Vice President, Human Resources Business Partner, Central Coast & Central Valley Divisions

Sutter Health•Emeryville, CA

10d•$308,131 - $416,894

About The Position

Sutter Health is one of California’s most comprehensive healthcare systems and one of the nation’s largest, generating approximately $19.7 billion in revenues. Headquartered in Sacramento, Sutter Health is a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system committed to health equity, community partnerships and innovative, high-quality patient care. Sutter’s 63K+ employees, 12,000+ physicians and clinicians, serve more than 3.6 million patients through its network of hospitals, medical foundations, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent and walk-in care centers, telehealth, home health and hospice services. The Vice President, Human Resources Business Partner (VPHR), for the Central Coast and Central Valley Divisions serves as an executive leader responsible for shaping the people strategy to deliver business outcomes across two key Sutter Health divisions, while also leading enterprise-wide initiatives. This role provides strategic guidance, executive coaching, and organization leadership to Division Presidents, CEOs, and operational leaders, building talent, engagement, and organization solutions that strengthen culture, enhance patient outcomes, and support Sutter Health’s long-term strategies. As a trusted advisor to regional executives and a key contributor to system-level HR strategy, the VPHR partners closely with executive leaders and key partners across the human resources function to align talent strategy, workforce planning and effectiveness, organization design, organization design, change management, labor strategy, and engagement across multiple divisions. This is an influential, high visibility role responsible for enabling growth, integration, and operational excellence across two divisions, while contributing to enterprise transformation initiatives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required, Master's degree in HR, Business Administration, Industrial Relations, Organizational Psychology, or related field preferred.
15+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including leading HR teams and serving as a senior HRBP or HR executive.
Demonstrated success partnering with executive leadership in a large, complex, matrixed healthcare environment (5,000+ employees strongly preferred).
Experience in talent planning, engagement strategies, organizational design, culture transformation, workforce effectiveness strategies, and change leadership.
Expertise across core HR disciplines including employee relations, labor relations, talent management, compensation, and organizational development.
Proven experience leading HR strategy across multiple sites or regions; multi‑division experience strongly preferred.
Demonstrated people leadership experience, including developing high-performing teams, building succession depth, designing role clarity, and driving leadership accountability.
Experience leading HR teams through transformation, capability building, and operating model evolution.
Strong working knowledge of California employment law, labor regulations, and healthcare industry trends.
Deep expertise in talent assessment, succession planning, engagement, preventative strategies, workforce effectiveness, and leadership development.
Enterprise‑first mindset with the ability to balance division‑specific needs and system priorities.
Strategic influence and executive presence; capable of challenging, coaching, and advising senior leaders.
Exceptional communication skills—written, verbal, and interpersonal.
Strong analytical and business acumen with a focus on organizational health and workforce ROI.
Ability to navigate ambiguity while driving clarity, alignment, and accountability.
Strong people leadership capabilities.
This role requires residence within the Sutter Health footprint and the ability to travel as needed to support the Central Valley and Central Coast divisions.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior HR strategic partner to executives in the Central Coast and Central Valley, shaping the people, organization, engagement plan to achieve business outcomes.
Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders, while translating business strategies into organization design, workforce planning/effectiveness, and culture priorities.
Develop HR strategies that represent the business needs of the divisions, while championing an enterprise‑first mindset.
Lead strategic workforce planning, organizational capability building, and operating model evolution required to support growth, access, and operational performance.
Assess market trends, workforce challenges, regulatory changes, and demographic shifts to inform strategic HR decisions.
Play a key role in the transformation of the Human Resources Model within your divisions, while contributing more broadly to the overall transformation.
Lead organizational design, integration efforts, and productivity improvement initiatives that enhance effectiveness and streamline operations.
Drive engagement and change leadership strategies to support major transformations, mergers, organization changes, or expansion.
Promote enterprise‑aligned practices while accommodating division‑specific operational needs.
Act as a change agent, driving alignment, accountability, and measurable progress across complex, matrixed environments.
Build and strengthen leadership pipeline through rigorous succession planning and talent assessment / leadership development in the Central Coast and Central Valley divisions.
Evaluate and grow leadership capability, including executive coaching, performance guidance, and transition support.
Coach and develop leaders to enhance effectiveness in current role and prepare for roles of broader scale / scope.
Drive sustained business outcomes through strong talent plans.
Develop proactive, preventative strategies and plans that contribute to a positive work environment. Play an active role, in partnership with centers of expertise and key stakeholders in labor relations, collective bargaining activities, and issue resolution.
Partner closely with employee relations center of expertise, once established. Provide leadership and guidance on highly complex, sensitive and/or senior leadership matters and climate opportunities.
Ensure consistent, proactive HR approaches to employee relations issues, conflict resolution, investigations, and workforce engagement. Coach senior leaders on complex matters.
Maintain deep understanding of federal, state (especially CA), and regional regulatory requirements.
Serve as the primary business partner to senior leaders, driving strong collaboration and alignment across HR disciplines to ensure coordinated strategy execution as OneHR.
Foster strong partnership with HR Centers of Expertise and key partners —including Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Learning, Disability / Leave Management, Labor Relations, Employee Relations, and HRIS—to deliver cohesive, scalable HR programs and outcomes.
Ensure alignment of HR policies, practices, and programs across all sites within the divisions.
Drive consistent use of enterprise resources, standardized processes, and tools to enhance service delivery and efficiency.
Drive innovative solutions and key simplification initiatives to impact ease of work and employee experience.
Strengthen relationships with community partners, local healthcare leaders, and industry organizations to enhance workforce pipelines and regional reputation.
Promote a culture of belonging, respect, and performance aligned with Sutter Health’s values and mission.
Provide executive leadership to high-performing HR team across the Central Coast and Central Valley divisions, ensuring clarity of priorities, development, and accountability.
Foster a culture of trust, collaboration, belonging, and enterprise-first thinking with the team.
Build team capability through coaching, performance management, and continuous improvement efforts.
Model operational excellence, strategic thinking, interpersonal effectiveness to elevate the HR team reputation and influence.
Ensure team succession through deep proactive talent development, mentoring and growth experiences.
Lead large-scale, complex strategic system initiatives to drive business impact.
Contribute insights from markets to shape policies, future workforce models, talent planning, and engagement strategies.
Serve or lead systemwide HR councils, steering groups, or enterprise project teams to ensure division perspectives inform enterprise decisions.