HR People Business Partner

The HR People Partner will build a high-trust, high-performing People function and data-informed partnership. You will also be the partner leaders actually go to in their hardest moments. You will work side by side with our incoming CHRO. They set overall People strategy, and you own the partnership layer where it meets real leaders, real managers, and real employees. This is a perfect role for a HR expert consultant. Support the NJ & NYC offices. Client Details A highly reputable and innovative AI tech company. Description Partner with functional and team leaders to translate business priorities, such as research milestones, commercial targets, and the manufacturing ramp, into clear people strategies. Coach leaders on org design, team effectiveness, leadership capability, and change management. Serve as a thought partner on complex people decisions, balancing business needs, employee experience, and risk. Partner with leaders on workforce planning, org design, and early succession and bench planning across very different functions. Diagnose organizational health and performance gaps, and design targeted interventions to improve team effectiveness. Drive disciplined performance management, with clarity of expectations, accountability, and development, kept lightweight and scalable as we grow. Lead complex employee relations matters with strong judgment, discretion, and a solutions-oriented mindset, across both exempt and non-exempt populations. Partner with the CHRO, employment counsel, and Finance on risk mitigation, compliance, accommodations, leaves, and terminations. Apply policy consistently while keeping the employee experience fair and balanced. Document well and escalate cleanly. Build the foundational talent metrics that do not exist yet, such as turnover, engagement, time-to-hire, and performance signal, along with the operating rhythm to review them with leaders. Translate what the data shows into clear, actionable recommendations, and track progress against priorities. Lead adoption of key People initiatives (performance, feedback, engagement, manager enablement) with clear communication and sustained follow-through. Guide leaders and teams through re-orgs, new operating rhythms, and the employee communications that go with them. Champion a high-trust, high-performance, feedback-rich culture across teams as different as the lab and the factory floor. Improve the employee experience across the lifecycle, and foster inclusive leadership that supports belonging and engagement. Be a pragmatic culture carrier who protects trust while helping the company make hard calls well. Profile 8+ years of progressive HR experience, including significant time as an HRBP or People Partner supporting senior leaders. Experience in high-growth, operationally complex environments. Startup, scale-up, biotech, AI, hardware, or manufacturing experience is especially relevant. Strong judgment in sensitive employee relations and risk matters across exempt and non-exempt populations. You listen, document, assess risk, hold confidentiality, and escalate appropriately. Comfort advising managers directly through performance, conflict, conduct, accommodations, leaves, terminations, and organizational change. Real strength in org design, talent strategy, and change management. Genuinely hands-on. As our Lead People Partner, you do more than advise. You can build the tracker, clean up the process, write the comms, run the meeting, follow up with the manager, and make sure the decision is documented. Fluency in leveling, calibration, and performance cycles, and the connection between job scope, pay, and org design. Skills And Capabilities Strong business acumen, with the ability to connect people strategy to operational outcomes. Exceptional judgment, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and complexity. A data-driven mindset and comfort using metrics to influence decisions. A credible, trusted advisor to senior leaders who can challenge constructively. Strong facilitation, communication, and executive presence. High ownership, and thrives operating independently in a fast-paced, build-it-from-scratch environment. Experience supporting both exempt and non-exempt populations, a real plus given our manufacturing teams. A track record of building People programs from messy, early-stage foundations into repeatable, scalable processes. Prior partnership with Finance on headcount, compensation, or workforce planning. Multi-state employee relations and compliance exposure. Job Offer Long term consultancy project with possible temp to perm conversion Highly competitive rate of pay Monday through Friday 9:00am - 5:30pm Opportunity to work out of two sites in NJ & NYC Hybrid flexible work schedule 3/4 days a week Medical, dental and vision benefits available from day 1 Highly collaborative team Be apart of making an impact and putting your HR expertise into practice. MPI does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, or based on an individual's status in any group or class protected by applicable federal, state or local law. MPI encourages applications from minorities, women, the disabled, protected veterans and all other qualified applicants.