Job Summary:The Senior Employee Relations Business Partner serves as a strategic advisor to leadership and People teams, ensuring fair, consistent, and legally compliant employee practices while protecting company culture and minimizing organizational risk. This role leads complex workplace investigations, advises on high-risk employee matters, and designs scalable ER frameworks suitable for a rapidly growing, late-stage startup environment.
Responsibilities:Strategic Advisory- Partner with senior leaders, HRBPs, Legal, and executives on sensitive employee relations issues.
- Provide risk assessments and recommended actions aligned with company values, business goals, and employment law.
- Identify systemic risks and recommend proactive solutions.
Investigations & Case Management- Lead and document complex investigations (harassment, discrimination, retaliation, misconduct, ethics concerns).
- Ensure investigative rigor, neutrality, and defensibility.
- Draft investigation reports and executive summaries with findings and recommendations.
- Manage internal reporting channels and escalation protocols.
Policy & Compliance- Design and maintain employee relations policies, procedures, and frameworks.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws.
- Partner with Legal on regulatory readiness and litigation prevention.
Performance & Conduct Management- Advise on performance management, discipline, terminations, and RIF planning.
- Coach managers on documentation, feedback, and corrective action strategies.
- Support high risk exits and executive-level employee issues.
- Ensure timely completion and quality of exit interviews; synthesize insights to identify trends, inform retention strategies, and proactively mitigate organizational risk.
Data & Risk Insights- Partner with Data Analytics to track ER trends, themes, and hotspots.
- Provide executive-level reporting and analytics.
- Recommend systemic interventions based on trends.
Training & Enablement- Develop manager training on best practices.
- Build scalable ER toolkits for leaders and HR partners.
Experience/Qualifications:Required- 3-5 years of employee relations, employment law, HR, or investigations experience.
- Experience in high-growth or scaling organizations.
- Demonstrated success handling complex, high-risk investigations.
- Strong knowledge of U.S. employment law and HR best practices.
- Exceptional judgment, discretion, and executive presence.
Preferred- Experience supporting global teams.
Base pay is one part of the total compensation package. Full-time roles are eligible for equity and benefits.
Our compensation ranges reflect the cost of labor across multiple U.S. geographic markets, and we pay based on defined geographic zones. This position is located within the
Zone 1 (Examples include Bay Area and NYC) salary range.
Actual compensation within the stated salary range will depend on a variety of factors, including a candidate's qualifications, relevant education and training, competencies, experience, business needs, and internal equity. Your recruiter can provide additional information about the compensation for this role during the hiring process.
This position includes the following benefits: competitive health coverage for you and your dependents, 401(k) with company match, equity grants, access to financial wellness tools and planning resources, wellness benefits, family support programs, life and disability insurance, paid leave programs, company-designated paid holidays, discretionary time off (DTO), and an end-of-year company shutdown. Some benefits have eligibility requirements and may vary based on role or employment status. Many of these benefits are subsidized or fully paid for by the company.
The estimated annual base salary range for this role in Palo Alto, California is:
Zone 1
$140,300-$164,900 USD
