Employee Relations Business Partner

Nuro•Santa Clara, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Nuro is seeking an Employee Relations Business Partner to manage employee-specific issues, including investigations, documentation, policy interpretation, and disciplinary guidance, primarily for their frontline workforce and eventually across the entire company. This role complements the Operations HRBP and People & Compliance Site Lead roles by owning the casework escalated from those functions. It is an individual contributor position within the People team, requiring close collaboration with Employment Legal and HRBPs.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in employee relations, investigations, HRBP, HR generalist, or employment law roles, including direct ownership of complex ER matters; in-house or employment counsel backgrounds welcome.
Strong investigation skills: interviewing, fact assessment, documentation review, and written recommendation development; AWI-CH certification or equivalent investigation-focused training strongly preferred.
Experience supporting hourly, non-exempt, contingent, or shift-based workforces in operations, logistics, transportation, manufacturing, warehouse, retail, hospitality, or similarly fast-paced environments.
Ability to manage a high volume of cases with strong judgment, responsiveness, and close attention to detail.
Strong manager coaching skills and the ability to guide frontline leaders through difficult employee issues with clarity and consistency.
Excellent written communication and documentation skills.
Strong knowledge of California employment law and ER practices for high-volume environments; Texas experience is a plus.
Calm, practical, and solutions-oriented in ambiguous or high-pressure situations.
Highly organized and process-minded, with the ability to build lightweight systems that improve consistency without slowing down operations.
Comfortable building trust across employees, managers, and cross-functional partners while handling sensitive matters with discretion.
Comfortable working in site-based, shift-driven environments, with occasional off-hours support as needed.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting multi-site or 24/7 operations.
Experience in safety-sensitive, industrial, transportation, or other high-accountability environments.
Experience handling cases involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation, racially charged incidents, or suspected impairment.
Experience supporting temporary workforce models and partnering directly with vendors.
Experience building ER playbooks, manager toolkits, investigation frameworks, or disciplinary processes in high-growth environments.
J.D. or employment law background.
PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or AWI-CH certifications.

Responsibilities

Own employee relations intake, triage, and investigations for the Operations workforce and broader Nuro population, ensuring timely, fair, and well-documented case handling.
Lead investigations end-to-end: conduct witness interviews, prepare question outlines, organize interview notes, gather and review documentation, make objective fact findings, summarize key issues, and communicate findings to relevant stakeholders.
Draft investigation reports and written summaries; close out appropriately with both complainant and subject.
Partner with frontline supervisors and managers on corrective action, disciplinary consistency, documentation quality, and separation readiness.
Support high-volume ER matters including attendance, job abandonment, professionalism, policy violations, interpersonal conflict, reporting failures, and other conduct-related concerns.
Partner on urgent safety and conduct escalations, including suspected impairment, training-related concerns, and incidents requiring immediate HR support.
Coach managers through difficult employee conversations, written warnings, administrative leave, and separation planning.
Track data on concerns raised; identify trends across cases and manager requests, and translate them into recommendations for training, policy clarity, and process improvement.
Build and improve scalable ER tools and processes, including investigation templates, intake workflows, manager guidance, and offboarding standards.
Partner closely with Employment Legal, HRBPs, Safety, People Ops, Workplace, and staffing vendors to ensure aligned case handling and a consistent employee experience.