Principal HR Business Partner

Engine; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company Stock Options (Every employee)

Great Health Benefits

Fertility Benefits

HSA Company contribution

401(k) with a 4% match

Disability Insurance

Paid Family and Caregiver's Leave

Employee Assistance Program

Generous Vacation Time

One-time $500 home office stipend

Wellness Days

Floating holiday

Pet Insurance

Learning & Career Growth resources

Job summary

WP Engine seeks a Principal Employee Experience HR Business Partner to partner with our Marketing organization and Global Corporate Functions. You will advise senior leaders on talent strategy, structure, and change, acting as a trusted advocate for people and culture.

You'll lead design and change initiatives across global functions, coach executives, and own talent planning in coordination with Centers of Excellence. This role is based in Austin with a hybrid office expectation.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive HR Business Partner experience, including direct partnership with VP+ and C-suite leaders.
• Commercially fluent with growth drivers, P&L dynamics, and how functions create value.
• Pragmatic problem solver with demonstrated judgment and trusted decision-making.
• Independent, confident voice able to defend viewpoints under pressure.
• Genuine employee advocate who builds trust across levels and stakeholders.
• Clear, executive-ready communication translating complex info into recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Advise the business; partner with executives on strategy, structure, talent and change.
• Champion people and culture; understand experiences and articulate impact on teams.
• Lead org design, operating model shifts, and change initiatives across global functions.
• Coach leaders; provide candid coaching on leadership, inclusion, and team dynamics.
• Own talent strategy for client groups; drive performance, development, compensation, ER and planning.
• Collaborate with Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Ops, Systems to surface insights.

Skills

HRBP experience

Executive partnership

Change management

Coaching leaders

Employee advocacy

Communication

Job description

We engage the most inspired minds to do their best work wherever they work best-powering the freedom to create worldwide.

WP Engine empowers companies and agencies of all sizes to build, power, manage, and optimize their WordPress websites and applications with confidence. Serving 1.5 million customers across 150+ countries, the global technology company provides premium, enterprise-grade solutions, tools, and services, including specialized platforms for WordPress, industry-tailored eCommerce and agency solution suites, and developer-centric tools like Local, Advanced Custom Fields, and more. WP Engine's innovative technology and industry-leading expertise are why 8% of the web visits a WP Engine-powered site daily. Learn more at wpengine.com.

WP Engine is looking for a Principal Employee Experience (HR) Business Partner to be the strategic talent partner for our Marketing organization and Global Corporate Functions (Finance, Enterprise Systems/Corporate IT, and Revenue Operations).

This role sits at the intersection of business strategy and people. You'll be a trusted advisor to senior executives, helping them see the talent and organizational implications of their decisions before they make them, and you'll be an advocate for the people in these teams, someone who knows what it actually feels like to work here and feels personally responsible for protecting and strengthening our culture. The best Business Partners hold both of these at once: deep commercial acumen and a genuine connection to the employee experience. That's who we're looking for.

What You'll Do

• Advise the business. Partner with executive leadership on strategy, structure, and talent. You assess the people and business impact of proposed changes, bring an independent and evidence-backed point of view, and help leaders find the path that holds up over time. You escalate when warranted and move fast once the call is made.
• Champion our people and culture. Stay close to the teams you support. Understand their experience firsthand, elevate what you hear, and ensure decisions about pace, structure, and priorities account for their impact on people. Be a visible steward of WP Engine's values.
• Lead org design and change. Guide organizational design, operating model shifts, and change initiatives across multiple global functions, with a plan for how people move through the change and not just the end state.
• Coach leaders. Provide candid, practical coaching to senior executives and their teams on leadership effectiveness, team dynamics, inclusion, and nuanced people matters.
• Own the talent strategy for your client groups. Drive performance and development cycles, compensation planning, employee relations and workforce planning in partnership with our Centers of Excellence.
• Strengthen the EE function. You collaborate closely with Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Operations, Systems, etc, bringing them in early and sharing context generously. You surface what you're seeing across your client groups, give and take feedback well, and elevate others.

Who You Are

• An experienced HRBP. 8+ years of progressive HR Business Partner experience, including direct partnership with VP+ and C-suite leaders, ideally in tech or a high-growth environment.
• Commercially fluent. You understand growth drivers, P&L dynamics, and how marketing and corporate functions create value, and you translate that into talent strategy leaders actually use.
• A pragmatic problem solver. You find the path that balances risk and outcome, and you have a track record of judgment leaders trust.
• A confident, independent voice. You form your own view, share it clearly, and hold it under pressure.
• A genuine employee advocate. You care about how it feels to work here. You build trust across levels, and people bring you things because they know you'll handle it fairly.
• A skilled communicator. You distill complex information into clear, executive-ready recommendations, and you deliver hard truths in a way that people trust you more, not less, for having heard them.

Candidates must be in a commutable distance from downtown Austin and comfortable being in the office an average of 2 days per week.

The Perks & Benefits

• Company Stock Options (Every employee is an owner in the company)
• Great Health Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance)
• Fertility Benefits (IVF/Fertility drug coverage)
• HSA Company contribution
• 401(k) with a 4% match
• Disability Insurance
• Paid Family and Caregiver's Leave
• Employee Assistance Program
• Generous Vacation Time (Who doesn't like time off)
• One-time $500 payment to set up your home office
• 4 Company Wellness Days a year
• 1 floating holiday
• Pet Insurance
• On-going education through LinkedIn Learning, Workday Learning and our Career Growth Portal

At WP Engine, we strive to have the broadest possible view of diversity, going beyond visible differences to include the background, experiences, skills, and perspectives that make each person uni