The Role
The Director, Strategic People Partnership will lead HR business transformation, develop organizational strategies, enhance employee experience, and drive culture within a tech-driven FinTech organization.
Summary Generated by Built In
Candescent is a forward-thinking technology company transforming how financial institutions deliver Intelligent Banking experiences. We unite digital banking, account opening, and branch solutions that power and connect digital banking, account opening, and branch solutions—creating seamless engagement across digital, remote, and in-person channels.
Our Experience-Led, Intelligence-Driven approach combines human-centered design with data, automation, and cloud-based innovation. Built on an API-first architecture, our extensible ecosystem enables institutions to adapt quickly, integrate easily, and unlock new opportunities for growth—turning every customer interaction into a moment of clarity, confidence, and connection.
Location: Atlanta, Georgia (Hybrid)
Reports To: Chief People Officer
Scope: North America
Travel: Up to 15% within North America
Position OverviewReports To: Chief People Officer
Scope: North America
Travel: Up to 15% within North America
Candescent is seeking a dynamic and experienced Director, Strategic People Partnership to serve as a senior HR business partner and transformation leader for our North America organization. This role sits at the intersection of strategic people leadership, organizational design, and enterprise transformation—driving modern, scalable people practices across a complex, technology‑driven FinTech business.
The Director will partner closely with senior leaders across Product, Engineering, and all North America functions to deliver a high‑impact people strategy that accelerates business growth, elevates employee experience, and strengthens organizational effectiveness. This is a highly visible role for a seasoned HR leader who brings both strategic vision and operational excellence, with the credibility to influence at the executive level.
Why This Role MattersCandescent is at a pivotal moment—investing in transformational change across Product and Engineering while scaling the broader enterprise. The Director, Strategic People Partnership will be the architect of the people‑side transformation, building the frameworks, capabilities, and culture that will define Candescent’s next chapter as a modern, people‑first FinTech organization.
Core Competencies- Strategic Thinking & Vision – Connects people strategy to business outcomes; anticipates future organizational needs.
- Change Leadership – Designs and leads transformations that endure; builds resilience and adaptability.
- Stakeholder Influence – Builds trusted partnerships; navigates complexity with confidence and diplomacy.
- Data‑Driven Decision Making – Leverages people analytics to inform strategy and measure impact.
- Employee Experience Design – Applies human‑centered design to elevate the end‑to‑end employee journey.
- Execution Excellence – Translates strategy into action; delivers results in fast‑paced environments.
- Serve as the primary strategic People partner to North America senior leadership, aligning people strategy to business objectives and growth plans.
- Build trusted advisor relationships with leaders across Product, Engineering, Finance, Sales, and Operations.
- Translate business strategy into actionable people initiatives spanning talent, structure, culture, and capability.
- Participate in business planning cycles, providing workforce insights and strategic recommendations.
- Act as a thought partner on complex business decisions with people implications, including M&A, restructuring, and market expansion.
- Lead and co‑design organizational transformation initiatives, particularly across Product and Engineering.
- Partner with leaders to assess organizational effectiveness and recommend structural improvements that enhance agility and speed.
- Drive enterprise‑wide organizational design projects, including future‑state modeling, facilitation, and transition planning.
- Develop and execute change management and communication strategies for major organizational shifts.
- Build internal organizational design capability and establish repeatable transformation methodologies.
- Champion a best‑in‑class employee experience strategy across North America, from onboarding through offboarding.
- Lead listening strategies (engagement surveys, focus groups, stay interviews) and translate insights into action.
- Partner with Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, and Learning & Development to deliver a cohesive employee journey.
- Identify and eliminate friction points across the employee lifecycle using data, technology, and process improvement.
- Define and track employee experience KPIs aligned to engagement, retention, and productivity.
- Lead the evolution of People practices from transactional to proactive and value‑driven.
- Evaluate and implement best‑in‑class approaches to performance management, succession planning, talent calibration, and career development.
- Champion people analytics and dashboarding to enable evidence‑based decision‑making.
- Introduce HR technologies, automation, and self‑service capabilities to improve efficiency and experience.
- Partner with the broader People team to ensure policies are modern, compliant, and experience‑centered.
- Partner with leaders on strategic workforce planning, skills gap analysis, and succession planning.
- Support enterprise talent calibration processes with a consistent, fair, and development‑focused approach.
- Collaborate with Talent Acquisition to shape recruitment strategies for critical technical and leadership roles.
- Drive internal mobility and talent pipeline initiatives to strengthen retention and reduce external hiring reliance.
- Partner with Learning & Development to build early‑career and leadership development programs.
- Champion Candescent’s culture and values across the North America organization.
- Design and execute engagement strategies that foster belonging, psychological safety, and high performance.
- Partner with DEI leaders to embed inclusive practices into talent systems and leadership behaviors.
- Facilitate leadership team effectiveness sessions, team launches, and cultural alignment workshops.
- Provide coaching and guidance to leaders on complex employee relations and performance issues.
- Ensure consistent application of HR policies and compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws.
- Partner with Legal and Compliance on investigations, accommodations, and sensitive employee matters.
- Maintain strong working knowledge of employment regulations across key North America jurisdictions, including Georgia.
- Oversee HR operational excellence, including data integrity, process compliance, and audit readiness.
- 10+ years of progressive HR experience, including 5+ years in a senior HRBP or People Partner role.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience ; Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
- Experience in a technology, FinTech, SaaS, or similarly complex, fast‑paced environment.
- Proven success leading large‑scale organizational transformation and change initiatives.
- Strong experience partnering with Product and Engineering teams (Agile, DevOps, product‑led growth).
- Deep knowledge of U.S. employment law across multiple jurisdictions.
- Demonstrated use of people analytics and HR technology to drive outcomes.
- Exceptional executive presence with the ability to influence at the C‑suite level.
- SHRM‑SCP, SPHR, or equivalent certification.
- Change management or organizational design certifications (e.g., Prosci, ACMP).
- Experience in a high‑growth FinTech or financial technology organization.
- Familiarity with HRIS and engagement platforms (e.g., Workday, UKG, Glint, Culture Amp).
- Experience supporting a distributed, hybrid North America workforce.
Statement to Third Party Agencies
To ALL recruitment agencies: Candescent only accepts resumes from agencies on the preferred supplier list. Please do not forward resumes to our applicant tracking system, Candescent employees, or any Candescent facility. Candescent is not responsible for any fees or charges associated with unsolicited resumes.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of progressive HR experience
- 5+ years in a senior HRBP or People Partner role
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience
- Experience in a technology or FinTech environment
- Proven success in leading large-scale organizational transformation
- Strong experience partnering with Product and Engineering teams
- Deep knowledge of U.S. employment law
- Exceptional executive presence and influencing ability
Candescent Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Candescent and has not been reviewed or approved by Candescent.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Policies include unlimited vacation for full-time exempt staff, tenure-based accrual for non-exempt, plus floating holidays and sick leave. This breadth of time off suggests flexibility across employment classifications.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — A discount program is cited that provides access to deals at over 250 retailers. This perk adds everyday savings beyond core benefits.
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The Company
What We Do
Candescent brings together the transformative technologies that power and connect account opening, digital banking and branch solutions for banks and credit unions of all sizes. And we’re here to help you extend, differentiate and illuminate your digital-first banking experiences. Our industry-leading products and services, cloud architecture and on-demand developer tools give you the power to differentiate and deliver seamless customer journeys.
