Senior People & Operations Partner

Carvana; Tempe, Northern (AZ, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Carvana is seeking a Senior Talent Partner to serve as a strategic, hands-on connector between business leaders and People Ops. You’ll co-create talent strategies, groom leaders, and drive initiatives across performance, engagement, and development in a fast-growing, on-site environment.

You will partner with executives, design roadmaps for attraction and retention, and lead change management while maintaining a bias for action in a dynamic company culture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's in Business, HR, I/O Psychology, or related field preferred.
• 5+ years in Operations Leadership, Talent Development, OD, HR, Training, or related field.
• 2+ years partnering with senior leaders on talent initiatives, including coaching managers.
• Experience with HR tech required — Workday experience is a bonus.
• Strong organizational and project management chops.
• Comfortable communicating in person and through tech (email, Slack, Zoom).
• Ability to dig into data, spot trends, and turn insights into action.
• Willingness to travel 25–35% of the time to support teams in the field.

Responsibilities

• Drive organizational impact through a consistent on-site presence, building real partnerships with leaders, peers, stakeholders, and SMEs.
• Co-create people and talent strategies with assigned departments—mapping out roadmaps for attraction, engagement, development, coaching, and retention.
• Be the trusted advisor who anticipates needs and builds contingency plans.
• Bridge between business leaders and People Ops teams—maximizing impact and reducing redundancy.
• Coach managers and leaders 1:1 and help them hit commitments with honest, timely feedback.
• Run talent needs assessments and stay ahead of internal and external trends, prioritizing big rocks first.
• Design and drive talent initiatives that improve processes and level up leaders.
• Track performance against key talent metrics and use data to inform decisions.
• Support performance management and career path development; promote a growth culture.
• Stay aligned with business strategy to ensure relevant, timely talent advice.
• Lead large-scale change management within departments with strong communication skills.
• Other duties as assigned

Skills

Data analysis

Communication skills

Coaching

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Workday

Job description

About Carvana

If you like disrupting the norm and are looking to join a company revolutionizing an industry then you will LOVE what Carvana has done for the car buying and selling experience. Buying a car the old fashioned way sucks and we are working hard to make it NOT suck. I mean, have you seen our vending machine?! We are looking for people who are excited to thrive in an environment of impactful change. Team spirit is evident at Carvana and everyday we let our passions and creativity foster innovation. We take big swings, set ambitious goals, and challenge each other to make data- and process-driven decisions in everything we do.

About the team and position

We don't do boring HR here. As a Senior Talent Partner (Senior People & Operations Partner), you're part strategist, part coach, part culture champion — and fully embedded in the teams you support. You'll partner directly with leaders across the business on everything from performance management and talent development to org design and employee engagement. Think of yourself as the person who connects the dots between great people and great outcomes.

You'll roll up your sleeves (figuratively… or literally, we don't judge) and help build talent programs that actuallywork — not just look good on paper. You'll make smart, data-informed calls even when the picture isn't perfectly clear, and you'll introduce programs and processes that feel like Carvana, not like they came out of an HR textbook. No two days look the same, and that's exactly how we like it.

The ideal candidate is a self-starter who geeks out over solving people challenges, thrives in ambiguity, and gets fired up about continuous improvement. Most importantly, you'll see the impact of your workimmediately — in a company that's moving fast and growing faster.

Work Environment

To effectively cultivate meaningful relationships and drive collaboration and partnership, this is a fully on-site role based at our Corporate Headquarters. We believe that “rolling up our sleeves” and working closely with our leaders is best achieved through frequent, in-person engagement. Expected Travel to various field locations across the country as needed to support talent initiatives.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Drive organizational impact through a consistent on-site presence, building real partnerships with leaders, peers, stakeholders, and SMEs — not just scheduling syncs. That means proactive engagement across channels, including frequent face time at HQ and field locations around the country.
• Co-creating people and talent strategies with your assigned departments — mapping out roadmaps for attraction, engagement, development, coaching, and retention. Turning big-picture strategy into tangible milestones that actually get done.
• Being the trusted advisor who sees around corners — anticipating needs, recommending solutions before anyone asks, and building contingency plans that keep things moving.
• Serving as the bridge between business leaders and People Ops teams (Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, Leadership Development, Benefits & Leaves, HR Ops) — maximizing impact and cutting redundancy.
• Coaching managers and leaders 1:1 — checking in, helping them hit their commitments, and delivering honest, timely feedback (respectfully, of course — we're direct, not rude).
• Running talent needs assessments, looping in the right experts, and staying ahead of internal and external trends. Prioritizing ruthlessly — big rocks first.
• Designing and driving talent initiatives that improve processes, level up leaders, and make the employee experience genuinely better — always with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Tracking performance against key talent metrics, reviewing the data with leaders, and using it to inform real decisions — not just pretty dashboards.
• Supporting performance management, defining career paths, and fostering a culture where development isn't a checkbox — it's the norm.
• Staying plugged into business strategy so your talent advice is always relevant, timely, and forward-looking.
• Leading large-scale change management within your departments — leveraging strong communication skills (written, verbal, and reading-the-room). You know how to influence up and across.
• Other duties as assigned

What You Should Know/Have

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's in Business, HR, I/O Psychology, or related field preferred
• 5+ years in Operations Leadership, Talent Development, OD, HR, Training, or a related field
• 2+ years partnering with senior leaders on talent initiatives, including coaching managers
• Experience with HR tech required — Workday experience is a bonus
• Strong organizational and project management chops
• Comfortable communicating in person and through tech (email, Slack, Zoom — you know, the usual)
• Ability to dig into data, spot trends, and turn insights into action
• High integrity — no shortcuts, no BS
• Confident presenting to groups and making complex ideas click
• Natural ability to coach and motivate others to move
• Energy, drive, and a bias toward getting things done
• Can operate autonomously — you don't need someone looking over your shoulder
• Willingness to travel 25–35% of the time to support teams in the field

Other requirements

To be able to do your job at Carvana, there are some basic requirements we want to share with you.

• Must be able to read, write, speak and understand English.

Of course, we’ll make any reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their jobs.

Legal stuff

Hiring is contingent on passing a complete background check. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Carvana is an equal employment opportunity employer. All applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, age, mental or physical disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law. Carvana also prohibits harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories.

Please note this job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.