Principal People Business Partner

Harness is the AI Software Delivery Platform company, led by technologist and entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal (founder of AppDynamics, acquired by Cisco for $3.7B). Harness has raised approximately $570M in funding and is valued at $5.5B, backed by leading investors including Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Unusual Ventures, Citi Ventures, and more. As AI accelerates code creation, the real bottleneck has shifted to everything after the code – testing, deployments, application security, reliability, compliance, and cost optimization. Harness brings AI and automation to this “outer loop,” helping teams ship software faster while maintaining security and governance throughout the entire software delivery lifecycle. Powered by Harness AI and the Software Delivery Knowledge Graph, the Harness Platform applies deep context and intelligent automation across the software delivery lifecycle with governance and policy-driven controls embedded throughout the platform. Over the past year, Harness powered over 185M deployments, 82M builds, 18T flag evaluations, 8M security scans, 9.1B optimized tests, 3T protected API calls, and helped manage $2.8B in cloud spend — enabling customers like United Airlines, Morningstar, and Choice Hotels to accelerate releases by up to 75%, reduce cloud costs by up to 60%, and achieve 10x DevOps efficiency. With a global team across 26 offices and 27 countries, Harness is shaping the future of AI software delivery — and we’re looking for exceptional talent to help us move even faster. Position Summary We are seeking a Principal People Business Partner (PBP) to serve as the senior People advisor to our Customer Success, Marketing, Finance and Legal leadership, shaping how our teams are structured, developed and led as we scale in a high-growth global tech environment. This role drives People programs from start to finish, leads the most complex and high-stakes employee relations matters, and shapes how Customer Success, Marketing, Finance and Legal teams are organized for growth. You will represent the People function in Customer Success, Marketing, Finance and Legal leadership team meetings, share your expertise and best practices with fellow PBPs, and set the direction for how AI and automation scale our People programs. You will work alongside the Global PBP team, sharing methodology, tools and project work. Key Responsibilities Strategic Business Partnership • Serve as a trusted advisor to C-Level Executives across Customer Success, Marketing, Finance and Legal on talent strategy, workforce planning, succession and org effectiveness • Lead org design conversations with senior leaders and shape how Customer Success, Marketing, Finance and Legal teams are organized for scale • Represent the People function in Customer Success, Marketing, Finance and Legal leadership team meetings and shape people decisions aligned with the broader People strategy • Pair data with deep business understanding to tell stories, surface systemic risks and recommend high-impact solutions Employee Relations • Lead complex, high-stakes ER matters and investigations in partnership with Legal to proactively manage risk with discretion and appropriate independence • Advise senior leaders on difficult performance, conduct and org design decisions • Hold a high bar for performance across your client groups by reviewing underperformance trends and keeping senior leadership informed of systemic risks Talent & Performance • Drive People programs from start to finish, including mid-year and year-end performance cycles, talent reviews and compensation planning, and continuously improve them based on data and feedback • Partner across the function (Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, L&D and People Operations) to ensure global programs are applied consistently and with local and functional relevance • Lead talent planning and succession across your client groups and keep senior leadership informed of performance and retention trends Innovation & Scale • Drive automation strategy for the PBP function by evaluating and deploying AI tools that scale People programs in partnership with People Operations • Lead innovation in People programs and help the team navigate ambiguity through company-wide change Collaboration & Growth • Lead cross-functional collaboration with Legal, Finance, IT and other teams as needed, driving alignment and trust across departments • Partner with People Operations, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Workplace and L&D to drive talent strategy • Coach and mentor teammates across the People team, and establish knowledge-sharing practices that elevate the PBP practice What we're looking for • 10+ years of People Business Partner or HRBP experience, including advising C-Suite level executives, ideally in a global organization • Experience in tech, SaaS or other high-growth environments • Proven track record as a trusted advisor to executive leaders on talent strategy, workforce planning, succession and org design • Deep expertise across org design, change management, performance management, leadership development and employee relations, including leading complex, high-stakes matters with Legal • Strong knowledge of federal and local employment law, with sound independent judgment • Data-driven approach, with the ability to turn people metrics into compelling stories and recommendations • Ability to lead through ambiguity, work independently with urgency, and drive work to completion across teams • Excellent communication at all levels, with a record of building bridges across silos • Has built, deployed or led adoption of AI-assisted workflows for HR tasks, and can make the business case for People technology Work Location • San Francisco (hybrid) What you'll have at Harness • Competitive salary • Comprehensive healthcare benefits • Flexible Spending Account (FSA) • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) • Flexible Time Off and Parental Leave •