Senior HR Business Partner

Work Schedule:  Monday-Friday onsite position based in Palo Alto, CA with reasonable flexibility of schedule.

Budgeted Salary: The budgeted base salary range for this position is $153,642 - $179,896 per annum.

The Department of Athletics, Physical Education & Recreation (DAPER) is seeking an exceptional Senior Human Resources Business Partner (Senior HRBP) to serve as a strategic advisor to senior leaders and a key driver of organizational effectiveness. This role goes beyond traditional HR partnership—requiring an experienced partner who can assess, shape, and influence people strategy in a complex, high-performance environment.

The Senior HRBP will partner closely with the DAPER Varsity Athletics departments to diagnose organizational needs and elevate leadership effectiveness. You will lead critical initiatives across a diverse array of athletic functions ranging from our Athletic Training, Sports Nutrition, and Sports Performance teams, to our Facilities, Ticket & Operations, and Fan Experience teams. This is a unique and exciting opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the continued success of Stanford Athletics. 

This role includes a mix of activities such as Performance Consulting, Employee Engagement programs, Organization Design & Development, Talent Management, and Compensation Management. Reporting to DAPER’s Chief Human Resources Officer, this position generally requires an on-site presence from Monday to Friday on the Stanford Campus, with reasonable flexibility of work hours.

Success in this role requires strong business acumen, sound judgment, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders with credibility. The ideal candidate brings a demonstrated track record of earning the trust of others, developing strong partnerships, and delivering measurable positive impact on the employee experience.

All DAPER coaches, administrators, and staff are responsible for the integrity of Stanford’s intercollegiate athletics program and for the reputation of Stanford University. This position shares the responsibility to ensure that department activities maintain the integrity of the University’s reputation and do not negatively impact the relationship between the University and its faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Additionally, this position must comply with University policies and procedures, and ACC rules and regulations.

Are you ready to help extend Stanford’s 50-year tradition of NCAA Championships? If yes, we encourage you to apply by including a cover letter and resume with your application.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Demonstrated interpersonal skills and understanding of group dynamics. Successful track record of establishing credibility and trust with a diverse client group.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving, judgment, negotiating, influencing, and decision-making skills. Ability to maintain confidentiality, tact, and diplomacy.
• Excellent facilitation and oral and written communication skills; ability to prepare clear and concise reports and deliver formal presentations or training to senior management and other audiences.
• Experience operating in complex, decentralized, or higher education environments is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated proficiency with business applications, such as Microsoft Office, Google Suite, and human resource information systems.
• Direct work experience working with a college athletics organization would be ideal.
• Experience in other areas of academia would be of value.

Core Duties: 

• Employee & Labor Relations: Provide expert guidance on employee relations matters, with a focus on the most complex and/or specialized investigations, corrective actions, workplace accommodations, etc. Educate and train managers and senior leaders to meet university guidelines.

• Compensation: Consult with managers and senior leaders on complex compensation-related matters. Consult with UHR Compensation on highly complex or specialized matters, including the 

  development of incentive and bonus programs. May partner with DAPER’s Director of Human Resources and CHRO on implementing the unit’s salary planning program.

• Employee Engagement: Serve as project lead, developing surveys and initiatives to assess and support a positive work environment for the organization. Analyze resulting survey data and partner on the development of programming and action plans.
• HRIS/People Analytics: Support, provide guidance on, and/or design complex functions and record retention processes. Analyze, interpret, and present data (turnover, movement, accrual usage, etc.) to senior leaders regarding their teams and the broader organization, utilizing human resources expertise to provide analysis and recommendations. Develop custom reports upon request and consult with subject matter experts as needed.
• Performance Management: Consult with managers and senior leaders on performance management matters (setting expectations and goals, regular check-ins, developing positive performance/behaviors, conducting annual reviews), partnering with subject matter experts as needed. Educate and train managers and senior leaders on best practices to foster strong performance.
• Talent Acquisition: Consult with managers and senior leaders on talent acquisition matters (hard-to-fill and high turnover roles critical to unit, determining job-specific competencies). Serve as project lead in the development of new talent acquisition programming or revision of existing programming to align with overall organizational strategy. Collaborate with subject matter experts as needed. Educate and train managers and senior leaders to foster a positive candidate experience and meet university guidelines.
• Talent Development: Consult with senior managers on talent development matters (aligning business goals with personal motivation & talents, promoting professional development opportunities, coaching/mentoring/networking), liaising with subject matter experts as needed. Develop new, local professional development initiatives for managers and employees.
• Talent Management/Workforce Planning: Generate, analyze, interpret, and apply relevant reports for insights on talent metrics. Present findings and recommendations to senior leadership. Support the development and implementation of action plans (e.g., succession and workforce plans).
• Change Management: Support local and university-wide change management efforts (stakeholder analysis, measures of success, risk assessment, implementation, monitoring), serving as a lead on local workstreams. Collaborate with subject matter experts on highly complex or specialized matters as needed. Participate in developing, drafting, and implementing a communications strategy.
• Disability and Leaves / Worker's Comp: Consult with managers on complex disability/leave and workers’ compensation matters (eligibility, process, accommodations), liaising with subject matter experts as needed. Partner with senior leaders in the development of staffing plans resulting from absences of critical managers and staff, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
• Provide research, data analytics, reporting, etc., to support and inform decision-making.

* Other duties may also be assigned

Minimum Education and Experience:

Bachelor’s Degree and 10 years of relevant human resources experience or combination of education and relevant experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Technical competencies:

• Strong HCM/ATS experience and proficiency with business applications, Microsoft Office suite, Google suite, etc. Demonstrated ability to manage sensitive issues with professionalism, confidentiality, and care. Experience leading an HR initiative/program.

Trust and Accountability

• Understands the link between own job responsibilities and overall organizational goals and needs.
• Accepts responsibility for all outcomes of own work.
• Looks beyond the requirements of own job to offer suggestions for improvements of overall organizational operations.
• Takes ownership of job responsibilities, seeks and integrates feedback, and communicates proactively when assistance is needed or issues to expected timelines arise.
• Cooperates and works to gain support and commitment from others when performing tasks.
• Develops trusting relationships with others within and outside of the team through strong communication, collaboration and accountability.
• Demonstrates behaviors that are consistent with standards for professional and ethical conduct.

Operational and Organizational Insights

• Considers organization's capabilities, mission, vision, values, and strategic goals and objectives in work efforts.
• Knows capabilities, capacities and constraints of the organization.
• Reviews external information and news to learn about political and social issues that might affect the organization.
• Knows both when and how to effectively escalate issues that warrant immediate attention.
• Understands relevant policies and procedures and their integration in work activities.
• Utilizes network to collaborate on issues requiring specific influence or expertise.
• Analyzes data to make sound decisions and explores opportunities to integrate technology into HR processes and services.

Customer Focus

• Works to gain insights into customer needs.
• Balancing the needs of customer expectations and delivering on solutions.
• Establishes and maintains effective customer relationships.
• Reliably resolves customer issues and requests fully and quickly.
• Leverages customer point-of-view when identifying priorities and presenting solutions.
• Sets expectations for delivery and quality with customers.
• Articulates impacts to customers completely and in a timely fashion.

Communication

• Always demonstrates empathetic, attentive listening.
• Asks thought-provoking questions to peers and superiors to clarify and align understanding.
• Regularly checks for understanding.
• Takes action based on understanding.
• Expertly demonstrates understanding of audience by custom-tailoring messaging and style.
• Engages audience effectively.
• Adjusts style and messaging on the fly if necessary.
• Helpful and timely when providing information.

Collaborative Problem Solving

• Effectively and reliably solves problems.
• Consistently delivers high-quality work products on time in the field of service, while effectively solving problems and developing new technical skills for personal and team benefit.
• Demonstrates proficiency in solving problems requiring a developed understanding of disciplines, using judgment to provide solutions of moderate scope and complexity.
• Actively contributes to team goals by providing ideas, participating in team activities, and resolving conflicts positively and constructively.
• Coordinates efforts with stakeholders early and often to ensure awareness, share information, and provide updates until completion.
• Builds effective networks across teams and departments, identifying when to escalate issues to senior professionals.

Courage

• Draws sound, fact-based conclusions, particularly when under pressure or faced with ambiguity.
• Demonstrates ability to influence others when appropriate.
• Anticipates impact to projects and/or work when there is a shift in strategic direction.
• Remains calm and focused, maintaining composure, when things are uncertain.
• Develops scenarios or options in response to uncertain conditions to anticipate possible outcomes.
• Shifts gears when presented with new information, priorities, and/or direction.
• Works to achieve task or project outcomes even when the complete picture or scope is unknown.

Exhibiting Leadership

• Evaluating the organization's readiness for change through surveys, interviews, and assessments.
• Making informed decisions based on data, analysis, and consultation with relevant stakeholders.
• Offering coaching and support to managers and leaders to help them effectively lead their teams through change.
• Providing support and resources to help employees adapt to change and overcome resistance.

Certificates and Licenses Required:

SHRM-CP / PHR or specialized certification preferred (e.g., compensation, employee & labor relations, project management).