HR Business Partner, Physical Intelligence

• 4+ years in an HRBP / People Partner role supporting high-performing technical orgs (Engineering/Research) and/or operations/technician teams in a fast-growing environment
• Strong foundational knowledge of California employment law and HR compliance basics (wage/hour, leaves, I-9, required trainings), and the judgment to know when to escalate to Legal
• Hands-on employee relations experience: investigations, performance management, terminations, and creating documentation that stands up to scrutiny - with high empathy and low drama
• Credible business partnership skills: ability to advise leaders on org design, role clarity, hiring plans, and team health; comfortable influencing without authority
• Operational excellence: you can design and run repeatable people programs (onboarding/offboarding, case management, training completion tracking, policy rollouts) with high reliability
• Comfort partnering with Payroll and Benefits (plan changes, life events) and with immigration counsel/vendors (visa processing, compliance) without becoming a bottleneck
• A pragmatic, high-credibility coaching style for managers at all levels - from shift leads to senior IC/manager populations - with clear expectations and strong follow-through
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, discretion, and integrity: you keep stakeholders aligned, deliver sensitive messages with care, and operate with high trust

Desirable

• This role sits within the People team, and is the dedicated HRBP for Operations plus our core R&D functions (Research, Hardware, Engineering). It works cross-functionally with leaders across those orgs, People Ops (policy/HRIS), Recruiting, Payroll, Finance, and Legal/external counsel
• There is no narrow lane: the mandate is to flex between day-to-day HR execution and higher-leverage business partnering, ensuring that our practices scale appropriately for both hourly and exempt populations
• Own the end-to-end HRBP partnership for Operations, Research, Hardware, and Engineering: be embedded with leaders, bringing structure, judgment, and speed to people decisions
• Drive org health and execution for R&D: partner with Research/Hardware/Engineering leaders on org design, talent planning, role clarity, team health, and change management as we scale
• Run performance management support and the review cycle: set expectations, coach managers on feedback and documentation, facilitate calibrations, and ensure consistent standards across teams and levels
• Partner on compensation and internal mobility: support promotions, transfers, raises, bonuses, and leveling decisions with fairness, market awareness, and clear documentation
• Own hourly compliance and guardrails: timekeeping/clock-in-out practices, meal/rest compliance, attendance and leave administration, and manager behaviors that create or reduce wage/hour risk; partner with Payroll/Legal on audits and corrections
• Streamline onboarding and offboarding across employee types (operators, technicians, engineers/researchers): align stakeholders (Ops/Recruiting/IT/Payroll), build checklists and comms, and ensure compliance diligence (I-9s, background checks, required trainings)
• Serve as first-line triage for benefits, leave, and immigration questions (plan coverage, life events, parental/disability leave, visas/transfers): coordinate with brokers/carriers and counsel so employees get fast, accurate answers and leaders are not bottlenecked
• Build manager enablement and policy implementation: deliver management training for warehouse shift leads and first-time managers across the company; keep the handbook and policies current and workable (PTO/holidays by population, trainings, safety reporting), partnering with Anna and Legal for light legal execution