People Business Partner Contractor

Positively disrupting an industry that has not seen any innovation in over 50 years Tekion has challenged the paradigm with the first and fastest cloud-native automotive platform that includes the revolutionary Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC) for retailers Automotive Enterprise Cloud (AEC) for manufacturers and other large automotive enterprises and Automotive Partner Cloud (APC) for technology and industry partners. Tekion connects the entire spectrum of the automotive retail ecosystem through one seamless platform. The transformative platform uses cutting-edge technology big data machine learning and AI to seamlessly bring together OEMs retailers/dealers and consumers. With its highly configurable integration and greater customer engagement capabilities Tekion is enabling the best automotive retail experiences ever. Tekion employs close to 3000 people across North America Asia and Europe.

People Business Partner Contractor

• Pleasanton CA
• 5 Days In-Office Required
• Full-Time

ABOUT TEKION

Tekionis a cloud-native AI-powered platform transforming the automotive retail industry one of the largest and most complex commerce ecosystems in the world. We are building everything from the ground up: our technology our culture our processes and ourpeoplepractices. This is not a company that isoptimizingwhat already exists. We are creating whatdoesntyet exist andweredoing it fast.

If you are drawn to environments where you can make a real and lasting impact where no two days look the same and where the work you do today shapes how thousands of people experience work tomorrow this role was built for you.

THE ROLE

TheSeniorPeopleBusinessPartner is one of the most important roles on our People team. You are the bridge between our business and our People strategy and you are far more than a resource the business calls when something goes wrong. You are a proactive strategic thought partner who helps business leaders build teams people are proud to be part of.

This role requires someone who is equally invested in the success of their client groups and the success of the People team itself. You will carry a portfolio of business units and be expected to know them deeply their goals their challenges their people and what it will take to make them perform at their best.

You willoperatein an environment that is still being built. Systems will be imperfect. Processes will evolve. Ambiguity will be a daily companion. We need someone who sees this not as a liability but as the opportunity it is to build something great in real time that will outlast you.

This is a full-time in office role in our beautiful Pleasanton CA office.

WHAT YOULL OWN

• Strategic Partnership: Build deep trusted long-term relationships with business unit leaders and their teams. Serve as a genuine thought partner not just a service provider on organizational health talent strategy and team effectiveness.
• Business Acumen: Develop a thorough understanding of each client groups business model goals and pressures. Use that knowledge to anticipate needs shape people strategies proactively and connect People initiatives directly to business outcomes.
• Organizational & Talent Development: Partner with leaders to build high-performing engaged teams. Drive org design succession planning performance management and leadership development with rigor and intentionality.
• Employee Relations: Navigate complex employee situations with sound judgment empathy and legal awareness. Provide thoughtful guidance that protects the business and the individual simultaneously.
• Change Leadership: Champion people-related transformation initiatives. Communicate change with clarity and conviction build alignment across stakeholders and help leaders bring their teams through transitions effectively.
• People Team Investment: Actively contribute to the strength culture and continuous improvement of the People team itself. Share knowledge collaborate across COEs and show up as a champion for the function not just your portfolio.
• Program Execution: Drive the end-to-end execution of People programs across your client groups performance cycles engagement actions compensation planning and more with precision and follow-through.
• Builder Mindset: Identify gaps design solutions and build People infrastructure where it doesnt yet exist. Leave every client group and the People team itself better than you found it.
• Consultative Expertise: Apply advanced analytical skills and deep People knowledge to diagnose business needs recommend strategic solutions and navigate complex people-related challenges. You dont just respond to what leaders ask you help them see what they havent asked yet.
• Continuous Learning: Staycurrent on emerging HR trends tools and best practices. Actively seek new ways to improve how weoperateand add value to your client groups to the People team and to theorganization as a whole.

WHO YOU ARE

Skills can be taught. Experience is transferable. Culturefit isnot. This section matters more than any other in thisposting please read it carefully.

You have a growth mindset and you mean it.

You walk into Tekion knowing there is a lot you dont yet know and that excites you. You are not here to demonstrate that you already have all the answers; you are here to learn a new company a complex industry and a rapidly evolving environment. You ask questions. You absorb context. You adapt. You understand that being excellent at HR elsewhere doesnt automatically mean youre excellent at HR here and that gap is not a threat to you. Its a starting point.

You aregenuinelysustainably positive.

Not performatively positive. Not positive on Mondays positive. Your natural orientation is glass half full and it holds up under pressure in hard conversations and on difficult days. You are the person on the team who raises the energy in the room not the person who quietly drains it. You coach leaders and employees toward higher engagement and performance which means you have to model it every single day. The People team sets the bar for what a great culture looks and feels like. That starts with you.

You are fiercely loyal to the People team.

You love your client groups. And you love your People team. These are not in competition. You invest in People team relationships and the collective success of the function with the same energy you bring to your business unit portfolio. You do not share frustrations about the People team with leaders or employees. You do not position yourself as different from the rest of HR. You are a champion for the function publicly consistently and without exception. When the team succeeds you succeed.

You thrive in a full build and youdontromanticize it or resent it.

Tekion is building. Processes exist in some places and not others. Systems are evolving. Some things that should be documented arent. Some things that should be consistent arent yet. You see this as a canvas not a complaint. You are the person who identifies a gap and says let me fix that not the person who says that shouldnt be my job. You build things with positivity and enthusiasm because you understand that what you build today will matter for years.

You are a strategic owner not an order taker.

You understand the difference between doing tasks for a leader and owning thepeoplehealth of their organization. You are not waiting to be told what to do. You are showing up with a point of view an agenda and a plan. You do the administrative work that sometimes comes with the role and you do it without complaint but it is not where you live. You are in the business knowing it deeplyanticipatingwhat it needs and driving outcomes that make your client group measurably more successful.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Education:BS/BA degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience: 4-6 years of HRBP or People Business Partner experience preferably in a fast-growth SaaS or technology company.
• Strategic Influence: Demonstrated ability to build trusted advisory relationships with senior and C-suite leaders not just execute requests but shape thinking.
• Business Fluency: Ability to learn a business quickly connect People initiatives to business outcomes and speak the language of the leaders you support.
• ER Expertise: Sound judgment and experience handling complex employee relations situations with care consistency and appropriate urgency.
• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication clear direct and compelling across audiences from ICs to executives.
• Organizational Agility: Comfortable managing a broad portfolio of priorities in a fast-moving environment without losing precision or follow-through.
• Resilience: Able to absorb feedback adapt quickly and maintain composure and positivity when things dont go as planned because sometimes they wont.
• Drive to Make Others Successful: Youmeasure your own success by how much better the people and teams around you are performing. Seeing others grow succeed and thrivebecause ofyour partnership is what fuels you.

Preferred

• Experience in a high-growth startup or company scaling through significant organizational change.
• Track record of building or rebuilding People programs from scratch.
• Experience supporting global or international business units.
• Workday proficiency (HCM Recruiting Talent).
• Exposure to M&A rapid headcount scaling or organizational redesign.
• Demonstrated ability to gain energy from not be depleted by highly complex organizational problems.
• High consultative experience influencing senior leaders through insight and data not authority.

WORK STYLE REQUIREMENTS

We are intentional about these requirements because our environment demands them. Please read carefully before applying.

In-Office Requirement

• This role is based in our Pleasanton CA office and requires5 days per week in office.
• We are a collaborative high-energy team that does its best work -office presence is not optional and is not negotiable.
• Please apply only if you are currently located in or are prepared to relocate to the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area and can commit to this schedule without exception.

Global Work Hours

• Tekion operates globally. Our teams span North America India and other international locations.
• You should expect occasional early mornings or late evenings to support global partners and leaders.
• Flexibility and a no-drama approach to shifting schedules is part of how this role operates.

Pace & Workload

• This is a demanding high-ownership role in a company that is growing fast and building constantly.
• We do not expect perfection. We do expect full engagement strong judgment and a bias toward action.
• If you are energized by a lot to do the ability to make a real impact and an environment where great work is noticed this is the right place.

PERKS & BENEFITS

• Competitive compensation and generous stock options
• 100% employer-paid top-of-the-line medical dental and vision coverage
• Unlimited PTO parental leave and free snacks and beverages
• The opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds from Silicon Valleys most successful companies
• Early-stage hyper-growth startup with significant career growth opportunity
• Home-grown ground-up technology everything we build we own
• A dynamic collaborative work environment with a strong sense of community
• Open transparent culture that rewards performance and encourages innovation

If this description energizes you rather than intimidates youyoureprobably exactlywhowerelooking for.

Tekionis an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Tekion is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race religion color national origin gender (including pregnancy childbirth or related medical conditions) sexual orientation gender identity gender expression age status as a protected veteran status as an individual with a disability victim of violence or having a family member who is a victim of violence the intersectionality of two or more protected categories or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

For more information on our privacy practices please refer to our Applicant Privacy Notice here.