Senior HR Business Partner (R&D)

About the Role

As a Senior HR Business Partner at Headway, you will serve as a strategic thought partner to our executives. You’ll shape and execute people strategies that enable scale, strengthen leadership, and drive Olympic-level performance. Partnering closely with our R&D leaders, you’ll provide counsel on organizational design, performance management, talent planning, and leadership development - balancing near-term priorities with long-term organizational health and cultural integrity. You’ll use data-driven insights and sound judgment to identify trends, influence decisions, and lead high-impact initiatives that elevate the employee experience, strengthen manager capability, and ensure our teams are empowered to perform at their best.

You Will

• Strategic Business Partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to executives across R&D. Anticipate organizational needs, connect people strategy to business outcomes, and challenge assumptions through evidence and insight.
• Talent Strategy & Performance: Lead performance management and talent review processes with rigor and fairness. Coach leaders to recognize and reward top performance, address underperformance, and build high-performing, inclusive teams.
• Organizational Design & Effectiveness: Partner with leaders to design scalable org structures, strengthen alignment, and enable growth. Use workforce analytics and org design principles to optimize spans, layers, and team health.
• Leadership Coaching & Influence: Build trusted relationships with executives and managers, providing candid, actionable feedback that sharpens leadership effectiveness. Reinforce Headway’s cultural principles and managerial excellence through coaching and systems.
• Analytical & Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage people data to identify trends, diagnose root causes, and drive measurable improvements in organizational health.
• Project Management & Operational Excellence: Lead complex, cross-functional people initiatives end-to-end - from scoping and planning to flawless execution and follow-through. Balance strategic impact with hands-on execution to ensure scalability and continuous improvement.
• Cultural Stewardship & Employee Experience: Model and amplify Headway’s values and performance standards. Ensure fairness, inclusion, and consistency in decision-making. Surface patterns in sentiment and proactively strengthen engagement and trust.

You’d be a great fit if…

• You are based in New York or San Francisco
• You have 10+ years of progressive HRBP experience, including supporting executives in high-growth or scaling environments.
• You are a strategic operator who can anticipate organizational needs, shape people strategies, and influence through credibility and insight.
• You are data-driven, using qualitative and quantitative insights to inform decision-making, program design, and measurement of impact.
• You are a trusted coach and advisor, capable of balancing candor and empathy while influencing at all levels.
• You have deep expertise in org design, performance management, and leadership development.
• You thrive in fast-paced, high-growth se