HR Business Partner

Spencer Stuart • Chicago, IL

3d • $200,000 - $240,000

About The Position

HR Business Partner This newly created role reflects our firm’s strategic commitment to investing in our people. The HR Business Partner will play a central role in fostering high-performing teams, enabling us to attract, develop, and retain top talent in alignment with our business goals. Success in this role hinges on strong partnerships - working hand-in-hand with Practice Leaders to align client needs and practice strategy with tailored talent solutions. It is designed to foster strong partnerships across the organization - particularly with Practice and Firm Leaders - to co-create and implement a cohesive talent strategy that supports growth, innovation, and performance. By championing team development and aligning talent initiatives with our strategic priorities, the HR Business Partner will help strengthen our employee value proposition and cultivate a culture of shared success. This role is not just about HR—it’s about enabling leaders to build high-performing, engaged teams that thrive together in pursuit of the firm’s goals. The skill set for this position includes people leadership and capability building, strong strategic thinking, collaboration and influence, and assessment judgment applied to evaluating performance, business experiences and professional capabilities. Successful candidates for the position will have strong project management skills, a results orientation and rigorous attention to details. They will be a champion for people development and have the intellect and interpersonal skills to succeed in an environment that is both high performing and relationship-driven.

Requirements

• 10+ years of business experience, ideally in a talent management role within a professional services firm or relevant corporate environment.
• Demonstrates interest and aptitude in providing career development leadership.
• Ideally has experience leading talent-related processes.
• Experience in capacity planning and resource management is ideal.
• Demonstrates ability to balance client needs and individual development needs, as well as aggregate understanding of capacity planning dynamics.
• Has broad, comprehensive understanding of Human Resources functions.
• Experience working in a high performance, fast-paced environment in a role where multiple projects and competing demands are the norm.
• Strong academic credentials.
• Collaboration Developing strong relationships and rapport with the full range of colleagues and building trust-based relationships with various constituents.
• Open to trying new approaches and learning from different sources.
• Focusing on shared goals, prioritizing the goals of the team or firm over personal agendas and taking accountability for achieving shared agendas.
• Adjusting approach based on the situation, encouraging experimentation and learning from both successes and failures.
• Empowering teams by providing autonomy, resources, and support, ultimately leading to increased engagement, innovation, and better outcomes .
• Being authentic and trustworthy, an active listener and learner, interested in engaging with colleagues and other stakeholders, bringing good judgment, objectivity, and humanity to interactions.
• Being able to solicit and consider different perspectives into their problem solving and also demonstrate courage of conviction and willingness to push back when appropriate.
• Advising Leaders Proven ability to operate as a strategic thought partner to senior executives.
• Ability to be in the “first seat,” seen as credible.
• Can participate credibly in discussions about leadership/talent/practice dynamics .
• Ability to leverage expertise; insight- driven.
• Credibility with senior leaders through fluency in organizational structure and dynamics (e.g., governance, corporate finance, ownership structure) and industry/functional dynamics; business acumen to be able to have broad-based business discussions.
• Building People Capabilities Modeling a passion for quality professional services and building trust-based relationships with team members.
• Embodying firm values and displaying cultural awareness, inclusion, and sensitivity in each interaction with colleagues; embodying further development of a learning culture by celebrating stretch efforts and encouraging constructive feedback and reflection.
• Actively soliciting input/feedback and being a resource, coach, and sounding board.
• Acting with impeccable judgment and discretion in dealing with confidential, potentially sensitive issues related to performance or personal challenges.
• Strategic Thinking Demonstrating an understanding of the practice talent strategy and translating that strategy into effective, creative, and efficient approaches.
• Evolving processes and suggesting new ideas through creative thinking, analysis, reflection, knowledge of competition, and engagement of colleagues.
• Displaying the highest level of judgment on performance/development assessments and career development paths, communicating directly with individuals regarding opportunities for improvement and growth.
• Project Management Having strong attention to detail while maintaining big picture thinking and a sense of urgency, particularly when it comes to engaging with teams and individuals on staffing and resource management.
• Balancing multiple priorities with high quality results; leading seamless talent processes and communicating effectively with multiple stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• An MBA or graduate degree in a relevant field is additive but not required.

Responsibilities

• Leadership Advisor Serve as a strategic advisor to leadership on people and talent matters
• Monitor key people metrics and provide insights to leadership.
• Leverage data for decision-making around talent and people.
• Serve as the go-to person for any personnel issues, asking for guidance and help as needed.
• Onboarding and Development Serve as partner to the Talent Acquisition team, interview final candidates and oversee offer decision process for Associates and Analysts.
• Play a key role in building integration plans for Associate, Analyst and Consultant new hires and ensure they benefit from mentoring and support for the first year.
• Identify ongoing learning and development needs of cohort and partner with peers and Learning and Development team to build appropriate content.
• Facilitate mid-year and annual performance reviews, including 360 colleague feedback and compensation.
• Continue to improve clarity, transparency, and consistency in promotion processes, in alignment with talent strategy.
• Resource Management Provide leadership and support to Consultants on team structures, individual development feedback, and coaching.
• Understand the developmental goals of individual team members; increase focus on delivering consistent and objective feedback.
• Partner with Practice Leadership to ensure career development needs are met through opportunities to work on assignments, and participate in internal firm initiatives and cross-functional training.
• Culture and Engagement Understand group morale through individual and team conversations; help lead the development and implementation of initiatives to increase engagement.
• Know the skills needed to build effective engagement/project teams and be able to coach and advise others.
• Drive team connectivity within the practice and across the Associate and Analyst cohort.
• Foster an inclusive environment.
• Lead efforts to ensure inclusion and equity through mentorship, career development, and community building.
• Work within the matrix structure across geographies and practices.
• Act as a liaison to leadership on relevant issues.
• Be an early adopter of new technology and create opportunities for others to learn.
• Understand the talent implications of AI and provide support to help colleagues adapt to new ways of working.

Benefits

• Retirement savings plan with discretionary profit sharing contribution and employer match
• PTO (minimum 15 days per year, increases with tenure), paid sick time (10 days per year), company holidays (12 days per year), and paid leaves of absence when applicable
• Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and healthcare flexible spending account
• Life Insurance, and short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Wellness benefits, including an employee assistance program, virtual mental health program, and mindfulness program
• Voluntary benefit options, including supplemental life insurance, identity theft protection, and whole life insurance with long-term care and critical illness coverage

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees