Senior HR Business Partner

We are hiring a Senior HR Business Partner to help build the people foundation for Protege’s next phase of growth.

This is a strategic, hands-on role for a builder who can partner closely with leaders while owning the programs and operating rhythms that shape how Protege performs. You will strengthen our culture, help managers build exceptional teams, and create people systems that enable high standards without slowing the company down.

You will move comfortably between advising leaders on organization and talent decisions, coaching managers through complex conversations, and personally driving the programs that improve the employee experience. You will bring judgment, urgency, and a practical bias toward action.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with leaders across Engineering, GTM, and Operations to translate business priorities into people plans, organization design, workforce planning, and team-health actions.

• Coach managers to set clear expectations, deliver candid feedback, recognize exceptional performance, address underperformance, and build high-performing teams.

• Own and continuously improve the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, performance management, promotions, development, and offboarding.

• Lead core People programs, including performance reviews, calibration, engagement and feedback mechanisms, manager enablement, and employee communications.

• Help define and reinforce the culture Protege needs to win: high ownership, urgency, rigorous execution, kindness, and candor.

• Partner with the executive team and hiring managers on compensation, leveling, and promotion decisions, helping ensure frameworks are competitive, clear, and consistently applied.

• Serve as a trusted, confidential resource for employees and managers; navigate employee relations, conflict, and sensitive situations with discretion and sound judgment.

• Build scalable People Operations infrastructure, including policies, HRIS practices, compliance documentation, and manager resources.

• Partner with Talent to strengthen hiring, interviewing, and candidate experience while ensuring each hire raises the bar for Protege.

• Ensure the company’s people practices remain compliant as we grow across jurisdictions, engaging outside counsel when appropriate.

What Success Looks Like

Day 1: Start Building the Culture and Performance Agenda

• Begin a focused project to understand and strengthen the cultural behaviors, manager practices, and performance expectations that will enable Protege to scale.

• Meet with leaders and employees to learn what is working, where execution or communication breaks down, and what teams need to perform at their best.

• Establish early credibility as a thoughtful, direct, and highly responsive partner to managers and employees.

By Day 30: Own the Core People Programs

• Take ownership of the company’s core People programs and rhythms, including onboarding, employee lifecycle processes, manager support, performance management, employee relations, and People Operations administration.

• Deliver a clear, practical plan for improving culture, performance, manager effectiveness, and employee experience over the next two quarters.

• Identify immediate improvements to onboarding, feedback, manager resources, and employee communications—and begin putting them into practice.

• Become a trusted partner to leadership on active people decisions, including hiring, performance, team dynamics, and organizational needs.

By Day 60: Build and Launch the Foundation

• Establish or materially improve the performance-management and feedback approach, with clear guidance for managers and employees.

• Advance the culture and performance project into tangible recommendations and programs that reinforce Protege’s values and standards.

• Build scalable manager tools and operating practices for feedback, performance, development, promotions, and difficult conversations.

• Partner deeply with at least two leadership teams on their talent, organizational, and performance priorities.

By Day 90: Create Measurable Impact

• Lead a company-wide performance and calibration cycle that drives clear talent decisions and supports a high-performance culture.

• Launch priority culture and manager-effectiveness initiatives, with clear ownership, communication, and measures of success.

• Deliver a documented People roadmap for the next two quarters, aligned with company goals, growth plans, and talent priorities.

• Be recognized as the go-to People partner who helps leaders and teams perform better.

What You Bring

• Significant HRBP or People leadership experience in a high-growth, high-accountability startup environment—ideally in technology, AI, data, or another fast-moving, complex business.

• A demonstrated record of building and scaling people programs, including performance management, manager enablement, employee engagement, compensation, leveling, and employee lifecycle operations.

• Strong business judgment and the ability to connect people work directly to company priorities, team effectiveness, and business outcomes.

• Comfort operating independently in an ambiguous environment; you know how to create structure quickly without overengineering.

• Proven ability to earn credibility with executives, managers, and individual contributors.

• A direct, thoughtful communication style and the confidence to challenge leaders, provide difficult feedback, and navigate conflict with care.

• Strong knowledge of employment-law and compliance fundamentals, with sound judgment about when to involve outside counsel or specialized partners.

• Willingness to operate at every altitude: advising a leader on team design in the morning and resolving an employee issue or building a manager resource that afternoon.

• A high bar for discretion, follow-through, operational excellence, and impact.