Senior Manager - HR Business Partner

About us

Scimplify is a science-first manufacturing company for Advanced Materials: from specialty chemicals to the emerging building blocks of next-generation energy applications, life sciences, and crop sciences.

We scale process development and manufacturing as one continuous system, supported by world-class R&D infrastructure and executed across a global network of 500+ manufacturing partners and thousands of scientists and technical partners. The result: new materials go from molecule to commercial scale in months, not years. Scimplify operates offices and teams across 5 countries with 1,000+ innovator customers in 40+ countries.

We are backed by investors such as Accel, Bertelsmann, Omnivore, Hitachi Ventures and 3one4 Capital, having raised over $80M.

Role overview

We are looking for a Senior HR Business Partner (HRBP) to work closely with the Founders and senior leadership in building and strengthening Scimplify's people practices, HR processes, policies, and organizational capabilities.

This is a strategic yet hands-on role for an HR professional who understands how a business operates and can translate business priorities into effective people practices. The individual will partner with the Founders to understand the business in depth, identify organizational and people-related challenges, and build scalable HR frameworks that support business growth.

The role will have significant ownership in establishing SOPs, designing and implementing HR policies, strengthening organizational effectiveness, and partnering with business leaders on workforce planning, performance management, leadership development, employee relations, and talent retention.

We are looking for someone who has previously built and implemented HR processes and policies from the ground up, ideally in a high-growth startup or evolving business environment, and can operate with ownership, sound judgment, and minimal supervision.

Key responsibilities

1. Strategic Business Partnering

• Work closely with the Founders and business leaders to understand Scimplify's business model, growth plans, operating structure, and organizational priorities.
• Develop a deep understanding of business functions, their operational challenges, talent requirements, and people-related risks.
• Partner with business leaders to translate business objectives into people strategies and actionable HR initiatives.
• Provide data-driven insights and recommendations on organizational effectiveness, workforce productivity, employee retention, and leadership effectiveness.
• Act as a trusted advisor to leadership on people decisions, organizational design, team structures, and workforce planning.
• Proactively identify people-related challenges and develop practical solutions aligned with business priorities.

2. HR Process & Policy Development

• Build, review, and implement HR policies, SOPs, guidelines, and frameworks aligned with Scimplify's evolving business requirements.
• Establish standardized HR processes across the employee lifecycle, ensuring consistency, clarity, and accountability.
• Identify gaps in existing HR practices and introduce scalable processes to support organizational growth.
• Develop clear policy documentation, process workflows, approval matrices, and governance mechanisms.
• Ensure policies are practical, business-friendly, and consistently implemented across teams and locations.
• Periodically review policies and processes to improve efficiency, employee experience, and compliance.

3. Organization Design & Workforce Planning

• Partner with Founders and business leaders on organization structure, role clarity, reporting relationships, and manpower planning.
• Support headcount planning, workforce budgeting, resource allocation, and organizational capability assessment.
• Identify skill gaps, critical roles, succession requirements, and opportunities to improve team effectiveness.
• Help build scalable organizational structures as the business expands into new functions, markets, and geographies.

4. Performance Management & Talent Development

• Design and strengthen performance management frameworks, including goal setting, KPIs, performance reviews, and feedback mechanisms.
• Work with leaders to improve performance accountability and establish a high-performance culture.
• Identify high-potential employees and critical talent; develop retention and career progression strategies.
• Support leadership development, manager capability building, and succession planning.
• Partner with business leaders to address performance gaps and make informed talent decisions.

5. Employee Relations & Culture

• Serve as a trusted point of contact for employees and managers on workplace matters, employee concerns, and organizational challenges.
• Establish structured mechanisms for employee feedback, grievance resolution, and conflict management.
• Help build a culture of ownership, accountability, transparency, and collaboration.
• Drive initiatives to strengthen employee engagement, manager effectiveness, and retention.
• Support change management initiatives and help teams navigate organizational growth and evolving ways of working.

6. HR Operations, Governance & Compliance

• Work closely with HR and relevant business teams to strengthen onboarding, employee documentation, exit management, HR systems, and employee lifecycle processes.
• Establish HR dashboards and people analytics to track headcount, attrition, performance, workforce costs, and other critical metrics.
• Ensure HR policies and practices align with applicable employment laws and statutory requirements, in partnership with relevant specialists where needed.
• Establish appropriate governance, documentation, and approval mechanisms for key people processes.
• Drive continuous improvement and ensure HR processes remain efficient, auditable, and scalable.

7. Founder & Leadership Partnership

• Work directly with the Founders on strategic people initiatives and organization-wide HR priorities.
• Challenge existing practices constructively and recommend solutions that balance business needs, employee experience, and organizational effectiveness.
• Independently drive HR projects from problem identification through design, implementation, and adoption.
• Provide regular updates to leadership on people priorities, policy implementation, organizational risks, and progress against agreed initiatives.

Desired candidate profile

• MBA / PGDM in Human Resources or a relevant postgraduate qualification.
• Approximately 10-15 years of HR experience, with substantial experience in HR business partnering and organizational development.
• Currently working in an HRBP, Senior HRBP, Lead HRBP, or equivalent role with meaningful ownership of business partnering and HR process development.
• Demonstrated experience building and implementing HR policies, SOPs, and frameworks, preferably in a startup, scale-up, or rapidly evolving organization.
• Strong experience partnering directly with Founders, CXOs, business heads, or senior leadership.
• A proven ability to understand business models, operating challenges, and commercial priorities and translate them into effective people practices.
• Experience in performance management, organization design, workforce planning, employee relations, talent management, and change management.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently, navigate ambiguity, influence senior stakeholders, and drive execution without relying on established processes.
• A balance of strategic thinking and hands-on implementation.