Employee Relations Business Partner, US (Contractor)

Rippling; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippling is seeking an experienced Employee Relations professional to partner with HRBPs, Legal, and business leaders on investigations and employee matters. The role focuses on fair, consistent, and practical resolution while safeguarding confidentiality and operational continuity.

You will leverage data and AI to scale processes, draft detailed case documentation, and guide management through complex situations in a fast-growing environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in employee relations, HR business partnership, HR compliance, workplace investigations, or a related HR role.
• Strong understanding of employee relations principles, workplace conduct standards, HR compliance considerations, and investigation best practices.
• Experience advising managers and business leaders on sensitive employee matters with sound judgment, discretion, neutrality, and empathy.

Responsibilities

• Assess incoming employee relations concerns, determine the appropriate investigative response, and partner with stakeholders to drive timely and thoughtful resolution.
• Partner closely with Legal to identify and escalate matters requiring a dedicated Legal team investigation.
• Work with HR Business Partners, managers, and business leaders to resolve employee relations matters in a way that is fair, consistent, risk-aware, and operationally practical.
• Provide practical HR guidance and recommendations that address employee concerns while supporting team effectiveness, manager accountability, and business continuity.
• Draft clear, concise documentation, including case summaries, findings, recommendations, stakeholder updates, playbooks, templates, and business-facing guidance.
• Track employee relations activity, themes, resolution status, and outcomes in Rippling.
• Identify patterns, root causes, and emerging risks across employee relations matters, and recommend process, training, manager coaching, or policy improvements.
• Help develop and maintain employee relations operating practices, including intake criteria, escalation guidelines, documentation standards, investigation protocols, templates, and cadences.
• Leverage data, AI, and automation to improve employee relations processes, scale case handling, and create better experiences for employees and managers.
• Maintain discretion, confidentiality, neutrality, and professionalism when handling sensitive employee and workplace matters.

Skills

Employee relations

HR partnerships

Investigations

Discretion & neutrality

Documentation & reporting

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven HR

AI & automation in HR

Tools

Jira

HRIS

Job description

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.

Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365 —all within 90 seconds.

Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America\'s best startup employers by Forbes.

We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.

About The Role

You will work closely with a number of stakeholders, including HR Business Partners (HRBPs), Legal, and business leaders, on employee relations investigations.

What You Will Do

• Assess incoming employee relations concerns, determine the appropriate investigative response, and partner with stakeholders to drive timely and thoughtful resolution.
• Partner closely with Legal to identify and escalate matters requiring a dedicated Legal team investigation.
• Work with HR Business Partners, managers, and business leaders to resolve employee relations matters in a way that is fair, consistent, risk-aware, and operationally practical.
• Provide practical HR guidance and recommendations that address employee concerns while supporting team effectiveness, manager accountability, and business continuity.
• Draft clear, concise documentation, including case summaries, findings, recommendations, stakeholder updates, playbooks, templates, and business-facing guidance.
• Track employee relations activity, themes, resolution status, and outcomes in Rippling.
• Identify patterns, root causes, and emerging risks across employee relations matters, and recommend process, training, manager coaching, or policy improvements.
• Help develop and maintain employee relations operating practices, including intake criteria, escalation guidelines, documentation standards, investigation protocols, templates, and cadences.
• Leverage data, AI, and automation to improve employee relations processes, scale case handling, and create better experiences for employees and managers.
• Maintain discretion, confidentiality, neutrality, and professionalism when handling sensitive employee and workplace matters.

What You Will Need

• 5+ years of experience in employee relations, HR business partnership, HR compliance, workplace investigations, or a related HR role.
• Strong understanding of employee relations principles, workplace conduct standards, HR compliance considerations, and investigation best practices.
• Experience advising managers and business leaders on sensitive employee matters with sound judgment, discretion, neutrality, and empathy.
• Ability to assess employee relations concerns and determine the right path for HR-led resolution, stakeholder partnership, or escalation to Legal, Compliance, Security, or another specialized team.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience drafting case summaries, findings, recommendations, playbooks, and stakeholder updates.
• Strong interviewing, fact-gathering, documentation, problem-solving, and analytical skills.
• Practical business judgment and strong HR instincts, with the ability to recommend solutions that are fair, consistent, risk-aware, and operationally realistic.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple matters at once, prioritize urgent issues, and drive work to timely resolution.
• Experience working cross-functionally with HRBPs, Legal, managers, executives, and other internal stakeholders.
• Ability to use data and case trends to identify recurring issues, improve processes, and support broader employee relations priorities.
• Comfort building structure, improving processes, and operating effectively in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.
• Interest in using AI and automation to scale HR processes and improve the employee and manager experience.

Nice to have

• Law degree, such as a JD or equivalent, preferred but not required.
• Experience with Jira, case-management systems, HRIS tools, or similar tracking platforms.
• Experience supporting a global or multi-state workforce.
• Experience building employee relations programs, operating models, templates, or playbooks in a scaling company.