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Aiven is a global 400+ person team building a cloud data platform that makes open-source databases, search, streaming, and application infrastructure accessible to developers and builders worldwide.
As Lead People Partner, you will serve as a strategic HR business partner supporting the Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) and their leadership team. This is a senior individual contributor role focused on building talent-dense organizations and embedding people strategy into how the engineering and product functions operate.
Key responsibilities include:
**Strategic Advisory**: Act as a peer advisor to C-suite and VP-level leaders on organizational design, talent development, and retention of critical talent. Challenge leaders constructively rather than simply executing HR processes.
**People Strategy & Talent Density**: Co-create people strategies for your functions with functional leadership. Establish standards for talent density through 9-box assessments, career frameworks, stay interviews, and succession planning. Maintain an honest view of organizational strengths and gaps.
**Manager Accountability**: Drive a shift where managers own their people outcomes. Equip them with skills, tools, and clear expectations to manage talent effectively without leaning on HR.
**Total Rewards & Leveling**: Own total rewards alignment and leveling consistency across functions. Champion diversity in promotion, succession, and hiring decisions at senior leadership levels.
**Workforce Planning**: Think 6–12 months ahead with functional leaders on headcount, capability, and team structure. Lead headcount planning with talent acquisition and financial planning partners.
**AI-First Behaviors**: Sponsor AI-native career frameworks and drive AI-first working practices within your functions.
**Cross-functional Collaboration**: Influence and shape people products and initiatives company-wide. Mentor junior people business partners (P3/P4 level) and raise the quality of the broader people team.
**Company-wide Voice**: Bring functional perspective to People function priorities and strategy across the business.
You will need proven experience as a senior HR/People Business Partner operating at executive level, a track record of building high-density organizations through succession planning and career frameworks, the ability to zoom between org design and individual performance conversations, and a confident point of view on how strong organizations are built.
