Sr. HR Business Partner

Job Description:POLITICO is seeking an experienced Sr. HR Business Partner to serve as a strategic advisor and hands-on people leader to high-performing, fast-paced business teams. This role is based in office at POLITICO's headquarters in the Washington, D.C. area. This is a highly visible role for an HR professional who brings equal strength in strategic partnership and disciplined execution. The Sr. HR Business Partner will work closely with senior leaders, including editorial and newsroom leadership, to anticipate organizational needs, translate business priorities into actionable talent strategies, and navigate complex people matters with sound judgment, clarity, and discretion. The successful candidate understands that effective HR partnership requires more than providing advice. They maintain accountability for implementation, ensure decisions are translated into clear actions, coordinate effectively across HR and business functions, and follow issues through resolution. This role is particularly well suited to an HR Business Partner who moves toward difficult problems rather than around them. The successful candidate willingly takes on complex assignments, assumes responsibility for outcomes, and remains engaged until the work is fully resolved. They understand that effective partnership is not defined by avoiding difficult conversations or preserving short-term comfort, but by treating people with consistent kindness, dignity, honesty, and respect. The Sr. HR Business Partner approaches complex situations with curiosity and restraint - seeking first to understand the facts, context, perspectives, and underlying needs before forming conclusions or taking action. They are generous with their expertise, time, and support while maintaining the judgment, boundaries, and resilience necessary to sustain high-quality partnership over time. At the center of their approach is a straightforward belief: people first, better results. Employee care and business performance are not competing priorities; they are mutually reinforcing. Who You Are:You move toward difficult problems and help create clarity when the path forward is uncertain. You volunteer for meaningful work and take pride not only in starting important projects, but in seeing them through to completion. You understand that being agreeable is not always possible, but treating people with kindness, dignity, honesty, and respect is non-negotiable. You listen and seek to understand before forming conclusions, particularly when situations are complex, sensitive, or emotionally charged. You are generous with your expertise, time, and support while maintaining the judgment, boundaries, and self-awareness required for sustainable performance. You provide candid and constructive counsel, recognizing that kindness sometimes requires direct conversations, clear expectations, and difficult decisions. You believe that people considerations and business results are mutually reinforcing: putting people first leads to stronger and more sustainable outcomes. What You’ll Do:Strategic Business Partnership and Organizational Effectiveness Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, translating business strategy, operating priorities, and organizational context into practical people priorities. Advise on organizational design, role clarity, leadership effectiveness, workforce changes, and the employee impacts of business decisions. Provide candid, people-centered guidance that balances business needs, employee experience, organizational values, and appropriate risk management. Anticipate people-related risks and opportunities and navigate complex, sensitive, or high-visibility matters with sound judgment and discretion. Talent and Workforce Management Partner with leaders, Talent Acquisition, and Finance on workforce plans, headcount and backfill requests, critical-role pipelines, and succession needs. Lead key talent and performance processes, including talent reviews/calibration, succession planning, career development, retention planning, and performance cycles. Coach leaders on expectations, feedback, performance concerns, disciplinary actions, and the management practices needed to strengthen team effectiveness. Collaborate with Total Rewards on job architecture, leveling, compensation, promotions, and pay decisions to support competitiveness and internal consistency.Employee Relations, Policy, and Risk Management Manage employee relations matters and workplace concerns promptly, objectively, and with thorough, appropriately confidential documentation. Advise leaders on actions that account for consistency, precedent, employee experience, legal requirements, and business needs. Partner with Legal team and other stakeholders on elevated, complex, or represented-workforce matters, clarifying risks, trade-offs, and accountability. Promote fair and consistent application of policies, employment practices, and company standards. Workforce Insights, Change, and Manager Enablement Use workforce data, employee feedback, and business insight to identify trends, evaluate options, and recommend actions related to talent and organizational health. Own cross-functional HR workstreams from problem definition through implementation, managing stakeholders, dependencies, risks, communications, and adoption. Translate HR policies, programs, and decisions into clear guidance and communications for leaders and employees. Strengthen manager capability through direct coaching, practical tools, and resources that reinforce kindness, candor, accountability, and sound judgment. Use approved technology and generative AI to improve analysis, drafting, scenario planning, and routine HR work while protecting confidentiality, accuracy, and appropriate human oversight. What You'll Need:Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant experience. MBA or Master’s degree in Human Resources Management a plus. Five to seven years of progressive HR experience, including HR Business Partner or HR Generalist support in a complex, fast-paced organization, with strong business acumen. Broad HR expertise across employee relations, organizational design, workforce planning, talent and performance management, compensation, employee engagement, and talent acquisition. Demonstrated success advising senior business leaders, influencing stakeholders at all levels, and driving organizational change in a matrixed environment. Sound judgment and discretion in sensitive employee matters, including investigations, conflict resolution, and the application of employment law and policy. Strong communication, analytical, and execution skills, with the ability to use workforce data, manage cross-functional priorities, and deliver practical HR solutions to complex business challenges. Professional HR certification is a plus. COMPENSATION: $125,000 - 150,000 Annual Base. The final salary offered will be based on factors including relevant experience, skills, and qualifications.We value our people. Click here for more on what we offer and what it’s like to work for POLITICO.Let’s keep in touch. You can view our list of open positions here. We hope to see your application soon!About Us.POLITICO illuminates the forces shaping global power. Since 2007, we have delivered intelligence that anticipates tomorrow's headlines, not reports on yesterday's news. As politics has increasingly become the defining force of our era, our work has never been more vital.Cabinet secretaries and Ministers start their mornings with our analysis. CEOs shape strategy around our reporting. Advocacy leaders rely on our insights to move policy. We deliver the straightforward facts and clear-eyed analysis they need to navigate the most complex political landscape of our lifetimes.Our 1,100+ publishing professionals across the world's key democratic capitals—Washington, Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin, Sacramento, and New York—form the world's premier politics and policy newsroom. We tell the story of how power really works by explaining who wields it and how they plan to exercise it, connecting dots others miss and delivering scoops from sources others don't even know exist.Innovation has always been a core tenet of our story. At launch, we bet that depth would trump scale, that talent would trump traffic, and that politics would become central to modern life. In 2011, we made another bet and launched POLITICO Pro to help decision-makers understand the business of government, transforming both how they shape government action and the business of journalism itself.These bets have made POLITICO the most successful digital news startup of its generation and the indispensable resource for leaders who shape the future. Today, we are a rarity in media: a growing, profitable, and sustainable news organization.POLITICO is a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE, a family-owned transatlantic media company headquartered in Berlin and New York. Axel Springer is dedicated to shaping the future of journalism in the free world, believing that a free and informed society is essential to democracy. The company’s guiding principles - first articulated as The Essentials by founder Axel Springer in the aftermath of World War II - remain a cornerstone of the company’s foundation today. Learn more about Axel Springer.Posting date:2026-06-10Title:Sr. HR Business PartnerSummaryLocation: Arlington, VAType: Full time