Principal Manager, People Operations Business Partner

About Nava

Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.

As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.

Position summary

The Principal Manager, HR Business Partner is a strategic people leader responsible for the direction, effectiveness, and growth of Nava's HR Business Partner function, including the direct management and development of the People Operations Business Partner (POBP). This role sets the strategy for how Nava's people practices support the business, translating enterprise priorities into workforce frameworks, organizational design principles, and talent strategies that HR Business Partners apply across their assigned business areas.

The Principal Manager builds a high-performing People Operations Business Partner team, coaching and developing POBP talent while serving as a trusted strategic advisor to senior executives on organizational structure, workforce planning, performance, and labor and employee relations. This role co-owns the enterprise frameworks: workforce planning, career pathing, and organizational design standards that POBP’s use to advise business leaders, and ensures those frameworks remain consistent, equitable, and aligned with Nava's mission.

As Nava evolves toward an AI-native operating model, the Principal Manager, People Operations Business Partners sets the strategic point of view on how artificial intelligence and automation will change roles, skills, team structures, and management practices, and equips the POBP team to guide leaders through that change responsibly, balancing efficiency gains with employee trust, equity, compliance, and sound human judgment. Working closely with People Operations leadership, Finance, Legal, Talent Acquisition, and business operations leaders, the Manager ensures that people strategy and POBP practice are financially responsible, legally compliant, operationally practical, and aligned with Nava's values.

All responsibilities will be carried out in service of Nava’s values: Be Active Stewards, Delivery over Dogma, Build Together, Innovation Requires New Perspectives, and Progress Takes Work.

What you'll do

• Directly manage, coach, and develop the People Operations Business Partner, setting clear goals and providing regular feedback and career development support
• Build and scale the People Operations Business Partner function across the employee lifecycle managing the workload distribution as the organization scales
• Establish performance expectations, competencies, and quality standards for POBP work and regularly assess the team
• Foster a culture of accountability, trust, and continuous improvement within the POBP team
• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to senior executives on organizational design, workforce planning, performance management, and employee relations
• Translate enterprise business priorities into people strategy, ensuring HRBP practice aligns with company goals
• Set the strategic point of view on how AI and automation will affect roles, skills, team structures, and management practices, and equip HRBPs to guide leaders through responsible adoption
• Partner with Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, and Learning & Organization Enablement leadership to deliver a cohesive, enterprise-wide employee experience
• Represent the People Operations Business Partner function in enterprise-level people strategy and planning discussions
• Develop and maintain Nava's enterprise workforce-planning frameworks, and career-pathing structures that POBPs apply across business areas
• Partner with Finance, Operations, and Delivery business leaders to align workforce plans with delivery commitments, organizational capacity, and financial plans
• Guide organizational design decisions, including team restructures, leadership transitions, position eliminations, and other significant workforce actions
• Evaluate spans of control, reporting structures, and organizational capability across the business to identify opportunities for greater effectiveness
• Set standards for evaluating technology-enabled efficiency proposals, ensuring they are supported by realistic change-management plans and workforce data
• Coach the POBP team on how to develop leaders and managers on organizational leadership, team effectiveness, accountability, and performance
• Identify recurring, cross-organizational manager challenges and direct the development of scalable tools, guidance, and learning interventions
• Champion the build of inclusive, accountable, and psychologically safe teams across the business
• Guide the POBP team through complex or sensitive leadership situations, promoting sound judgment, consistency, and fairness
• Own the people and organizational strategy for significant business changes, setting direction for the HRBP team's execution
• Direct assessments of stakeholder impact, organizational readiness, and employee-relations risk for major change initiatives
• Set change-management standards and ensure the HRBP team delivers clear implementation plans, communications, and manager resources
• Monitor the impact of organizational changes at the enterprise level and adjust strategy based on workforce data and outcomes
• Serve as an escalation point for complex, high-risk, or sensitive labor and employee relations matters
• Partner with Legal and People Operations leadership on high-impact investigations and risk assessments
• Maintain enterprise-level knowledge of applicable federal, state, and local employment requirements and ensure HRBP practice reflects current law
• Set the strategy for employee- and labor-relations practices related to AI-enabled workplace changes, including monitoring, workload, and role requirements
• Support employee-relations practices within Nava's unionized environment and ensure compliance with collective bargaining obligations
• Identify systemic patterns in employee concerns and direct the development of organization-wide solutions
• Escalate significant organizational, legal, cultural, or employee-experience risks appropriately
• Sponsor and oversee complex, cross-functional people initiatives from problem definition through implementation and evaluation
• Coordinate with leaders across People Operations, Finance, Legal, IT, Talent Acquisition, and delivery teams
• Provide clear, executive-level updates on initiative progress, risk, and outcomes
• Ensure initiatives are meaningfully adopted and sustained across the organization
• Set the strategy for using workforce data to identify trends, organizational health indicators, and emerging risks
• Partner with People Workforce Insights, Staffing, and Finance to improve enterprise workforce reporting and decision-making
• Translate data into clear insights and recommendations for executive leadership
• Ensure appropriate data integrity, confidentiality, and documentation standards across the POBP function
• Drive cross-functional initiatives that improve the employee and manager experience
• Identify and resolve policies, processes, systems, or operating practices that create unnecessary complexity, inconsistency, risk, or administrative burden
• Direct improvements that increase clarity, scalability, compliance, and organizational effectiveness
• Ensure People Operations programs and processes are practical for managers and aligned with Nava’s broader people strategy
• Champion the adoption of self-service tools and standardized practices while preserving appropriate judgment for complex situations

Required skills

• 10+ years of People Operations and/or Human Resources experience
• Demonstrated experience translating business strategy into organizational design, workforce planning, and talent strategy at the enterprise level
• Thorough knowledge of People Operations and Human Resources principles and applicable federal and state regulations (FMLA, ADA, FLSA, NLRA, etc.)
• Strong competency with HCM systems
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior executives and stakeholders without relying on formal authority.
• Experience coaching and developing talent
• Ability to develop and maintain collaborative working relationships with executives, managers, employees and union representatives
• Strong analytical skills and experience using workforce data to identify trends, evaluate risk, and support decisions
• Strong judgment and the ability to provide clear recommendations in complex, sensitive, or ambiguous situations
• Ability to develop and maintain collaborative working relationships with employees, managers, and union representatives
• Ability to work independently and with little supervision
• Extraordinary discretion, confidentiality, flexibility, and willingness to work closely with a cross-functional team
• Proficiency in GSuite, Slack, Zoom, Excel, Apple computers, and other tools used to support a remote-work environment
• Attention to detail and the ability to work independently and in a team environment
• Ability to work effectively in a distributed, remote-first environment

Desired skills

• Experience supporting a government contractor, professional-services organization, consulting organization, technology company, or project-based workforce
• Experience working in a unionized environment or supporting labor-relations matters
• Experience with Workday HCM
• Experience supporting organizational redesign, workforce restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, or other significant organizational changes
• Experience with job architecture, compensation administration, talent reviews, succession planning, or workforce analytics
• Experience supporting leaders in a rapidly evolving and scaling organization

Compensation

$132,000—$148,500 USD

Other requirements

All roles at Nava require the following:

Legal authorization to work in the United States

Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired

Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future

May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract

Perks working with Nava

Health coverage — comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans to support your overall health needs

Insurance coverage — Nava provides disability, life, and accidental death insurance at no cost

Time off — vacation, holidays (including Juneteenth), and floating holidays to rest and recharge

Company holidays — enjoy 12 paid federal holidays each year on top of your regular PTO

Annual bonus — when Nava meets its goals, eligible employees receive a performance-based annual bonus

Parental leave — paid time off for new parents, plus weekly meals delivered to your home

Wellness program — full platform offering physical, mental, & emotional health resources & support tools

Virtual care — see doctors online with no copay through a virtual visit program (depending on available providers)

Sabbatical leave — earn extended unpaid leave after continuous service for personal growth or rest

401(k) match — Nava matches 4% of your salary to support your retirement savings plan

Flexible work — remote-first environment with flexibility built around your schedule and responsibilities

Home office setup — company laptop & setup assistance provided via Staples for remote work needs

Utility support — monthly reimbursement to help offset eligible home office utility expenses

Learning opportunities — internal training programs and resources to help grow your professional skills

Development opportunities — LinkedIn Learning access & an annual allowance for courses, tuition, & certs

Referral bonus — get rewarded when you refer great people who join the Nava team

Commuter benefits — pre-tax commuter programs to support in-office travel when applicable

Supportive culture — A collaborative and remote-friendly team environment where people genuinely care

Location

We have fully remote options if you reside in one of the following states:

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

*If you are not living in one of the states listed above, unfortunately, you will not be considered for a position at this time.

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Please contact the recruiting team at View email address on aiapply.co if you would like to request reasonable accommodation during the application or interviewing process.

We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. This role requires you to work from the contiguous United States.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Nava is committed to providing equal employment opportunities without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, gender and/or gender identity or expression, color, creed, religion, religious creed, age, national origin, ethnicity, disability, veteran or military status, sex, sexual orientation, reproductive health autonomy, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, genetic information, domestic violence victim status, marital status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Nava prohibits any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all employees, applicants, contractors, and temporary workers of Nava.