Senior Bilingual Human Resources Business Partner

Wawanesa Insurance•Edmonton, AB

32d•CA$100,000 - CA$130,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior HRBP serves as a strategic advisor to senior leaders, with accountability for shaping and enabling business strategy and culture through workforce, talent, and organizational solutions. This role leads complex people and organization initiatives by translating business priorities into integrated HR strategies, in partnership with the People Team Centers of Excellence (COE). This role works closely with senior leaders to diagnose organizational needs, facilitate workforce and talent planning discussions, and enable effective decision-making aligned with enterprise strategy and culture. Wawanesa is one of Canada's largest mutual insurers, founded in 1896, and is 100% owned by its members. The company has over $4.1 billion in annual revenue and $12.5 billion in assets. Wawanesa is looking for dedicated, driven, and enthusiastic individuals who thrive in an environment that welcomes change and are looking for an opportunity for diverse experience and advancement on a growing team.

Requirements

Degree in Business, Human Resources, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Good communication skills in French and English, both written and spoken.
Minimum 10 years of progressive HR experience, including Senior HR Business Partner or comparable advisory experience supporting senior leaders in a complex organization.
Proven ability to build trusted relationships and influence leaders through sound judgment, credibility, and business insight.
Effectiveness in collaborating across functions and organizational levels, consistently prioritizing enterprise outcomes and shared accountability.
Experience facilitating workforce planning, talent reviews, succession planning, and performance management processes.
Strong capability to assess people and organizational issues and provide clear, practical recommendations aligned with enterprise frameworks and policies.
Experience supporting organizational change and organizational effectiveness initiatives within the business.
Solid knowledge of employment practices, employee relations, and regulatory requirements.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including use of workforce data and insights.

Nice To Haves

HR designation preferred.
Insurance industry experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Build trusted partnerships to understand, identify, and prioritize business needs, providing business context and insight to HR to ensure people solutions are effectively tailored and delivered to meet business objectives.
Act as a strategic advisor by diagnosing people and organizational challenges, facilitating informed decision-making, and providing clear, well-reasoned recommendations aligned with enterprise priorities and HR frameworks.
Monitor trends in employment practices, workforce dynamics, and employee relations, and coach leaders on people management matters to enable timely, effective, and consistent handling of issues in alignment with company policies and processes.
Facilitate workforce and talent planning discussions, including talent pipeline and succession planning, to support achievement of business goals through appropriate resourcing, development, and internal mobility, in partnership with COEs.
Partner with senior leaders to identify leadership development needs and critical roles essential to achieving strategic objectives, monitor talent risks and attrition trends, and surface insights to support workforce readiness, performance, diversity, and inclusion.
Champion and facilitate enterprise talent programs within the business, including performance management, calibration sessions, succession planning, and talent reviews, ensuring consistent application and meaningful outcomes aligned with business needs.
Assess organizational structures, roles, and processes to identify opportunities to improve effectiveness and performance, and partner with leaders and COEs to recommend and support implementation of appropriate changes.
Manage competing priorities across a complex portfolio by making informed trade-offs, sequencing work appropriately, and balancing business needs with enterprise direction and capacity.
Contribute to continuous improvement of HR systems, processes, and practices by identifying opportunities informed by business feedback, industry best practices, and a focus on efficiency, productivity, and risk management.
Build capability by coaching, mentoring, and role modeling effective business partnership, sound judgment, and enterprise-minded decision-making.