Sr. Human Resources Business Partner

Position Summary

The Senior Human Resources Business Partner is a hands-on HR partner supporting our Irvine manufacturing operations and primarily hourly team member population. This role has a strong focus on employee relations, manager coaching, and building frontline leadership capability .

The Sr. HRBP will serve as a trusted advisor to plant leaders and supervisors, helping them navigate employee issues, improve their effectiveness as people leaders, and make thoughtful, consistent decisions. This includes managing employee relations matters and workplace investigations, coaching leaders through performance and attendance issues, and providing practical training and guidance.

This is a highly visible, onsite role for an HR professional who enjoys being close to the operation, building relationships with leaders and team members, and addressing issues before they escalate.

Bilingual fluency in English and Spanish is strongly preferred.

Key Responsibilities

Employee Relations

- Serve as the primary HR partner for plant leadership, supervisors, and team members on employee relations matters.

- Manage employee relations issues from intake through resolution, including workplace concerns, attendance, performance, conduct, policy violations, conflict, and corrective action.

- Conduct thorough, timely, and objective workplace investigations and recommend appropriate actions based on findings, company policy, past practice, and applicable employment requirements.

- Ensure corrective actions and employment decisions are fair, consistent, well documented, and appropriately communicated.

- Identify employee relations trends and recurring workplace issues and partner with leaders to address root causes.

- Maintain a visible and approachable presence across the plant and build trusted relationships with team members across shifts.

- Partner with other HR team members on complex employee relations, leave, accommodation, wage-and-hour, workers' compensation, and other employment matters.

Manager Coaching, Training & Development

- Coach managers and supervisors through performance, attendance, conduct, accountability, conflict, communication, and other employee issues.

- Help leaders address issues early, set clear expectations, provide effective feedback, document appropriately, and navigate difficult conversations.

- Identify leadership and people-management skill gaps and develop practical training and coaching solutions.

- Facilitate training in areas such as employee relations, performance management, documentation, respectful workplace practices, communication, conflict resolution, and California employment requirements.

- Support the onboarding and development of new supervisors and managers.

- Partner with Operations to strengthen frontline leadership capability and improve consistency across departments and shifts.

Workforce & Operational Partnership

- Partner with Operations on staffing, attendance, overtime, turnover, retention, temporary labor, and other workforce needs.

- Analyze workforce trends and recommend practical actions to address staffing, retention, skill gaps, and other operational challenges.

- Partner with Talent Acquisition and Operations on recruiting priorities, hiring plans, onboarding, and retention strategies.

- Support organizational changes, promotions, transfers, restructuring, and other employment actions as needed.

Compliance, Safety & Team Member Experience

- Provide practical HR guidance consistent with federal, CA, and local employment requirements and company policies.

- Maintain strong working knowledge of CA wage-and-hour requirements, meal and rest periods, overtime, leaves, accommodations, and other employment practices relevant to an hourly workforce.

- Partner with Operations and Safety/EHS on workplace injuries, workers' compensation, return-to-work, modified duty, and safety-related employee matters.

- Support employee communications, recognition, engagement, culture initiatives, and HR compliance activities.

Qualifications

- 10+ years of progressive HR experience with significant hands-on employee relations responsibility.

- Experience supporting a manufacturing, distribution, warehouse, or similarly fast-paced hourly workforce.

- Bilingual fluency in English and Spanish strongly preferred.

- Demonstrated experience independently conducting workplace investigations and managing complex employee relations matters.

- Experience coaching frontline supervisors and managers through performance issues, corrective actions, and difficult employee situations.

- Experience developing and/or facilitating manager and supervisor training.

- Strong working knowledge of CA employment and wage-and-hour requirements.

- Strong coaching, communication, and influencing skills with the ability to build credibility at all levels of the organization.

- Sound judgment and the ability to manage sensitive issues, work independently, and provide practical solutions in a fast-moving operational environment.