Senior People Business Partner

Vapi•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

As Vapi scales rapidly, we need a senior People leader who can own the operational backbone of our People function while serving as a trusted partner to leaders across the company. This role is critical to ensuring our People operations, compliance, and core programs scale with rigor while maintaining a high bar for leadership, performance, and culture.

Requirements

6+ years of experience in HR, People Operations, or HR Business Partner roles, ideally in high-growth startups
Proven ability to independently own HR operations and compliance with strong attention to detail
Deep working knowledge of employment law fundamentals, employee relations, and HR best practices
Hands-on experience managing HRIS platforms and operational workflows
Experience owning performance review cycles and People programs end-to-end
Comfortable partnering directly with founders and senior leaders
Strong judgment, discretion, and ability to navigate sensitive situations
Clear, direct communicator with a bias toward action and practical solutions
Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building structure from scratch

Responsibilities

Build a deep understanding of Vapi’s business, culture, values, and operating cadence
Audit existing People operations, HRIS workflows, compliance posture, and documentation
Establish strong working relationships with the Head of Talent & People, founders, and functional leaders
Take ownership of day-to-day People operations and employee support
Fully own HR operations and compliance end-to-end, including onboarding, HRIS data integrity, contractor management, and policy maintenance
Begin leading active People programs such as performance management, employee relations cases, and manager coaching
Partner with leaders on current organizational needs, including team growth, role clarity, and performance expectations
Identify gaps and improvement areas across People processes and tooling
Independently run performance review cycles, manager enablement programs, and core People initiatives
Serve as a trusted advisor to leaders on performance, feedback, and organizational effectiveness
Operationalize scalable People programs that support Vapi’s next phase of growth
Act as a consistent culture carrier, reinforcing expectations, values, and operating principles