Senior HR Business Partner (Contract to Hire)

Exowatt is revolutionizing the energy landscape for the AI era with our groundbreaking P3 system that captures solar energy, stores it as heat, and generates electricity on demand. Founded in 2023 and backed by leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, and Felicis, we're committed to providing clean, modular, and scalable power that meets the rapidly growing demands of AI infrastructure. Our mission is to make sustainable renewable energy always available and almost free, enabling technological advancement while protecting our planet.

Our flagship product, the Exowatt P3, captures solar energy as heat, stores it in a long-duration thermal battery, and converts it to electricity whenever it's needed - no fossil backup required. We're building the energy infrastructure that lets AI, and the industries built on it, keep scaling sustainably.

As a Senior HR Business Partner (Contract to Hire) at Exowatt, you will serve as a strategic partner to leaders across our engineering and operations teams. This is a 6-month contract role to start, based in Austin and reporting to the Head of People & Talent. You'll help shape and execute people strategies that enable scale, strengthen leadership, and drive high performance as we grow from breakthrough technology into full-scale manufacturing and deployment.

Partnering closely with managers and senior leaders, you'll provide counsel on organizational design, performance management, talent planning, and employee relations while balancing near-term priorities with long-term organizational health and cultural integrity. You'll use data-driven insights and sound judgment to identify trends, influence decisions, and drive high-impact initiatives that elevate the employee experience and strengthen manager capability.

This role is based in Austin, TX and only local candidates are being considered.

What You'll Do

Strategic Business Partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to leaders and managers. Anticipate organizational needs, connect people strategy to business outcomes, and challenge assumptions through evidence and insight.

Performance Management & Talent Strategy: Run end-to-end performance review and talent review cycles with rigor and fairness; goal setting, calibration, ratings, and merit/equity refresh planning. Coach managers to recognize and reward top performance, address underperformance, and build high-performing, inclusive teams, ensuring outcomes are well-documented and clearly tied to compensation decisions.

Organizational Design & Effectiveness: Partner with leaders to design scalable org structures, strengthen alignment, and enable growth. Use workforce analytics and org design principles to optimize spans, layers, and team health.

Coaching & Influence: Build trusted relationships with managers and leaders, providing candid, actionable feedback that sharpens leadership effectiveness. Reinforce Exowatt's cultural principles and managerial excellence through coaching and systems.

Compensation & Total Rewards: Partner with the Head of People & Talent on compensation strategy and execution; benchmarking roles against market data, maintaining salary bands, and guiding managers through offer, promotion, and adjustment decisions with consistency and equity. Help employees and managers understand the full value of their rewards; base, equity, and benefits; through clear communication and education that builds trust and transparency.

Analytical & Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage people data to identify trends, diagnose root causes, and drive measurable improvements in organizational health.

Project Management & Operational Excellence: Drive cross-functional people initiatives end-to-end; from scoping and planning to execution and follow-through. Balance strategic impact with hands-on execution to ensure scalability and continuous improvement.

Cultural Stewardship & Employee Experience: Model and amplify Exowatt's values and performance standards. Ensure fairness, inclusion, and consistency in decision-making. Surface patterns in sentiment and proactively strengthen engagement and trust.

You'd Be a Great Fit If You

• Have 8+ years of progressive HR experience, including 3+ years as an HR Business Partner supporting senior leaders in high-growth or scaling environments; ideally including hardware, energy, manufacturing, or deep-tech companies.

• Are a strategic operator who can anticipate organizational needs, translate business priorities into people strategies, and influence through credibility and insight.

• Are data-driven, using qualitative and quantitative insights to inform decision-making, program design, and measurement of impact.

• Are a trusted coach and advisor, capable of balancing candor and empathy while influencing at all levels.

• Have strong working knowledge of org design, performance management, employee relations, and leadership development.

• Can ramp quickly and deliver impact within a defined engagement; comfortable operating with autonomy from day one.

• Thrive in fast-paced, high-growth settings where agility, sound judgment, and ownership are essential.

• Model Exowatt's cultural principles and uphold our high-performance standard, driving clarity, accountability, and continuous improvement.

• Can travel to our Miami headquarters to collaborate with other leaders and build relationships with the team