, or seven (7)+ years of HR or related experience without a degree.

Skills

• Business and financial acumen: Ability to provide strategic HR recommendations grounded in financial and business analysis. Analyze workforce trends, forecast talent needs, and optimize resource allocation. Analyze overtime and recommend organizational structure or coaching for high OT employees. Influence business partner decisions through data-driven insights.
• Change management and change leadership: Ability to lead change initiatives with a strategic perspective and business alignment. Develop comprehensive change management strategies and implementation plans. Build and mobilize change networks and champions across the organization.
• Communication and stakeholder engagement: Ability to communicate strategically to influence organizational decisions and outcomes. Build and maintain productive relationships with key business partners. Navigate complex stakeholder dynamics and competing interests. Anticipate stakeholder concerns and proactively address them. Build trust and credibility as a strategic business partner and advisor. Measure stakeholder engagement and communication effectiveness; adjust strategies based on data.
• Compliance and controls: Ability to provide compliance guidance aligned with business objectives. Develop and implement HR policies, procedures, and controls to mitigate compliance risks. Conduct compliance assessments and gap analyses; recommend remediation strategies. Coach managers and leaders on compliance responsibilities and best practices. Measure compliance effectiveness and monitor control performance.
• Project management: Ability to manage HR and business projects from initiation through closure. Manage project scope, schedule, and quality. Manage project resources, dependencies, and constraints. Manage stakeholder expectations and maintain engagement throughout the project lifecycle. Measure project success and capture lessons learned for organizational improvement.
• Strategic Alignment and Vision: Ability to provide HR guidance aligned with organizational vision and business strategy. Recognize emerging business trends and proactively recommend HR responses. Build organizational capability to execute strategy; identify talent and capability gaps. Coach leaders and managers on strategic thinking and execution. Measure strategic alignment and organizational readiness; drive continuous improvement.
• Interpret and translate data to enable business decisions: Ability to conduct data analysis and apply analytical techniques to uncover patterns, trends, and root causes. Identify emerging data trends and proactively recommend business responses. Build dashboards and analytics tools to enable ongoing decision-making. Partner with business leaders to define data needs and analytics priorities. Measure analytics impact and drive continuous improvement.
• Organizational Development: Ability to provide organizational development guidance aligned with business strategy. Conduct organizational assessments; identify systemic and cultural issues. Develop organizational capability through coaching, training, and process improvement. Measure organizational development impact and adjust strategies based on results.
• Talent Management and workforce planning: Ability to develop talent management and workforce planning strategies. Conduct workforce analytics to forecast future talent needs and gaps. Partner with leaders to identify emerging skill requirements and capability needs. Design and implement talent acquisition, development, and retention strategies. Build organizational bench strength and leadership pipeline.
• Technology and AI Applications: Ability to leverage advanced HR technology features and capabilities to solve complex business problems. Design workflow solutions to optimize HR processes. Extract, analyze, and interpret complex data from multiple systems and sources. Design and implement cross-functional AI agentic processes that automate complex, multi-step HR workflows. Orchestrate AI agents to coordinate activities across business units. Manage AI agent performance, accuracy, and continuous improvement across integrated processes. Integrate multiple AI capabilities into cohesive agentic workflows.

Travel up to 25% may be required.