Senior HR Business Partner - Engineering, Product, and Design

About Decagon Decagon is the leading conversational AI platform empowering every brand to deliver concierge customer experiences. Our technology enables industry-defining enterprises like Avis Budget Group, Block’s Cash App and Square, Chime, Oura Health, and Hunter Douglas to deploy AI agents that power personalized, deeply satisfying interactions across voice, chat, email, SMS, and every other channel. We’re building a future where customer experiences are being redefined from support tickets and hold music to faster resolutions, richer conversations, and deeper relationships. We’re proud to be backed by world-class investors who share that vision, including a16z, Accel, Bain Capital Ventures, Coatue, and Index Ventures, along with many others. We’re an in-office company, driven by a shared commitment to excellence and velocity. Our values — Just Get It Done, Invent What Customers Want, Winner’s Mindset, and The Polymath Principle — shape how we work and grow as a team. About the Role As Decagon grows from 400 to 1,000+ employees, we are seeking a Senior HR Business Partner to serve as a trusted advisor to leaders across our Engineering, Product and Design organizations. This is a foundational role: you'll provide hands-on partnership to executives and managers while building out the HRBP function for scale. You'll help us anticipate organizational needs, shape leadership effectiveness, and ensure our people strategy supports Decagon's rapid SaaS growth — with particular depth in the mechanics of technical teams. You'll also establish the frameworks, playbooks, and practices that will become the backbone of our HRBP team as we scale globally. In this role, you will own: Strategic Partnership & Org Effectiveness - Act as a strategic advisor to senior leaders across Engineering, Product and Design orgs - Partner with executives on org design, workforce planning, territory/coverage models, and team effectiveness. - Partner with Finance on headcount planning, sales compensation design, and comp cycle execution for GTM orgs. - Build the playbooks and frameworks — onboarding, ramp, performance calibration, comp cycles — tailored to the pace and structure of Engineering, Product & Design teams. Performance, Coaching & Culture - Provide coaching to leaders and managers on performance, feedback, and people leadership, including sitting in on difficult conversations and providing immediate, actionable feedback. - Coach frontline and second-line engineering & product leaders on inspection rigor and differentiating performance in a quota-driven environment. - Drive consistent and fair performance management, promotions, and career development processes. - Use people and business data — attrition, impact, productivity — to proactively flag talent and retention risk before it becomes a business problem. Employee Relations & Leadership Coaching - Serve as a trusted advisor on complex employee relations matters within Engineering & Product, balancing fairness, business need, and compliance. - Build a culture of trust and transparency by advising leaders on communication, recognition, and engagement strategies. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Change - Collaborate with People Ops, People COEs, and Talent Acquisition to ensure seamless onboarding, engagement, and employee experience. - Own change management initiatives, guiding teams through periods of transformation and growth. - Define and implement the HRBP operating model, setting the foundation for a growing HRBP team. - Serve as a cultural ambassador, ensuring our values are embedded in everyday leadership and decision-making. Your background looks something like this - 8+ years of experience in HR, with a strong track record as an HRBP or People Partner in high-growth SaaS or tech companies, ideally supporting Engineering, Product, Design teams. - Experience advising executive and senior leaders across multiple functions. - Expertise in org design, change management, workforce planning, and succession planning. - Strong understanding of performance management, employee relations, compensation, and engagement practices. - Demonstrated ability to scale HRBP or People Partner functions from early stages into mature teams. - Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; able to build trust at all levels of the company. - Comfortable operating in both strategic and hands-on capacities in a dynamic, fast-changing environment. Even better if you have - You thrive in hypergrowth SaaS environments where ambiguity is the norm. - You bring global HR experience (multi-country orgs, EORs, compliance at scale) — particularly relevant given Decagon's Engineering & Product orgs are among the first to scale internationally. - You've worked closely with Finance on headcount planning and engineering capacity planning. - You bring an AI-forward mindset to HR operations — using tools to automate repetitive HRBP work and free up time for strategic partnership. Benefits We proudly offer the following benefits for our full-time employees: - Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits for you and your family - Life Insurance and Disability Benefits - Retirement Plan (e.g., 401K, pension) - Parental Leave - Fertility and family building benefits through Carrot - Monthly stipend to support your wellness, lifestyle, and work-life balance - Daily lunches and snacks in the office to keep you at your best - Take what you need vacation policy (subject to local requirements; UK employees receive 25 days of statutory leave) These benefits are described in more detail in Decagon’s policies, may vary by location, and can change at any time according to applicable compensation and benefits plans.