WHAT DOES A SENIOR HR BUSINESS PARTNER DO?

Published: July 16, 2025 - The Senior HR Business Partner builds strategic relationships with leadership to provide coaching, drive organizational change, and support business goals through tailored HR solutions. This role leads talent acquisition efforts, ensures compliance with labor laws, and addresses employee relations issues through proactive, structured approaches. The senior partner collaborates across HR functions to implement company-wide initiatives and improve organizational effectiveness through cultural alignment and process optimization.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Senior Human Resources Business Partner

1. Senior HR Business Partner Duties

  • Talent Development: Partner with the business to drive an HR agenda geared at maximising the performance and potential of the talent within the business
  • Change Management: Take a leading role in supporting change management including assisting with the organisational design process, implementing the strategy and plans
  • Leadership Coaching: Coach key individuals in the leadership team to enable the goal of strengthening leadership calibre across key management levels, across the CFO
  • Talent Planning: Work with line managers to ensure regular talent discussions take place as part of management meetings, and development plans are in place targeting high-potential employees
  • Data Gathering: Support annualised talent data gathering exercises
  • Employee Relations: Manage complex employee relations issues, engaging with the business promptly to address issues
  • Internal Communication: Assist in developing employee communication plans
  • Organisational Restructuring: Contribute to and lead the HR components of change management and restructuring initiatives, which may include consultation with groups and individuals
  • HR Partnership: Work in partnership with the various HR Centres of Excellence to support the delivery of the HR agenda and key HR processes including engagement programmes, compensation management, talent management, leadership development and employee relations matters
  • Succession Planning: Identify and support the development of future business leaders, retaining and nurturing the best people, to ensure bench strength and timely succession management
  • Training Support: Work with the Talent Centre of Expertise to support the collation and assessment of specific training and development requirements
  • Regulatory Awareness: Maintain a contemporary awareness of influential external bodies and any regulations and legislation that impact the business, e.g., Senior Manager Certification Regime, MiFID II
  • Employee Engagement: Work with the Employee Engagement team on several communication activities
  • People Analytics: Provide data-driven people and organisational insights for decision making
  • Industry Networking: Proactively build a network of internal and external contacts within the industry to facilitate the delivery of key objectives as efficiently and appropriately as possible

2. Senior HR Business Partner Details

  • Business Partnership: Collaborate with the General Manager(s)/Operations Director, and Managing Director to drive business performance from an HR perspective
  • Talent Acquisition: Partner with the leaders and the Talent Acquisition CoE to ensure talent acquisition strategies are developed, implemented, and are effective at maintaining full staffing for supported site(s), including seasonal business needs
  • Strategic Alignment: Partner with functional leaders and the Talent and Culture center of excellence (CoE)
  • Talent Management: Ensure implementation of the talent management processes across the site(s)
  • Performance Development: Focus on performance management, coaching, talent development, succession, individual development plans, diversity and inclusion initiatives, employee engagement initiatives, and talent reviews for employees and people leaders
  • Skills Analysis: Partner with functional leaders and the Talent and Culture CoE to conduct skills gap analysis and define the development roadmap to upskill employees and upgrade the functional expertise
  • Leadership Development: Together with Talent and Culture CoE, deploy/deliver leadership development programs and onboarding programs for all employee levels
  • Compensation Strategy: Drive understanding of the company's compensation structure and compensation philosophy so that field HR is an extension of the Total Rewards CoE and ensure consistency in pay for performance methodologies across the site(s) for all levels
  • Employee Relations: Conduct investigations at the supported site(s) and advise senior management on the appropriate resolution of employee relations/discipline issues in conjunction with the Country HR Director and Legal
  • Team Leadership: Supervise and lead a team of HR professionals with a focus on continually elevating talent capabilities and teamwork
  • Process Improvement: Drive improvements and initiatives that move toward the company’s HR vision
  • Regulatory Compliance: Administer and ensure processes that comply with local legal requirements and government reporting regulations affecting human resources functions
  • Data Analysis: Gather and analyze data related to absenteeism and turnover to advocate for data-driven process improvements
  • Culture Building: Implement processes that strengthen culture across the site(s) based on company values
  • Payroll Support: Assist with ensuring smooth processing of payroll and benefits issues at the site(s) level, including supporting leave administration
  • HR Communication: Successfully communicate and implement all corporate HR activities at the site(s)

3. Senior HR Business Partner Responsibilities

  • Strategic Consulting: Provide strategic advice, counsel and consultative solutions to executives on people management aspects of their business, to include driving organizational development, team effectiveness, executing change management strategy and employee engagement solutions
  • Program Delivery: Collaborate and consult on the design and delivery of HR programs with the COEs to deliver effective solutions to the business
  • Talent Leadership: Act as the advocate for leading the talent management and development plans for the business unit with a focus on enhancing the quality of leaders and managers, building skills and capabilities of the workforce and ensuring succession bench strength
  • Workforce Planning: Direct, develop and drive the business unit’s global workforce plan and human capital strategies
  • Business Knowledge: Acquiring and maintaining in-depth knowledge of the business, not limited to budget, revenue and product and portfolio roadmaps
  • Cross Collaboration: Partner with Recruitment, L&D, Ops and Finance to ensure a feasible, pro-active workforce plan is in place and well executed
  • Metrics Monitoring: Develop and monitor regular and ad-hoc reports to ensure HR metrics are quantified and outcome-driven
  • Trend Analysis: Identify trends and proactively recommend solutions to improve performance, retention, and employee experience
  • Manager Coaching: Guide and coach managers on how to appropriately manage and resolve complex HR issues (e.g., performance management and total rewards)
  • Policy Communication: Partner with team members throughout the HR organization to communicate and educate on policies, procedures, and compliance
  • HR Support: Provide consultative support and guidance to managers on the implementation/execution of core HR programs
  • Process Optimization: Leverage best practices and identify opportunities for efficiency
  • Business Alignment: Understand the client groups, strategy, challenges, business initiatives and business model

4. Senior HR Business Partner Job Summary

  • HR Partnership: Building a strong HR partnership with FedNow business leaders and a deep understanding of the FedNow Program to ensure the seamless delivery of HR strategy and programs
  • Business Alignment: Working closely with FedNow management to understand business strategies and initiatives
  • Data Analysis: Proactively analyzes and identifies human capital issues and trends
  • Capital Strategy: Partners with HR to recommend and implement integrated human capital strategies to enhance attraction and retention
  • Talent Management: Effectively executing the talent management programs that support workforce engagement, development and retention strategies
  • Onboarding Strategy: Driving the onboarding strategies and training programs to ensure acclimation to the FedNow program and continued learning in key management practices, Program and Bank leadership and culture competencies
  • Talent Review: Leading the talent review and performance feedback programs to support ongoing talent development and succession planning
  • Manager Coaching: Coaching and building the capabilities of managers to anticipate and pre-empt organizational issues
  • Employee Relations: Supporting complex employee relations matters through active engagement with managers, employees, CAO and HR leadership and Legal advisors
  • Inclusion Support: Collaborating closely with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to ensure talent management and employee engagement efforts support a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace
  • Program Liaison: Liaising with FRB Boston, System HR and Legal colleagues to develop, administer and maintain all necessary FedNow HR programs and processes to manage the human capital resources of the FedNow Program
  • Policy Improvement: Monitoring trends and best practices in the responsible areas of expertise and HR more broadly to continuously drive improvements in tools and policies through external market trends, insight and internal best practices
  • Change Readiness: Understanding and anticipating the need for change, diagnosing the underlying issues and building the case for change with stakeholders
  • Change Planning: Developing frameworks to plan and manage the continuous process of change including dependencies, risk, potential scenarios and options to mitigate

5. Senior HR Business Partner Accountabilities

  • Leadership Coaching: Advise leadership team members by providing insight and coaching on human resources matters
  • Strategic Partnership: Build and maintain a strategic partnership and consultative relationship with the leadership team
  • Change Implementation: Design and implement organizational changes in partnership with the leadership team
  • Relationship Building: Establish working relationships with key employees/leaders in the business
  • Process Optimization: Identify and implement processes to optimize the administration requirements of HR/employee-related activities
  • Talent Acquisition: Lead talent selection/recruiting activities for the business and develop a talent pipeline for critical roles
  • Compliance Advisory: Advise management on employee-related matters while maintaining compliance with country labor laws
  • Issue Resolution: Partner with employees and managers to address root causes of employee relations issues and resolve employee relations issues through a systematic and compliant approach
  • Organizational Development: Assist management in the development of solutions through a cultural and process perspective on organizational development
  • Program Support: Support company-wide programs and initiatives (e.g., workforce planning and performance management)
  • Consultative: Focus on strategic partnership and consultative skills with leaders
  • Team Collaboration: Collaborate with all HR team members for execution
  • Project Support: Work on special assignments as they arise
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