Principal Human Resources Business Partner

George Mason University • Fairfax, VA

21d • $145,000 - $160,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Introducing the Principal HR Business Partner — the first role in our new
centrally managed, field-deployed HR Business Partner model and one of the most
consequential HR positions we have ever built.

This is a principal-level appointment. That word matters. It is a statement of
seniority, mastery, and enterprise accountability. We are not looking for
someone who manages HR. We are looking for someone who transforms how HR shows
up at the highest levels of a major research institution.

Human Resources serves as the university’s strategic partner in advancing
institutional effectiveness through people — developing and implementing
strategies, policies, and services that support the recruitment, development,
engagement, and retention of a high-performing workforce across a
Carnegie-classified R1 institution.

The Principal HR Business Partner will sit alongside vice presidents, deans, and
senior leaders — not as a support function, but as a true strategic partner. A
thought leader. A change agent. A workforce architect who can see around
corners, challenge assumptions, and help George Mason’s leadership build the
organization it needs to fulfill its mission.

This is a director-level individual contributor role with enterprise impact. It
partners directly with senior leaders to translate institutional priorities into
effective organizational structures, talent strategies, and workforce plans —
helping George Mason modernize how work is designed, how talent is developed, and how leadership capability is strengthened across a large and complex
research institution.

Serving as lead strategic partner for cabinet and division-level portfolios as
assigned, this role advances George Mason’s Workforce of the Future strategy —
ensuring the university’s workforce remains agile, high-performing, and aligned
with evolving academic, research, and operational priorities.

The Principal HR Business Partner is not about maintaining an existing
structure. It is about building one.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• Significant progressive HR experience, including senior-level HR business partnership in complex organizations (typically seven or more years).
• Demonstrated experience shaping workforce strategy, organizational effectiveness, and talent programs with senior leadership.
• Experience supporting organizational design and workforce planning initiatives.
• Experience using workforce data and organizational insights to inform strategic decisions.
• Knowledge of organizational effectiveness and workforce planning.
• Strong influencing skills and executive-level partnership capability.
• Demonstrated skill in data-informed analysis and decision-making.
• Strong enterprise and strategic thinking capability.
• Knowledge of cross-functional integration.
• Systems thinking with demonstrated skill in leading and sustaining change.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Business Administration, or related field.
• Extensive progressive HR experience, including senior-level HR business partnership in complex organizations (typically ten or more years).
• Experience in higher education, research institutions, healthcare systems, or similarly complex environments.
• Experience supporting enterprise workforce transformation initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Drive the design and alignment of organizational structures and workforce models across supported portfolios, strengthening organizational effectiveness and advancing Workforce of the Future priorities.
• Lead coordinated organizational design, restructuring, and workforce realignment initiatives within supported portfolios, aligning organizational structures with institutional priorities, job architecture, and Workforce of the Future strategy.
• Design and drive workforce planning approaches that anticipate growth, capability gaps, succession needs, and organizational risks across supported portfolios.
• Advance George Mason’s Workforce of the Future strategy, aligning talent attraction, development, and retention with institutional priorities.
• Partner with senior leaders to anticipate emerging workforce capabilities required to support academic innovation, research growth, and operational modernization.
• Provide strategic insight on workforce trends, organizational readiness, and long-term talent sustainability.
• Shape leadership decisions related to compensation strategy, retention planning, performance effectiveness, and employee and labor strategy considerations.
• Drive the integration of compensation strategy, performance engagement, reward and recognition, retention planning, and employee and labor relations frameworks across supported portfolios.
• Oversee resolution of systemic workforce challenges, ensuring durable solutions that strengthen organizational performance and workforce effectiveness.
• Shape workforce strategies that strengthen organizational agility and productivity, guiding leaders in the adoption of emerging technologies, evolving work models, and workforce capability development.
• Advance disciplined role clarity and performance accountability across supported portfolios, reinforcing alignment between job architecture, leadership expectations, and institutional standards.
• Shape and reinforce leadership capability strategies across supported portfolios, strengthening leadership effectiveness and development at key career transition points.
• Leverage workforce analytics and talent insights to inform leadership decision-making.
• Develop and interpret portfolio-level workforce insights and dashboards that help leadership assess workforce capacity, productivity trends, workforce movement, and organizational health.
• Translate data into actionable strategic insights that inform leadership planning.
• Serve as the primary integrator between academic and administrative units and HR Centers of Excellence.
• Translate leadership priorities into coordinated HR strategies and mobilize COE expertise across Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Employee and Workforce Relations, Talent Development, HR Operations, and HR Technology.
• Ensure workforce initiatives align with enterprise HR programs while addressing operational realities.

Benefits

• competitive health and wellness benefits
• retirement contributions
• generous leave
• tuition benefits for employees
• opportunity to contribute to the mission of Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university

What This Job Offers

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