Senior HR Partner, USC Athletics

University of Southern California; Glendale (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Southern California is seeking a Senior HR Partner to serve as a trusted strategic advisor to USC Athletics. This role partners with leaders to align people strategies with goals across coaches, staff, and contractors, while collaborating with HR Centers of Expertise to deliver integrated solutions.

The position demands executive-facing coaching, strong relationship building, and the ability to navigate complex employee relations, investigations, and performance issues with sound

Qualifications

• Seven or more years of experience in HR or human capital management.
• Broad HR domain knowledge including total rewards, employee and labor relations, talent management, and organizational development.
• Experience consulting with business unit leaders on talent strategies and workforce planning.
• Ability to present complex information to executive leadership.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to USC Athletics, understanding business, people, culture, and goals.
• Provide proactive HR consultation, coaching, and guidance to leaders at all levels.
• Advise on workforce planning, change management, succession planning, and performance management.
• Manage employee and labor relations matters, including investigations and disciplinary actions.
• Coach leaders through complex people decisions and challenge assumptions when needed.
• Collaborate with USC HR Centers of Expertise to deliver talent, rewards, analytics, and development solutions.
• Leverage data and insights to support hiring, promotions, compensation, and talent decisions.
• Communicate HR policies clearly to enable action by leaders and staff.

Skills

Strategic advisory

Relationship building

Employee relations

HR guidance

Coaching & mentoring

Executive communication

Analytical problem solving

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in business/HR or related field

Advanced degree in business/HR or related field

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Workday HCM analytics

Job description

Position Overview

USC Human Resources, Ethics, and Compliance (HREC) is seeking an experienced Senior HR Partner to serve as a trusted strategic advisor to USC Athletics.

USC Athletics is a dynamic and highly visible organization with a unique operating environment spanning coaches, contract and non-contract employees, and staff across its programs and operations. The Senior HR Partner will work closely with Athletics leaders to understand the organization, build trusted relationships, and provide strategic HR guidance across complex people and organizational needs.

This position is part of University Human Resources' Client Services, reports to a Director, and is assigned to USC Athletics to provide dedicated HR partnership while collaborating with USC's HR Centers of Expertise.

Learn more about USC Athletics: https://usctrojans.com/

The Opportunity

The Senior HR Partner will join a complex, hands‑on client environment where responsiveness, sound judgment, and understanding how decisions impact the broader organization will be essential to success.

The role requires someone who can confidently coach and consult with leaders and drive people strategies that build a culture aligned with organizational goals and priorities. The role requires the ability to navigate difficult conversations, manage employee relations matters and workplace investigations. The Senior HR Partner also provides guidance to HR Partners and Associate HR Partners.

This opportunity is well suited for an experienced HR professional who is approachable, resourceful, and comfortable advising executive leaders. The successful candidate will be able to work with autonomy, know when to escalation or involve the appropriate HR subject matter experts, and balance responsive client service with thoughtful HR guidance.

Key Accountabilities

• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to the assigned client organization, developing a strong understanding of its business, people, culture, priorities, and long‑term goals.
• Build relationships with employees and leaders at all levels, providing proactive HR consultation, coaching, and guidance.
• Participate in strategic planning and advise leaders on workforce planning, change management, succession planning, performance management, talent development, and organizational effectiveness strategies.
• Manage and resolve employee and labor relations matters, including workplace investigations, performance concerns, disciplinary actions, and other sensitive employee matters.
• Coach leaders through complex people decisions and provide thoughtful HR guidance, including appropriately challenging assumptions when needed.
• Partner with USC HR Centers of Expertise to deliver solutions across Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, HR systems and analytics, learning and organizational development, and other HR functions.
• Leverage workforce data, employee feedback, and organizational insights to support hiring, promotion, compensation, professional development, succession planning, and other talent decisions.
• Communicate complex HR policies, practices, and employment requirements in ways that enable leaders and employees to understand and act.
• Manage competing priorities and changing business needs with sound judgment, discretion, responsiveness, and follow‑through.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and guidance to HR Partners and Associate HR Partners and contribute to a collaborative HR environment.
• Maintain current knowledge of HR leading practices and applicable federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.

Performs other related duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Work Schedule & Work Arrangement

The regular work schedule for this position is Monday through Friday. This position follows a hybrid‑fixed work arrangement with an expectation of working onsite at least three days per week and remotely two days per week. Additional onsite days will be required during onboarding and to meet client needs.

Onsite days will be spent within the assigned client organization. Travel between USC locations is required based on client and business needs.

The university reserves the right to modify work schedules and arrangements based on business needs.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in business, psychology, human resources, industrial relations or related field.
• Seven or more years of experience in human resources or human capital management.
• In‑depth understanding of and experience working in a broad spectrum of HR domains including total rewards (including compensation), employee and labor relations, talent management (including performance management, learning and development), continuous process improvement, change management, training, community and inclusion, workforce planning, and organizational development and design.
• Demonstrated success in consulting with business unit leaders about talent management strategies including workforce planning, talent assessments, employee and labor relations and performance management.
• Ability to work with multiple leaders and manage competing priorities.
• Experience with presenting complex and sensitive information articulately through presentations or reports to executive leadership.
• Excellent mentoring and coaching skills to enhance client management and leadership abilities and relationships among teams.
• Analytical and problem‑solving skills including conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects with diverse teams.
• Ability to learn quickly and flexibly adapt HR expertise to different business units.
• Ability to develop positive working relationships and a rapport with team members.
• Ability to manage one or more direct reports.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite.

Preferred Requirements

• Advanced degree in business, psychology, human resources, industrial relations or related field.
• Ten or more years of experience in human resources or human capital management.
• Experience in higher education and/or consulting.
• Experience supporting collegiate athletics, professional sports, or a related sports organization.
• Knowledge of Workday Human Capital Management applications and analytics.
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP), Organization Development Certified Professional Program (ODCP), Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional/Senior Certified Professional (SHRM‑CP/SHRM‑SCP), Professional in Human Resources/Senior Professional in Human Resources (PHR/SPHR) or other similar certifications.

In addition, the successful candidate must also demonstrate, through ideas, words, and actions, a strong commitment to USC's Unifying Values of integrity, excellence, community, well‑being, open communication, and accountability.

Employee Benefits

USC offers a wide variety of benefits and programs that support our staff and their families. This support advocates work‑life balance and employee well‑being. USC employees are connected by the traditions and history that make us proud to be Trojans and the work culture thrives on mutual respect, trust, and synergy amongst all its members. Join us!

The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is $120,000 - $130,000. When determining an offer, the University of Southern California considers factors such as the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate's experience, education, training, key skills, internal peer alignment, applicable laws, contractual requirements, grant funding, and market conditions.

Addtional Education Requirements Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education

Addtional Experience Requirements Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum work experience

Preferred Certifications: SHRM (Human Resource Certification) Professional in Human Resources - PHR Senior Professional in Human Resources - SPHR Or ability to obtain one certification within one year of hire.