Senior Director, People Business Partner & Global Employee Relations

About the role

The Senior Director, Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) & Global Employee Relations will serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across Business Development, Finance, Legal, and Public Affairs. This combined role will partner closely with centers of expertise to deliver people strategies that enable business growth, organizational effectiveness, and a purpose-driven, high-performance culture.

Responsibilities

• Strategic HR Business Partnership: Serve as the primary People Business Partner to executive leaders across Business Development, Finance, Legal, and Public Affairs. Develop and execute people strategies that support business objectives, organizational growth, and operational excellence.

• Thought Leadership and Counsel: Provide thought leadership and counsel on organizational effectiveness, change management, team design, leadership effectiveness, and talent optimization. Translate business strategies into actionable workforce plans in partnership with business leaders and Talent Acquisition partners to ensure their client groups have the talent and capabilities needed to achieve its goals.

• Workforce Planning and Talent Management: Own the workforce planning rhythm for supported functions, facilitating regular reviews of organizational needs, headcount plans, hiring forecasts, workforce risks, and capability gaps. Partner with Talent Acquisition to convert workforce plans into executable recruiting strategies, providing visibility into future hiring demand, prioritization, and talent market considerations.

• Strategic Workforce Planning: Lead strategic workforce planning efforts across supported functions, including talent forecasting, capability assessments, and organizational planning. Partner with leaders to identify critical talent needs and develop strategies and drive talent processes in service to attraction, retention, development, and bench strength. Collaborate with Talent Acquisition and Organization Effectiveness teams to build robust talent pipelines and strengthen organizational capability.

• Employee Relations Center of Excellence: Senior Leadership Partner with our Director of Employee Relations to continue to design scalable programs, processes, and practices that promote the best possible employee experience while proactively mitigating organizational risk. Provide strategic oversight and guidance on complex employee relations matters, workplace investigations, performance issues, policy interpretation, and conflict resolution.

• Risk Mitigation and Compliance: Ensure consistent and compliant application of employment policies, practices, and employment laws across the organization. Partner with Legal and Compliance teams to assess risk and develop proactive solutions to employee relations challenges. Ensure the ER team analyzes trends are tied to workforce risk identification, business decision-making, and proactive interventions.

• Change Management and Organizational Effectiveness: Lead organizational change initiatives including business transformations, acquisitions, integrations, and workforce transitions. Partner closely with business leaders to design and implement change management strategies that improve adoption, engagement, and business outcomes. Facilitate organizational design discussions with leaders to optimize team structures, decision-making, and operational effectiveness.

• Leadership and Collaboration: Partner effectively across People Team Centers of Excellence, including Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Organizational Effectiveness, and People Operations, as well as Legal partners. Lead, mentor, and develop employee relations and HR team members. Foster strong cross-functional relationships and influence outcomes across all levels of the organization. Serve as a role model for Guardant’s values and enterprise leadership expectations.

Qualifications

• Experience supporting C-level leadership and corporate functions such as Finance, Legal, Business Development, Public Affairs, Corporate Affairs, or similar executive organizations.

• Proven success leading complex global employee relations programs, managing sensitive workplace matters and ensuring a proactive, measurable approach to systemic issues.

• Demonstrated expertise leading enterprise workforce planning processes, including headcount forecasting, talent demand planning, organizational modeling, and alignment of workforce investments with business and financial objectives.

• Proven track record in accelerating business growth by driving strategic business outcomes through people strategies.

• Experience leading organizational design, restructuring, integration, and executive team effectiveness initiatives.

• Strong knowledge of employment law, HR compliance, and employee relations leading practices.

• 12+ years of progressive HR experience, including significant HR Business Partner leadership experience supporting senior executives/C-suite leadership.

• Experience leading teams and helping team members be the best they can be.

• Ability to travel at a rate of ~15% to support executive leadership, global employee relations initiatives, and key business meetings.