Head of People Partners

A.P. Moller - Maersk•Santa Fe Springs, CA

2d•$145,000 - $185,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This role is a strategic advisor to business leaders, shaping and executing people strategies that enable organizational performance, operational excellence, and future growth. Serving as a trusted leadership partner, this role helps build a high-performance culture by strengthening leadership capability, guiding organizational design, and ensuring teams are structured and equipped to deliver against business priorities. In addition to influencing senior leaders, this role leads a People Partner team across multiple areas in North America. This includes developing talent, setting clear operating rhythms, driving consistency in people processes, and ensuring the team delivers high-quality strategic partnership to the business. The role fosters a strong, unified People Partner community with aligned standards, capabilities, and ways of working. Leveraging people analytics, workforce insights, and business acumen, the Head of People Partnering informs strategic workforce planning, identifies capability and leadership gaps, and drives decisions related to talent pipelines, succession, and organizational effectiveness. The role provides expert consultation on organizational design, change leadership, culture shaping, and leadership development, ensuring that solutions are proactive, data-driven, and aligned with the global People Strategy. Through forward-looking insight, disciplined execution, and strong team leadership, this role plays a critical role in enabling talent, shaping culture, and driving sustainable business results across a complex, fast-moving global organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree preferred in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related discipline.
7+ years of progressive HR experience, including 3+ years in a strategic HR Business Partner or advisory role within a complex contract logistics environment.
Proven ability to partner with senior leaders, influence decision-making, and navigate a matrix organizational structure.
Extensive experience in employee relations and some labor relations helpful, including effective collaboration with Works Councils, unions, and within Collective Labor Agreements (CLAs).
Demonstrated success driving the People Cycle, including performance management, talent reviews, succession planning, compensation processes, and employee engagement initiatives.
Strong background in organizational design, workforce planning, and supporting business transformation and change management efforts.
Advanced capability in organizational assessment, job leveling, and role architecture design.
Proficient in talent assessment methodologies, competency frameworks, and leadership development practices.
Ability to leverage data, analytics, engagement insights, and workforce dashboards to inform decisions, identify trends, and provide strategic guidance.
Execution discipline: Manages multiple priorities and ensures consistent delivery of people processes.
Flexibility: Ability to travel to sites or regional offices as needed (10-20%).

Responsibilities

Strategic Business Partnership Serve as a strategic advisor to senior business leaders, translating business priorities into integrated people strategies. Provide thought partnership on organizational performance, workforce planning, capability building, and long-term talent needs. Influence leadership decisions with data-driven insights, proactive recommendations, and deep business understanding.
Leadership of the People Partner Organization Lead, coach, and develop a People Partner team across multiple sites and functions. Establish clear standards, operating rhythms, and ways of working to ensure consistent, high-quality partnership across the business. Build a strong succession pipeline within the People function, driving continuous capability growth and professional development. Foster a collaborative, aligned, and empowered People Partner community.
Workforce Strategy & People Analytics Use people analytics and workforce insights to guide strategic workforce planning and identify future talent requirements. Assess capability gaps and partner with leaders to build or buy talent needed for growth, innovation, and operational excellence. Lead data-informed succession planning, talent reviews, and readiness strategies for critical roles
Talent, Leadership & Culture Shape a high-performance culture through leadership effectiveness, coaching, and alignment to company values. Partner with leaders and COEs to implement leadership development programs tailored to current and emerging business needs. Guide the design and execution of engagement strategies, culture initiatives, and retention plans.
Organizational Effectiveness & Design Lead organizational design work, including structure optimization, spans and layers, role clarity, and capability alignment. Advise on org transformations, new operating models, and scaling plans as the business grows or evolves. Ensure organizations are structured, staffed, and equipped to meet short- and long-term business priorities.
Change Leadership Lead change management strategies that ensure readiness, adoption, and long-term sustainability of business transformations. Coach leaders on navigating ambiguity, building change capability, and maintaining team engagement through transitions. Serve as a key connector between business needs, people impacts, and enterprise HR strategy.
People Process & HR Operational Excellence Oversee delivery of all annual people cycles (performance, talent, succession, compensation, engagement) with excellence and consistency. Partner with COEs to ensure seamless execution of HR programs and policies across all locations. Drive continuous improvement of HR processes, increasing efficiency, reducing complexity, and delivering an elevated employee experience.
Employee Relations & Risk Management Provide oversight and guidance on complex employee relations matters to ensure fair, consistent, and risk-mitigating outcomes. Ensure compliance with policies, employment legislation, audits, and governance standards. Use ER insights to proactively identify trends and address systemic issues.