HR Business Partner

Location
:
Leuven

VIB is home to world-class science and international talent. In this environment, strong HR expertise goes hand in hand with understanding complexity, building trusted relationships and turning people challenges into practical solutions.

As HR Business Partner for the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience (CNL), you are the strategic people partner to the center's leadership team, in a complex and international research environment. You work closely with center leadership, lab leaders, VIB’s central HR team and relevant university partners. You provide clear advice, strengthen leadership and help address team issues early.

This is a hands‑on role, based in Leuven, close to the research center and its leaders. You challenge when needed and help turn decisions into practical action. You report to the HR Director.

Support leaders in their people role

• Support leaders in building high-performing teams and a positive, inclusive work environment.
• Advise managers and center leadership on practical people questions and possible next steps.
• Help leaders prepare for difficult conversations and address team issues proactively.
• Advise leaders and actively contribute to talent acquisition, onboarding, performance, well-being, workforce planning and employee relations.

Spot issues early and turn insight into action

• Identify trends and risks across teams, such as turnover, absenteeism or recurring concerns. Work with leaders and external partners to develop and implement sustainable solutions that address root causes and strengthen team effectiveness.
• Use employee feedback, survey results and exit insights to define targeted, data-informed improvement actions and supportive HR initiatives.
• Support organizational change and help leaders understand their impact on people and teams.
• Act as a strategic partner to center management on HR-related matters.

Connect the research center, VIB and the university

• Translate HR strategy into practical tools, processes and solutions that fit the day-to-day reality of the center.
• Ensure people-related decisions are well considered, compliant and properly documented.
• Bring the center’s needs and experience into VIB-wide HR initiatives and support their local implementation.
• Foster effective collaboration and alignment between VIB HR, the center and KU Leuven.

• A Master’s degree or equivalent experience, with at least five years of experience in an HR Business Partner, HR Manager, People Partner or comparable HR advisory role. Experience in an international, academic or research environment is an asset.
• Experience advising senior leaders and managers on complex people, team and organizational matters.
• The confidence to challenge constructively, while building trust across different levels and professional backgrounds.
• Sound judgement, discretion and integrity, particularly in sensitive situations.
• A pragmatic, solution-oriented mindset: you can translate analysis into clear advice and action.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to navigate different interests and perspectives.
• Excellent command of English and Dutch, both written and spoken.

• A full-time, open-ended contract with a competitive salary and attractive benefits.
• A role with visible impact on leadership, teams and organizational culture.
• The opportunity to shape a proactive HR partnering model within VIB.
• A collaborative, international and mission-driven environment at the heart of life sciences research.
• Flexible working, including up to two days of home working per week when the role allows.
• Opportunities for continuous professional development.

You will join an environment where people challenges are varied and meaningful. Your work will help leaders spend less time reacting to problems and more time creating the conditions in which people and science can thrive.

VIB is an internationally recognized life sciences research institute that works closely with universities across Flanders. Across nine research centers in Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp and Brussels, more than 2,000 scientists and staff advance biotechnology research that contributes to better health for people and the planet. VIB combines scientific excellence with a strong drive to turn discoveries into meaningful societal impact.

The VIB‑KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience studies brain function and neurological disease across different levels of biology, including neurodegeneration,…