Senior People Partner

We are Herrera

Envision yourself at a growing, employee-owned company that inspires and empowers you to deliver your best performance while making a difference in the world.

We are Herrera, a science, planning, and design consulting firm dedicated to working with clients to develop holistic solutions that provide social and environmental benefit. We protect the environment every day by providing a diverse range of consulting services to cities, counties, state and federal agencies, Tribes, non-profits, and private clients throughout Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, and western Canada.

For over 45 years, Herrera has cultivated a collaborative, caring, and values-driven culture that empowers our employee-owners to achieve excellence while ensuring we have fun along the way. By providing our employee-owners with the autonomy to pursue their professional interests and through encouraging them to grow, we benefit from high employee-owner retention that contributes to our longstanding partnerships with clients.

• Treat everyone with respect and dignity, always.
• Insist on integrity, objectivity, and social and environmental ethics in our work.
• Act as stewards of the environment upon which we depend.
• Research and outreach, learn and teach.
• Employee owners, employee leaders.

In this role, you will serve as a trusted advisor who partners with employees and leaders to help people and the organization thrive. By strengthening leadership, developing talent, fostering employee engagement, and navigating complex people matters with care and sound judgment, you will help create an environment where employees can do their best work. Working collaboratively across the organization, you will balance business needs, employee experience, and organizational risk while helping the supportive, high-performing culture that defines Herrera.

As the People & Culture team evolves and you demonstrate exceptional performance, there will be opportunities for growth and advancement.

• Partner with leaders across the organization to strengthen leadership effectiveness, develop talent, and foster a positive employee experience through coaching, consultation, and strategic partnership.
• Lead key talent management initiatives, including performance management, leadership development, employee engagement, career development, and workforce planning.
• Serve as a trusted advisor on complex employee relations matters, workplace investigations, leave administration, and workplace accommodations, balancing employee experience, business needs, and legal compliance.
• Lead recruitment for assigned positions, partnering with hiring managers to attract, assess, and hire exceptional talent while ensuring an outstanding candidate experience.
• Contribute to the strategic direction of the People & Culture function by leading projects, improving programs and processes, mentoring team members (potential for a people leadership role in the future), and partnering with the Director of People & Culture to advance organizational goals.

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, business administration, or related field.
• 8+ years of progressive HR experience in recruitment, talent management (including performance management, professional development, and employee engagement), employee relations, benefits administration, leave administration, and workplace accommodations.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to develop clear and compelling policies, leadership recommendations, employee communications, and training materials, and to confidently facilitate discussions and presentation for audiences ranging from individual employees to company-wide meetings.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to understand organizational priorities and align people strategies with business objectives.
• Exceptional coaching and consulting skills, with the ability to influence, develop, and build trusted relationships across all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate complex employee relations matters, coach leaders through difficult workplace situations, and conduct fair, objective workplace investigations with professionalism and sound judgment.
• Comprehensive knowledge of federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations, with the ability to partner with leaders to make thoughtful, legally compliant, and values-aligned decisions.
• Experience supporting talent management initiatives, including performance management, leadership development, employee engagement, and career development.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in a collaborative, hands-on environment by seamlessly shifting between tactical execution and strategic partnership to support team and business priorities.
• Demonstrated experience fostering inclusion, belonging, and psychological safety within the workplace.
• Experience with HRIS/HCM applications.
• Proficiency in all Microsoft 365…