The Role:This is a unique opportunity to build the People Business Partner function from the ground up at a high-growth fintech company. As Savvy scales, our managers need a trusted advisor who can shape how we make talent decisions, design organizations, and develop stronger people managers. As our first dedicated PBP, you'll partner directly with business leaders across the org, bringing sound judgment to performance management, talent planning, and manager coaching at a moment when the volume and complexity of these decisions is growing fast. Your work will directly shape how consistently and well Savvy builds high-performing teams as we scale.
Responsibilities:- Build trusted, credible partnerships with assigned business leaders and managers, advising on team health, performance, organizational effectiveness, and employee issues
- Raise the quality and consistency of performance and talent management, including calibration, promotions, succession planning, compensation decisions, and performance improvement plans
- Coach managers through difficult conversations, team dynamics, feedback, delegation, and accountability, and identify capability gaps that need to be solved more broadly
- Proactively diagnose organizational risk by using employee feedback, performance data, and direct observation to flag issues before they escalate, reducing regrettable attrition
- Drive consistent execution of core People programs, including performance reviews, talent planning, engagement initiatives, and workforce planning
- Support reorganizations, employee relations investigations, retention strategy, leadership transitions, and compensation discussions as needed
- Use people data and reporting to spot trends in performance, engagement, and retention, and bring that evidence to leaders to inform decisions
Must Have:- Experience as an HR/People Business Partner supporting business leaders and managers, ideally at a fast-growing startup
- Strong business and organizational judgment; able to distinguish a people problem from a performance, org design, or operating problem, and make sound calls with incomplete information
- A track record of building credibility with leaders quickly, including comfort delivering difficult feedback and influencing decisions without relying on authority
- A high talent bar and comfort making clear calls on performance, potential, succession, and organizational needs, balancing empathy with accountability
- A bias toward proactively identifying issues and driving them to resolution rather than just administering process
- Comfort operating in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment, moving fluidly between strategic and tactical work
- Fluent with AI tools for research and decision support; knows when to trust AI output versus verify it, and stays current on what's newly possible
Nice to Have:- Experience leading or supporting reorganizations, workforce planning, or leadership transitions
- Experience supporting both in person and remote teams
- Familiarity with compensation philosophy, promotion frameworks, and internal equity analysis
- Experience in fintech or another highly regulated industry
Benefits:- Competitive salary and equity package
- Unlimited PTO + paid company holidays
- Access to holistic medical, dental, and vision plans
- Company 401(k), Commuter, and HSA/FSA plans
- NYC office in the heart of Manhattan
- Lunch and snacks provided in the office
- Access to virtual mental health care (Spring Health) and health concierge (Rightway) to help you find the right care
- Access to counseling for stress management, dependent care, nutrition, fitness, legal, and financial issues (Guardian WorkLifeMatters EAP)
