Senior HR Business Partner

VIATechnik•Chicago, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

VIATechnik is hiring a Senior HR Business Partner to be the first senior practitioner in its growing People & Culture team. This individual contributor role partners directly with four to five studio leads and their leadership teams, works with the Director of People & Culture on executive partnership with the CEO and COO, and establishes the operating standard for future HR business partners. The role helps leaders make organization design, talent, and performance decisions, builds consistent people practices across studios, and supports growth of the U.S. team. It is based in Chicago, Illinois, with a hybrid schedule requiring three days per week in the office. U.S. work authorization is required; visa sponsorship is unavailable. The Senior HR Business Partner owns performance management design, succession planning, and the HRBP operating model. Key outcomes include assessing people priorities in assigned studios, running the annual performance cycle, launching talent reviews, completing succession plans for critical roles, translating engagement survey findings into action, and developing the current HR Business Partner through peer mentorship and shared work. The role also co-owns onboarding, engagement cadence, and people metrics reporting during the transition to in-house HR. The successful candidate will work in a fast-moving environment where processes are often developed while in use. They will provide direct, evidence-based recommendations to executives, coach technical leaders and managers, and build people systems for a growing professional services, engineering, or technology organization. The role has no direct reports in the first year and offers a defined path to Lead HRBP or another senior people leadership position as the team grows.

Requirements

Experience carrying a senior HRBP portfolio at a growing professional services, engineering, or technology firm.
Experience partnering with leaders of client-facing delivery teams.
Experience designing or rebuilding a performance management cycle, including calibration.
Experience coaching first-time managers through performance management.
Experience running talent reviews and succession planning that result in named successors and development plans.
Experience leading complex employee relations investigations across multiple states and documenting outcomes.
Ability to give executives direct, evidence-based recommendations.
Comfort building processes while operating them in a fast-moving environment with incomplete data.
U.S. work authorization; visa sponsorship is not available.

Responsibilities

Partner with four to five studio leads and their leadership teams on organization design, talent, and performance decisions.
Work alongside the Director of People & Culture on executive partnership with the CEO and COO.
Assess each assigned studio's organization structure, talent risks, and people priorities; recommend organization design, spans of control, and team structure.
Coordinate and run the annual performance cycle, coach managers through reviews and follow-up conversations, and facilitate studio calibration sessions.
Design and facilitate talent reviews, prepare leaders, track follow-through, and conduct career pathing conversations tied to the VDC Career Framework.
Develop succession plans for critical roles and identify ready-now or ready-within-12-months successors.
Lead engagement survey debriefs and turn results into studio action plans with specific commitments; coach managers on building high-performing teams.
Partner with the Learning & Development Manager to address skill gaps through targeted training.
Coach managers through performance improvement plans and maintain documentation that complies with employment laws across the states where employees work.
Co-pilot complex employee relations situations with the current HRBP and provide direct feedback at least monthly to develop their capability.
Co-own onboarding design, engagement cadence, and people metrics reporting during the transition to in-house HR.
Build and operate the performance and talent systems required to support the company's growing U.S. workforce.