Principal HR Business Partner

WP Engine•Austin, TX

1d•$140,000 - $192,500•Hybrid

About The Position

WP Engine is looking for a Principal Employee Experience (HR) Business Partner to be the strategic talent partner for our Marketing organization and Global Corporate Functions (Finance, Enterprise Systems/Corporate IT, and Revenue Operations). This role sits at the intersection of business strategy and people. You'll be a trusted advisor to senior executives, helping them see the talent and organizational implications of their decisions before they make them, and you'll be an advocate for the people in these teams, someone who knows what it actually feels like to work here and feels personally responsible for protecting and strengthening our culture. The best Business Partners hold both of these at once: deep commercial acumen and a genuine connection to the employee experience. That's who we're looking for.

Requirements

8+ years of progressive HR Business Partner experience, including direct partnership with VP+ and C-suite leaders, ideally in tech or a high-growth environment.
Commercially fluent. Understand growth drivers, P&L dynamics, and how marketing and corporate functions create value, and translate that into talent strategy leaders actually use.
A pragmatic problem solver. Find the path that balances risk and outcome, and have a track record of judgment leaders trust.
A confident, independent voice. Form your own view, share it clearly, and hold it under pressure.
A genuine employee advocate. Care about how it feels to work here. Build trust across levels, and people bring you things because they know you'll handle it fairly.
A skilled communicator. Distill complex information into clear, executive-ready recommendations, and deliver hard truths in a way that people trust you more, not less, for having heard them.
Candidates must be in a commutable distance from downtown Austin and comfortable being in the office an average of 2 days per week.

Responsibilities

Advise the business. Partner with executive leadership on strategy, structure, and talent. Assess the people and business impact of proposed changes, bring an independent and evidence-backed point of view, and help leaders find the path that holds up over time. Escalate when warranted and move fast once the call is made.
Champion our people and culture. Stay close to the teams you support. Understand their experience firsthand, elevate what you hear, and ensure decisions about pace, structure, and priorities account for their impact on people. Be a visible steward of WP Engine's values.
Lead org design and change. Guide organizational design, operating model shifts, and change initiatives across multiple global functions, with a plan for how people move through the change and not just the end state.
Coach leaders. Provide candid, practical coaching to senior executives and their teams on leadership effectiveness, team dynamics, inclusion, and nuanced people matters.
Own the talent strategy for your client groups. Drive performance and development cycles, compensation planning, employee relations and workforce planning in partnership with our Centers of Excellence.
Strengthen the EE function. Collaborate closely with Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Operations, Systems, etc, bringing them in early and sharing context generously. Surface what you're seeing across your client groups, give and take feedback well, and elevate others.

Benefits

Company Stock Options
Great Health Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance)
Fertility Benefits (IVF/Fertility drug coverage)
HSA Company contribution
401(k) with a 4% match
Disability Insurance
Paid Family and Caregiver’s Leave
Employee Assistance Program
Generous Vacation Time
One-time $500 payment to set up your home office
4 Company Wellness Days a year
1 floating holiday
Pet Insurance
On-going education through LinkedIn Learning, Workday Learning and our Career Growth Portal