HR Business Partner

Lightwave Dental was founded in 2016, is a high-growth company building the group model for the future of the dental industry. Lightwave is passionate about doing things the right way with a tight focus on high quality, core values, and taking care of their people. Lightwave is a dental leadership organization that focuses on partnering, training and developing dentists as the natural leaders of the dental practice. Lightwave helps dentists launch their careers, supports dentists leading high-growth dental groups, and assists doctors looking to establish their legacy as they transition into retirement. Lightwave is solving the big problems in dentistry: retirement, management, reimbursements, and partnership by providing the benefits of a group while preserving the essence of private practice. Lightwave currently supports over 100 dental offices in 3 states. For additional information, please visit lightwavedental.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

HR Business Partner

The Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) is a strategic and hands-on HR professional who supports practice operations and corporate functions, partners closely with regional and functional leaders, and drives employee relations, performance management, retention, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness.

The role combines business partnership, operational execution, and proactive workforce management, with a particular focus on strengthening leadership capability and consistency across dental practices.

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina Department: Human Resources

Reports To: Director, Human Resources (recommended)

Classification: Full-Time, Exempt Travel: Periodic travel to supported practices and regional locations

Position Summary

The Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) serves as a trusted advisor to operational and corporate leaders, providing strategic and tactical HR support that enables business performance, strengthens employee engagement, and fosters a high-performing, people-first culture.

The HRBP partners with regional operations leadership, practice managers, and corporate department leaders to translate business priorities into practical people strategies. This position is responsible for supporting employee relations, performance management, talent development, organizational effectiveness, workforce planning, and change management across assigned business units.

The successful candidate will bring strong business acumen, sound judgment, a collaborative approach, and the ability to balance proactive HR partnership with hands-on execution in a fast-paced, multi-site healthcare environment.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic HR Business Partnership

• Serve as the primary HR advisor to assigned regional and corporate leadership teams.
• Partner with leaders to identify workforce challenges, organizational needs, and opportunities to improve employee engagement and operational effectiveness.
• Translate business objectives into actionable HR initiatives aligned with Lightwave's growth strategy.
• Use workforce metrics and trends to identify risks and recommend solutions.

Employee Relations and Risk Management

• Advise managers on employee relations matters, including performance concerns, workplace conflicts, corrective action, and involuntary terminations.
• Conduct or coordinate employee investigations, ensuring thorough documentation, objectivity, confidentiality, and timely resolution.
• Partner with the Employee Relations team and Legal, as appropriate, on complex or high-risk matters.
• Support consistent application of employment policies and compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
• Provide practical coaching to managers to proactively address workplace issues.

Performance Management and Leadership Development

• Partner with operational leaders to strengthen performance expectations, accountability, coaching, and feedback practices.
• Support annual performance management processes, including goal setting, performance evaluations, calibration, and development planning.
• Identify leadership capability gaps and collaborate with Learning & Development to implement targeted solutions.
• Coach practice managers and other leaders on effective people management practices.
• Support succession planning and internal talent development.

Talent Management, Engagement and Retention

• Partner with leaders to identify retention risks and develop action plans to reduce regrettable turnover.
• Analyze employee feedback, engagement results, exit interviews, and workforce trends.
• Support talent reviews, career development, and internal mobility initiatives.
• Partner with Operations and Talent Acquisition on workforce planning and recruiting-related talent priorities, while Operations retains ownership of practice-level recruiting.
• Support onboarding effectiveness and early-tenure employee retention.

Organizational Effectiveness and Change Management

• Support organizational changes, practice growth, restructuring, and operational transitions.
• Partner with leaders on organizational design, role clarity, staffing structures, and change communications.
• Help standardize HR practices while maintaining flexibility for local operational needs.
• Facilitate adoption of HR programs, policies, and processes across assigned locations.

HR Operations, Compliance and Analytics

• Partner with HR Operations, Payroll, Benefits, and HRIS teams to resolve workforce issues and improve service delivery.
• Promote accurate employee records and effective use of Dayforce and other HR systems.
• Monitor HR metrics, including turnover, retention, employee relations trends, performance management completion, and engagement.
• Identify opportunities to streamline processes and improve manager and employee experiences.
• Support compliance initiatives, audits, and policy implementation across multiple states.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 5–7 years of progressive HR experience, including at least 2–3 years in an HR Business Partner or comparable consultative role.
• Demonstrated experience advising business leaders on employee relations, performance management, and workforce issues.
• Working knowledge of federal and state employment laws, including FMLA, ADA, FLSA, and applicable anti-discrimination requirements.
• Experience supporting multiple locations, business units, or geographically dispersed employees.
• Strong communication, analytical, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive employee matters with professionalism and sound judgment.
• Proficiency with HRIS platforms and Microsoft Office applications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in healthcare, dental services, physician practice management, or another multi-site service organization.
• Experience supporting private-equity-backed or rapidly growing organizations.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR certification.
• Experience with Dayforce.
• Demonstrated success improving employee retention, manager effectiveness, and HR process consistency.

In return for providing an excellent employee and patient experience, we offer a great benefits package to include health and dental benefits, 401(k), holiday pay and paid time off.