Lead People Partner

Aiven; Helsinki; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity plan

Hybrid work policy

Equipment allowance

PD Budget

Wellbeing program

Global Time Off

Country-specific benefits

Job summary

Aiven is seeking a Lead People Partner to work with the CPTO and leadership to design talent-dense organisations and secure the talent needed for growth. You’ll shape People function strategy and land it across the company as a senior voice guiding priorities and programmes.

You’ll partner with executives to build workforce plans, career frameworks, and robust performance conversations, while championing DEI and total rewards alignment across functions.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a senior HR/People Business Partner operating at executive level.
• Track record of building high-density organisations with succession planning.
• Ability to design org design and succession planning and handle tough performance conversations.

Responsibilities

• Act as a strategic advisor to C-suite and VP-level leaders to shape organisation design and talent development.
• Co-create people strategy with functional leadership and push back when needed.
• Drive talent density via 9-box, career frameworks, stay interviews and succession planning.
• Encourage managers to own people outcomes and provide tools for self-management.
• Own total rewards alignment and levelling consistency across functions, promoting DEI in decisions.

Job description

We’re a global team of over 400 people, working together to push the boundaries of open-source technology and multi-cloud solutions. Our vision is to help developers, builders, and creators bring their ideas to life with speed and simplicity, by providing a cloud data platform that makes open-source databases, search, streaming, and application infrastructure easily accessible to everyone.

The Role

As Lead People Partner, you will collaborate with the CPTO and their leadership team to build talent-dense organisations, plan ahead for the talent they need, and make sure Aiven's people strategy actually shows up in how the function runs.

You're not just implementing what the People team designs. You help shape what it is, then make it land in your function in a way that works. You're also a senior voice on what the People function builds and prioritises across the company.

Leaders treat you as a peer who challenges and supports them, not as someone who runs HR processes on their behalf.

What You’ll Do

• Exec advisory: Act as a strategic advisor to your C-suite and VP-level leaders. Shape how they build their organisations, manage and develop their top talent, and retain the people they can't afford to lose.
• People strategy for your functions: Co-create the people strategy for your functions with functional leadership. Understand the business well enough to know what's needed, and push back when the ask isn't the right answer.
• Talent density: Set the standard for how talent density is built and maintained in your functions, through 9-box, career frameworks, stay interviews, and succession planning. Keep an honest, current view of where the organisation is strong, where it's thin, and what needs to change.
• Manager accountability: Drive the shift to managers owning their people outcomes instead of leaning on HR, ensuring managers have the skills, tools, and expectation to handle it themselves.
• Total rewards, levelling, and DEI: Own total rewards alignment and levelling consistency across your functions. Champion diversity at senior leadership level, in how promotions, succession, and hiring decisions get made.
• Workforce planning: Think 6–12 months ahead with your functional leaders on headcount, capability, and team shape. Lead the headcount planning squads with the functional Guilds (TA and FP&A).
• AI-first behaviours: Sponsor AI-native career frameworks in your functions, and drive AI-first behaviours in how your functional leaders and their teams work.
• Collaborate with wider People team: When a people product needs to be built, company-wide or specific to your function, you’ll influence and collaborate with the wider people team, bring the functional insight, frame the problem, and stay involved as the work develops.
• Raising the team: Mentor and coach P3 and P4 PBPs, and help the whole team produce better work, not just your own patch.
• Company-wide influenc e: Be a key voice in what the People function prioritises and builds across the business, bringing the perspective of the functions you support.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience as a senior HR/People Business Partner operating at executive level, ideally supporting C-suite and VP-level leaders directly.
• A track record of building high-density organisations: succession planning, career frameworks, and performance calibration that actually change outcomes, not just complete a process.
• The range to zoom out to org design and succession planning, then zoom back into a hard performance conversation in the same day.
• A clear, confident point of view on how strong organisations get built, backed by the confidence to challenge senior leaders rather than facilitate their process for them.
• A history of raising the quality of the people around you, not just your own work.

Amazing! What’s Next

Global Benefits

Our global benefits are designed to help you thrive and grow, personally and professionally:

• Participate in Aiven's equity plan.
• Balance work and life with our hybrid work policy.
• Choose the equipment you need to set yourself up for success.
• Use your Professional Development Plan budget for learning opportunities.
• Receive holistic wellbeing support through our global Employee Assistance Program.
• Ask about our Global Time Off Commitment (parental and sick leave, plus personal time).
• Enjoy country-specific benefits for our global team.

Equal Opportunities

Aiven provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for employment without regard to age, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, marital and family status, or any other similar personal attribute. Aiven complies with applicable local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, training, and any other terms and conditions related to employment.

At Aiven, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities or special needs in our working environment and job application procedures. We make all reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, or who otherwise need support to thrive in the workplace, and we are committed to continuously improving workplace accessibility. There is an option to request a discussion in the application process, but if you have questions before applying, please write to us at [e-mail].