People Partner

We are SLR Consulting (Americas), a 1500+ team of advisory, environmental, engineering, and regulatory professionals across Canada and the United States.  We deliver environmental and sustainability services to our clients through the integration of over 30 advisory, technical environmental, and engineering disciplines to help clients address some of their most complex challenges around sustainability. We are Making Sustainability Happen.

The Role

Based in Canada, you will be a strategic advisor responsible for supporting defined business groups across North America and partnering with business leaders and leadership teams to improve organizational performance and workforce outcomes.

Reporting to the Regional People Director, you will operate predominantly at Tier 3 within the People operating model, developing a strong understanding of assigned business groups across North America and working proactively with leaders to translate business priorities into focused people actions across organization design, workforce planning, talent, succession, leadership effectiveness, engagement, retention, culture and change.

We'll look to you to activate SLR's global People programs and regional People priorities within assigned business areas, ensuring People Calendar activities are completed to a high standard and that leaders take ownership of people outcomes, using workforce data and business insight to identify risks, recommend practical solutions, and support sustainable growth and performance.

You'll work in close partnership with Senior People Partners, People Services, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development and Centers of Excellence while coordinating project teams and providing mentorship or guidance to People Advisors, while maintaining clear accountability boundaries between Tier 3 partnering and Tier 1 and Tier 2 service delivery.

Key Accountabilities

Strategic business partnering

• Build trusted relationships with defined business leaders and leadership teams, acting as their primary People Partner on organizational, talent and workforce matters.
• Develop a strong understanding of business strategy, commercial drivers, growth plans, workforce challenges and material people risks.
• Translate business priorities into practical people actions that support performance, productivity, capability and sustainable growth.
• Provide evidence-based advice, influence decisions and constructively raise people implications for consideration.
• Escalate complex, cross-business or strategically significant matters to the Regional People Director as appropriate.

Organization design and workforce planning

• Partner with leaders on organization design and workforce planning activities within assigned business areas, applying agreed frameworks and seeking senior support for complex changes.
• Identify current and future capability, capacity and structural requirements aligned to growth, cost reduction and operating priorities.
• Support implementation of organizational changes, ensuring clear accountabilities, effective communication and appropriate collaboration with People Services.
• Use workforce insights to balance commercial outcomes, employee experience and organizational risk.  

Talent, succession and leadership effectiveness

• Facilitate talent mapping, succession planning and critical role discussions for assigned business areas.
• Help leaders identify capability gaps, retention risks, high-potential talent and targeted development actions.
• Coach leaders to improve leadership effectiveness, team performance, feedback and people decision-making.
• Partner with Learning & Development to translate identified capability needs into relevant development activity.
• Contribute to broader regional talent and succession discussions led by Senior People Partners or the Regional People Director.

People Calendar activation

• Drive timely, high-quality delivery of performance, promotion, talent, succession, engagement, workforce planning, salary and bonus activities within assigned business areas.
• Prepare leaders for key People Calendar milestones and provide guidance that improves the quality and consistency of decisions.
• Monitor progress, identify risks and follow through with leaders to ensure agreed actions are completed.
• Activate global programs and regional People priorities in ways that are relevant to the needs of assigned business areas. 

Employee engagement, culture and retention

• Use engagement, attrition and workforce data to identify themes, risks and opportunities.
• Facilitate engagement survey discussions and support leaders to develop focused, measurable action plans.
• Partner with leaders on targeted actions to strengthen employee experience, inclusion, retention and team effectiveness.
• Identify emerging organizational or cultural issues and recommend appropriate interventions. 

Change, growth and business transformation

• Partner with leaders on growth, cost reduction, transformation and organizational change initiatives, assessing workforce impacts and supporting effective implementation.
• Lead defined People workstreams or components of multi-stakeholder initiatives, managing scope, risks, actions and stakeholder communication.
• Contribute to acquisition integration activities, including organization, talent, culture, engagement and workforce transition actions.
• Work with Senior People Partners and specialist teams on complex or region-wide change programs. 

Workforce data and insights 

• Analyze workforce, talent, performance and engagement information and translate it into practical insight for leaders.
• Monitor key indicators including attrition, engagement, diversity, succession, workforce capability and people-related cost.
• Proactively identify people risks and opportunities and recommend proportionate, commercially informed responses.
• Maintain appropriate governance, documentation and confidentiality across strategic partnering activity.

Collaboration

• Work closely with People Services to maintain clear Tier 2 and Tier 3 hand-offs and avoid duplication of operational activity.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition on workforce and hiring priorities and with Learning & Development on capability needs and program activation.
• Build constructive relationships with Centres of Excellence and contribute business insight to the design and improvement of global People initiatives.
• Lead projects or workstreams and provide mentoring, context and development support to People Advisors without assuming line management responsibility.
• Contribute actively to the regional People team, sharing knowledge, strengthening consistency and supporting continuous improvement.

Working @ SLR

With SLR, there is no doubt you’ll grow your subject-matter expertise and industry knowledge. We care about investing in our employees for the long-run, and if you ask our team, they will tell you that is just one of the many benefits of working here. We want to be a place where you can experience career growth and satisfaction for many years.

Here’s what else you’ll enjoy as part of our team:

• Competitive total compensation plan including industry competitive benefits (vacation, benefits, and a suite of wellness initiatives).
• The salary range for this position is $120,000-$145,000. Final agreed-upon compensation will be commensurate with individual education, professional designation, experience, internal parity, and location. 
• Full-time, permanent role with flexible scheduling available (core hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm)
• Opportunities for professional growth and advancement

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience:

• Significant experience in a People Partner, HR Business Partner or equivalent role within a complex organization.
• Proven experience partnering business leaders on organization, workforce, talent, engagement and change priorities.
• Strong working knowledge across organization design, workforce planning, talent and succession, performance, employee engagement and organizational change.
• Demonstrated ability to influence leaders, facilitate effective discussions and drive outcomes without direct authority.
• Strong commercial acumen and the ability to connect People priorities to growth, productivity, workforce cost and business performance.
• Experience leading defined workstreams or multi-stakeholder initiatives and contributing to transformation or acquisition integration activity.
• Strong analytical capability and ability to translate workforce data into clear insight and practical recommendations.
• Highly developed stakeholder management, coaching, communication and presentation skills.
• Post-secondary degree in Human Resources, Business, Organizational Psychology or a related field; a Canadian professional HR designation (CHRL or CPHR), or active progress toward one, is preferred.
• Ability and willingness to collaborate across regions and occasionally work across regional time zones. 

This job posting is for an existing vacancy. Artificial intelligence is not being used to screen, assess, or select applicants.

SLR strives to build diverse teams that reflect the communities we work in, and encourages applications from traditionally underrepresented groups including women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, people identifying as 2SLGBTQI+, veterans, and people with disabilities.