Senior People Business Partner - EMEA

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co.

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

About the role

We're looking for a Senior People Business Partner in EMEA, supporting employees across Germany, Sweden, England, and other emerging geographies. You'll partner directly with country leaders at a company where the region is growing quickly, decisions are made in days, and priorities shift. You'll lead through influence, building trust with leaders in the region and with the People team at HQ in Sunnyvale, California.

You are the senior People leader for the region, and the People function for EMEA runs through you. You'll own end-to-end People programs in every area starting at onboarding, and you'll be ready to direct stakeholders across the entire employee lifecycle, from onboarding through exit: regional leaders, managers, HQ People Operations, Payroll, Legal, Total Rewards, and local advisors and vendors. You set the priorities, assign the owners, and drive each issue to resolution.

We expect our PBPs to lead with high agency, and this role carries that expectation further than any other. You'll set the regional People agenda, make the calls, and drive outcomes the way a regional Chief People Officer would, with specialist partners at HQ to pull in when you need them.

Location: Munich, Germany Reports to: Chief People Officer

At Applied Intuition, you will:

• Be the senior People leader and business strategist for EMEA. Understand where the regional business is going and bring leaders a clear point of view, with the tradeoffs of each option laid out. Translate business goals into talent decisions: org design, workforce planning, leveling, and succession. Use data to spot attrition risk, capability gaps, and structural problems before the business feels them, and treat your leaders as customers whose success is your measure.

• Lead end-to-end People programs for the region. Own the employee experience across the region: onboarding, payroll and benefits coordination, leave, compensation, performance, engagement, and employee relations, working within local employment requirements. Be scrappy when the moment calls for it: where infrastructure doesn't exist yet, build a working version yourself and refine it as you go.

• Direct stakeholders across the employee lifecycle. Take the lead with HQ People Operations, Payroll, Legal, Total Rewards, and local advisors and vendors. Set priorities by risk, impact, and reversibility, assign owners and deadlines, and stay on each issue until the employee or manager has a complete answer. Build self-service resources, manager guides, and clear escalation paths so the regional People function doesn't depend on any one person.

• Connect Sunnyvale and EMEA. Make sure regional perspectives are part of global decisions early, and make global programs work locally. Know what has to stay consistent worldwide and what should flex by country, and bring HQ recommendations with the tradeoffs laid out, not just concerns. Treat each country in the region as its own environment, not as one market.

• Lead the region through growth and change. Support expansion into new countries and entities, reorganizations, and leadership transitions with a clear plan, narrative, and follow-through with managers and teams.

• Increase talent density. Lead calibration, promotion, and talent review for the region. Identify and develop top talent, coach managers to raise the bar on their teams, and handle performance and employee relations issues with judgment, discretion, and dignity. Move fast and move safe.

We are looking for someone who has:

• 8+ years of HR experience, with at least 3 years partnering directly with senior leaders, preferably in a high-tech environment, and experience as the sole or lead People leader for a region or country.

• Breadth across the full HR function: employee relations, compensation, payroll and leave administration, performance management, org design, and engagement. You move comfortably from an individual employee's pay issue to a reorganization conversation with an executive on the same day.

• Working knowledge of employment practices and requirements in Germany, Sweden, and England and the judgment to know when a question needs local counsel or another specialist before you act.

• Strong business acumen. You understand how the business makes money, where the constraints are, and how talent decisions affect outcomes, and you can speak that language with executives.

• Leadership and high agency. You've been the senior People leader for a region or business with minimal direction, directed partners across payroll, legal, benefits, and vendors without formal authority, and made decisions with incomplete information.

• Strong judgment. You know when to move fast, when to slow down an irreversible decision, and when to bring in partners, and leaders trust your read on sensitive, ambiguous situations.

• A record of influencing in both directions. You've advocated for a region with headquarters and challenged regional leaders when needed, and you can tell the difference between a legal requirement, a business need, and a preference.

• A record of leading change, not just supporting it, including implementing global programs locally and guiding teams through growth or reorganization.

• Fluency with data and clear, concise, direct communication, and the discipline to prioritize ruthlessly when everything feels urgent.

• Business-level fluency in the local language is a plus. Comfort working across time zones with a People team based in California.

Nice to have:

• Experience supporting engineering, research, or other highly technical organizations.

• Experience supporting a region through entity setup or expansion into new countries, including work with an employer of record or PEO.

• Experience building People programs from scratch in a high-growth company.

Benefits

• 30 days of paid vacation per year

• Daily meal benefits: €19 lunch budget and €19 dinner budget, free breakfast, snacks, and drinks in the office

• You’ll receive €965 annual learning & development and €580 annual fitness budget

• Subsidized Wellpass membership, giving you access to thousands of gyms, studios, and wellness facilities across Germany

• €25 monthly contribution to your Deutschlandticket for regional public transport across Germany

• Generous parental leave: on top of statutory parental leave

• Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

• Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.

• FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available, requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way, and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request. If you require an accommodation please contact [email protected]. We will work with you!