Make a meaningful difference to patients around the world. Our talented people are central to the future of Edwards Lifesciences, which is why our Human Resources teams help design, guide, and deliver inspiring experiences for our people. With a fundamental understanding of how to build a supportive community and organizational capability, you’ll deliver solutions to attract and retain talent. Your work will enable our teams to thrive as they help patients live healthier and more productive lives.
As a Director, HR Business Leader, you’ll partner with Global Operations & Quality (GOQ) Strategy, PMO & Analytics, and Digital Integrated Strategy teams to drive business outcomes through talent, workforce, and organizational strategies. As a trusted advisor to senior leaders, you will lead talent and organizational effectiveness initiatives, leverage data-driven insights, and help build the capabilities needed to support business growth, transformation, and employee experience.
This role is based onsite at Edwards Lifesciences' headquarters in Irvine, California. Regular onsite presence five days per week is required to foster collaboration, partnership, and connection with leaders and teams across the organization.
How you’ll make an impact:
Act as a strategic thought partner to GOQ leadership and supported functions, using business and talent insights to guide decision-making, organizational effectiveness, and business performance.
Lead talent and organizational effectiveness strategy execution for GOQ Strategy, PMO & Analytics, and Digital Integrated Strategy, ensuring alignment across functional pillars, HRBL partners and enterprise talent priorities.
Diagnose organizational challenges, partner across HR to design integrated solutions, and proactively anticipate evolving business and workforce needs.
Drive enterprise workforce planning, organizational design, and change management, including development and execution of GOQ Talent & Organization (T&O) strategies. Partner with leaders to assess future capabilities, organizational readiness, and talent implications of business decisions.
Provide HR partnership and organizational insights for key strategic initiatives during initial phases including major programs, M&A integrations, business transformations, and new site selection.
Consolidate and align organizational, talent, and cultural initiatives across GOQ to support prioritization, business alignment, and effective organizational change management.
Partner with HR Centers of Excellence and HRBL peers to deliver integrated talent solutions and connect teams to the appropriate HR practices.
Use analytics, workforce insights, and storytelling to influence workforce decisions, improve organizational performance, and enhance employee experience.
Consult, coach, and support leaders and managers on talent development, organizational effectiveness, leadership effectiveness, and people leadership.
Lead adoption of HR programs, processes, and tools to drive consistency, effectiveness, and impact.
What you’ll need (Required):
Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Management, Organization Development, or related field with 12 years of progressive HR experience, or equivalent experience based on Edwards criteria.
ORMaster’s degree in a related field with 11 years of relevant experience, or equivalent experience based on Edwards criteria.
Travel may be required; percentage varies based on business needs.
What else we look for (Preferred):
Experience with organizational design, enterprise workforce planning, workforce planning methodologies, capability planning, and change management
Broad HR domain expertise with working knowledge across the HR service model and the ability to integrate solutions across multiple HR disciplines.
Demonstrated ability to build trusted partnerships, influence decision-making, and coach leaders across a complex global organization.
Ability to leverage workforce data and insights to support decision-making and communicate effectively.
Experience operating effectively within shared services, matrixed organizations, or enterprise HR operating models.
Familiarity with workforce planning tools and methodologies, HR technologies (e.g., Workday, ServiceNow), and Microsoft tools used to support data-driven decision-making and business planning.
Knowledge of the life sciences industry and business environment.
Strong project management and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives.
High degree of judgment, discretion, and confidentiality.
Adaptable, global mindset with strong written and verbal communication skills.
Commitment to compliance, safety, and environmental standards.
Aligning our overall business objectives with performance, we offer competitive salaries, performance-based incentives, and a wide variety of benefits programs to address the diverse individual needs of our employees and their families. For California, the base pay range for this position is $145,000 to $205,000 (highly experienced). The pay for the successful candidate will depend on various factors (e.g., qualifications, education, prior experience). Applications will be accepted while this position is posted on our Careers website.
Edwards is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer including protected Veterans and individuals with disabilities.
COVID Vaccination Requirement
Edwards is committed to protecting our vulnerable patients and the healthcare providers who are treating them. As such, all patient-facing and in-hospital positions require COVID-19 vaccination. If hired into a covered role, as a condition of employment, you will be required to submit proof that you have been vaccinated for COVID-19, unless you request and are granted a medical or religious accommodation for exemption from the vaccination requirement. This vaccination requirement does not apply in locations where it is prohibited by law to impose vaccination.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Management, Organization Development, or related field with 12 years of progressive HR experience (or equivalent)
- Master's degree in a related field with 11 years of relevant experience (or equivalent)
- Regular onsite presence five days per week at Edwards Lifesciences headquarters in Irvine, California
- Travel as required by business needs (percentage varies)
- COVID-19 vaccination required for patient-facing and in-hospital positions unless approved medical or religious accommodation is granted
- Proven experience as a strategic HR business partner advising senior leaders and leading organizational effectiveness initiatives
- Experience leveraging workforce analytics and data-driven insights to influence workforce decisions
Edwards Lifesciences Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Edwards Lifesciences and has not been reviewed or approved by Edwards Lifesciences.
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs include a 401(k) match complemented by a separate profit‑sharing contribution. These elements add meaningful long‑term value to total compensation.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — An employee stock purchase plan with a discount and look‑back feature, alongside stock awards for eligible roles, provides notable upside. Program expansions indicate continued accessibility.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time‑off policies include generous PTO, company holidays, and a year‑end holiday shutdown. These offerings enhance work‑life support when available at the site.
Edwards Lifesciences Insights
What We Do
Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW), is the global leader in patient-focused medical innovations for structural heart disease, as well as critical care and surgical monitoring. We thrive on discovery and expanding the boundaries of medical technology, serving patients in 100+ countries, with the help of our employees in areas including Clinical Affairs, Quality Engineering, Research & Development, Regulatory Affairs, Sales & Marketing, corporate functions and more. Our roots date back to 1958 when Miles Lowell Edwards, a retired engineer with a background in hydraulics and fuel pump operations, set out to build the first artificial heart. Edwards believed the heart could be mechanized and was encouraged by Dr. Albert Starr to focus on developing an artificial heart valve. After just two years, the first Starr-Edwards mitral valve was developed and successfully placed in a patient. This innovation spawned Edwards Laboratories. Miles’ fascination with healing the heart and helping patients with heart disease stemmed from his own experience with rheumatic fever as a teenager and continues to fuel our patient-first culture today. Today, we are as passionate about providing innovative solutions for people fighting cardiovascular disease as we have ever been. It's our Credo. It takes integrity, collaboration, innovation, and focus. We are leaders in the design and manufacture of tissue replacement heart valves and repair products as well as advanced hemodynamic monitoring. We partner with physicians to innovate products designed to help patients live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Our work is both rewarding and a privilege. The importance of what we do defines our approach. We work together to create an environment where ideas can flourish and we provide our people with the resources, expertise and support to bring those ideas to life. For our legal terms and trademarks, please visit: https://www.edwards.com/legal/legal-terms







