Senior People Partner- HRBP

Smartbear; Somerville (MA); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 162,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Birthday off

Hybrid work options

Professional development opportunities

Inclusive culture

Job summary

SmartBear in Somerville, MA is seeking a Senior People Partner to serve as a trusted advisor to Engineering and Product leadership in the U.S., while supporting G&A teams and aligning people priorities with business goals.

In this role you will coach leaders on organizational design, performance, talent development, compensation and employee relations, while using engagement data to drive practical improvements across a fast-moving organization.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of HR Business Partner or People Partner experience advising leaders in dynamic organizations.
• Experience partnering with R&D organizations, especially Engineering and Product.
• Strong business acumen and ability to connect people priorities to business goals.
• Experience coaching leaders through performance, talent development, and organizational change.
• Ability to leverage employee feedback and people data to drive decisions.
• Clear, collaborative communication across levels, functions, geographies, and time zones.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Engineering and Product leaders in the U.S., supporting G&A teams and aligning people priorities with business goals.
• Coach leaders on organizational design, performance, talent development, compensation, and employee relations.
• Use employee feedback and data to identify themes and implement improvements.
• Collaborate with People & Culture to strengthen retention, succession, and development initiatives.
• Work with global People Partners to balance consistency with local context across regions.

Job description

SmartBear delivers application integrity for modern tech stacks, ensuring continuous, measurable assurance that software just works as intended with governance to operate at AI speed and scale. SmartBear offers deep test automation, API lifecycle management, and observability capabilities. With integrations across the SDLC, it sets a new quality standard for application delivery teams. SmartBear is trusted by developers, testers, and software engineers across 32,000 organizations, including 75% of the largest financial institutions and industry leaders such as Adobe, JetBlue, and Microsoft. SmartBear’s open source tools are downloaded more than 100 million times a month and have earned over 30,000 GitHub stars from the developer community. With its best-loved brands, including Swagger, TestComplete, Reflect, QMetry, Zephyr, and more, SmartBear meets customers where they are to make our technology-driven world a better place. Learn more at www.smartbear.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, X, and Reddit.

Senior People Partner (HRBP)

• Partner with Engineering and Product leaders in the U.S., while also supporting G&A teams, to connect people priorities with business goals.
• Coach leaders and managers on organizational effectiveness, talent, performance, engagement, and employee relations across a growing, fast-moving environment.
• Collaborate with People Partners in EMEA and APAC on global Engineering and Product initiatives, bringing a consistent employee experience across regions.

About the Role

• Serve as a trusted People Partner to Engineering and Product teams in the U.S., with additional support for G&A, translating business priorities into practical people plans.
• Coach leaders and managers on organizational design, performance, talent development, compensation, employee relations, and team effectiveness.
• Use employee feedback, engagement insights, and people data to identify themes and partner with leaders on focused, actionable improvements.
• Partner with People & Culture colleagues to strengthen talent retention, succession, and development approaches that support business needs and employee growth.
• Collaborate with local People Partners in EMEA and APAC on Engineering and Product initiatives, balancing global consistency with local context.
• Build strong relationships across the business and People & Culture team, working flexibly across time zones when global collaboration is needed. This role reports to the Sr. Director, People Partner.

We are looking for you if you have

• 8-10 years of HR Business Partner or People Partner experience, with a track record of advising leaders in dynamic, evolving organizations; experience partnering with R&D organizations, particularly Engineering and Product, is strongly preferred.
• Strong business acumen and the ability to connect people priorities to team and company goals while keeping solutions practical and employee-centered.
• Experience coaching leaders through performance, talent, organizational change, employee relations, and team effectiveness topics.
• Comfort using employee feedback and people data to identify patterns, shape recommendations, and support thoughtful decision-making.
• Clear, collaborative communication skills and the ability to build trust and influence across levels, functions, geographies, and time zones.
• A pragmatic, curious, and inclusive approach, with sound judgment and a willingness to roll up your sleeves when needed.

Why you should join the SmartBear crew

• You can grow your career at every level.
• We invest in your success as well as the spaces where our teams come together to work, collaborate, and have fun.
• We love celebrating our SmartBears; we even encourage our crew to take their birthdays off.
• We are guided by a People and Culture organization - an important distinction for us. We think about our team holistically – the whole person.
• We celebrate our differences in experiences, viewpoints, and identities because we know it leads to better outcomes.

Did you know?

• Our main goal at SmartBear is to make our technology-driven world a better place.
• SmartBear is committed to ethical corporate practices and social responsibility, promoting good in all the communities we serve.
• SmartBear is headquartered in Somerville, MA with offices across the world including Galway Ireland, Bath, UK, Wroclaw, Poland and Bangalore, India.
• We’ve won major industry (product and company) awards including SD Times, DeveloperWeek's Devies Award, the AI Breakthrough Award, and BuiltIn Best Places to Work.

SmartBear is committed to creating an inclusive workplace for employees where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. We are an equal opportunity employer and make employment decisions based on merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, gender, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace that reflects a diversity of thought and experience as well as our values of being smart, open, driven, accountable, and curious.

#LI-AS1

At SmartBear, we believe transparency in pay is part of how we build trust—with our employees, candidates, and community. Our compensation philosophy is grounded in market competitiveness, internal equity, and rewarding impact.

We encourage candidates to view compensation as part of their total rewards experience at SmartBear. This includes performance-based bonuses for eligible roles, a generous benefits package that supports employees’ health and well-being, and promotes work-life balance through flexible time off and hybrid work options. You can build your career at SmartBear through professional development opportunities, and an inclusive, collaborative culture where everyone can thrive.

Your SmartBear total rewards compensation package includes base salary and may also include a performance bonus plan. The base salary range for this role is listed below. Actual compensation is determined based on several factors, including relevant experience, skills, internal equity, and geographic location.

Estimated Base Salary Range

$135,000 — $162,250 USD