Sr. Director, P&C Business Partner

Worker Type

Job Description

The Sr. Director People & Culture (P&C) Business Partnerships is a key member of the P&C Leadership Team and a principal advisor to the Chief People Officer and executive leadership. This role is also a critical strategic partner to the Business Leadership Team proactively shaping and enabling business strategy through people culture and organizational effectiveness.

This role leads the design implementation and continuous improvement of AVs people strategy to support business goals and a high-performance culture. It is a hands-on leadership role that partners with leaders and employees at all levels and across all functions. The Sr. Director will drive initiatives that:

• Elevate and humanize the employee experience and lifecycle
• Strengthen leadership and people-manager capability
• Improve engagement retention and organizational effectiveness
• Ensure empathetic compliant and consistent employee relations globally
• Equip and support the Business Leadership Team as trusted advisor coach and thought partner on all people culture and organizational topics

The Sr. Director builds strong alliances across the organization using data and insights to demonstrate the business impact of people strategies. They lead and develop a global team of Sr. P&C Managers Business Partners and Generalists providing strategic direction coaching and P&C functional expertise.

• Partner with the Chief People Officer to develop and execute global People & Culture strategies that align with business strategies and growth plans.
• Serve as a primary P&C advisor to the Business Leadership Team providing insight coaching and recommendations on organization design leadership effectiveness culture and talent decisions.
• Embed P&C strategy into segment and functional business plans ensuring people implications are understood funded and sequenced appropriately.
• Translate strategy into P&C initiatives define success metrics monitor progress and identify risks and countermeasures.
• Work cross-functionally to ensure strategies and policies are understood implemented and compliant across global locations.

• Design and implement an exceptional employee journey across the full lifecycle (attraction onboarding development performance engagement retention and separation).
• Partner with Business Partners functional P&C leaders and cross-functional teams to ensure people policies and processes are employee-centric scalable and effective.
• Champion initiatives that continuously improve engagement and foster an inclusive high-performance culture.
• Equip business leaders and managers with tools training and coaching to deliver a consistent high-quality employee experience.

• Ensure each business segment/function is strategically supported by a strong cadre of Sr. P&C Managers Business Partners and Generalists.
• Partner closely with segment and functional leaders as a trusted advisor on organizational design workforce planning succession and talent deployment.
• Provide thought leadership on organizational development workforce planning change management and talent strategy to support evolving business needs.
• Lead change management efforts in partnership with business and P&C leaders to support reorganizations pivots and growth.

• Direct and oversee all P&C compliance requirements; serve as an active member of the Regulatory Compliance Team.
• Lead the P&C teams compliance-related activities ensuring alignment with U.S. labor law and applicable global regulations.
• Oversee complex and sensitive employee relations matters ensuring issues are handled with empathy fairness consistency and legal compliance.
• Coach business leaders on effective compliant and empathetic people leadership especially in complex performance conduct or structural situations.

• Direct the consistent application and delivery of global corporate P&C programs through the Business Partners including performance management compensation talent reviews employee relations and separations.
• Act as project leader and governance owner for P&C initiatives ensuring Business Partners effectiveness and measurable impact.
• Lead Workday and other HCM system integrations as part of the SteerCo; assign and guide P&C team members involved in implementations and enhancements.
• Integrate the employee engagement app into the employee communications ecosystem to drive communication feedback and engagement.

• Lead P&C components of M&A activity including due diligence compliance organizational design integration and talent retention.
• Provide clear direction to Business Partners to ensure successful integration of new entities and achievement of one-year M&A people-related goals.
• Partner with acquiring/divesting business leadership teams to align structures leadership roles and key talent decisions with the strategic intent of the deal.

• Partner with the HRIS team to define analyze and report key people metrics monthly and quarterly.
• Lead global strategic workforce planning in alignment with annual business planning and shifts in strategic priorities.
• Work with Business Partners and segment leaders to align talent pipelines succession plans and hiring strategies with current and future needs.
• Present insights and recommendations to the Business Leadership Team using data to inform decisions on capacity capability and organizational health.

• Foster a culture of excellence ownership continuous improvement and learning within the P&C function and across the organization.
• Provide matrix leadership to Sr. P&C Managers and Business Partners: establish clear goals create Individual Development Plans hold regular team and 1:1 meetings and promote regular feedback.
• Oversee the IMPACT community involvement program providing strategic direction in collaboration with the Generalist managing and executing the program.
• Role-model AVs values champion change and inspire trust-based collaborative relationships across all levels.
• Influence and align the Business Leadership Team around desired culture leadership behaviors and people priorities ensuring visible executive sponsorship and role-modelling.

• Bachelors degree in Human Resources Business Management or related field or equivalent combination of education training and experience.
• 15 years of progressive HR/P&C experience.
• 10 years of directly managing a team of senior P&C/HR leaders preferably supporting multi-function organizations.
• 5 years in a senior leadership role leading a global team of P&C business partners within a multi-national organization.
• Demonstrated success as a people strategy leader with deep expertise in Organizational Development Change Management and talent development.
• Proven experience designing and implementing talent processes that enable a high-performance culture.
• Experience supporting and influencing C-suite executives and senior leadership teams.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a trusted advisor to business leadership teams including challenging and coaching leaders to drive better people and business outcomes.
• Track record of planning and executing large complex programs or transformations.
• Experience leading and developing in a matrixed environment.
• M&A and post-merger integration experience (people-related workstreams).
• Experience translating talent strategies into measurable business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of U.S. labor law and ability to research interpret and apply changes; familiarity with global employment practices.
• Ability and willingness to travel occasionally within the continental U.S. and internationally.

• SPHR or equivalent senior HR certification highly preferred.
• Prior experience scaling a P&C/HR organization to support high growth.
• Prior Aerospace & Defense or similarly complex regulated industry experience.
• Prior HRIS/HCM implementation experience ideally Workday.
• Experience overseeing the entire employee lifecycle and depth in one or more HR functional areas (e.g. Talent Management OD Total Rewards ER).

Leadership & Behavioral Competencies

• Exceptional emotional intelligence empathy and relationship-building skills.
• Demonstrated strength in analysis root cause identification and structured problem solving.
• Clear concise communicator; able to effectively convey plans reports ideas and complex concepts to cross-functional teams and executives.
• Thrives in a fast-paced dynamic and deadline-driven environment; displays strong initiative and drive.
• Adept at working on complex issues that require deep understanding of business context data and tradeoffs.
• Strategic and systems thinkerable to look beyond the immediate situation consider multiple scenarios and adapt decision-making style as needed.
• Inspirational leader who motivates and empowers others to deliver organizational goals while enhancing the employee experience.
• Champion of change who promotes a culture of agility and helps others navigate and adapt to change.
• Demonstrates strong judgment in assessing risk and opportunity and takes appropriate actions to mitigate risks or capitalize on opportunities.
• Highly collaborative; prioritizes team and organizational success over individual interests.
• Strong executive presence and credibility with senior business leaders; able to influence decisions constructively challenge and build alignment around people strategies.

Clearance Level

The salary range for this role is:

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer including but not limited to the location the role and associated responsibilities a candidates work experience education/training and key skills.

ITAR Requirement:

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironments determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironments business requirements. A U.S. person according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder) or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits: AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical dental vision 401K with company matching a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown. For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit: also encourage you to review our company website at to learn more about us.

Principals only need apply. NO agencies please.

About AV:

AV isnt for everyone. We hire the curious the relentless the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We dont just build defense technologywe redefine whats possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S. AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air land sea space and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonianbut were not building history were building whats next.

If youre ready to build technology that matterswith speed scale and purposetheres no better place to do it than AV.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer including disability/veterans. AeroVironment Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race sex color religion national origin age disability protected veteran status genetic datasexual orientation gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR