People Business Partner

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co.

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

About the role

We’re looking for a Senior People Business Partner to be the senior People leader for APAC, supporting employees across Japan, Korea, Australia, and other emerging geographies. The region is growing quickly, decisions are made in days, and priorities shift. You’ll lead through influence, partnering directly with country leaders and with the People team at HQ in Sunnyvale. You’ll set the regional People agenda the way a regional Chief People Officer would, with specialist partners at HQ to pull in when you need them.

At Applied Intuition, you will:

• Be the business strategist for APAC. Understand where the regional business is going and bring leaders a clear point of view, with tradeoffs laid out. Translate business goals into talent decisions (org design, workforce planning, leveling, succession), and use data to spot attrition risk and capability gaps before the business feels them.

• Lead end-to-end People programs across the employee lifecycle. Own onboarding through exit, including payroll and benefits coordination, leave, compensation, performance, engagement, and employee relations, within local requirements. Direct HQ People Operations, Payroll, Legal, Total Rewards, and local advisors and vendors: set priorities by risk, impact, and reversibility, assign owners, and drive each issue to resolution. Where infrastructure doesn’t exist, build a working version yourself, then add self-service resources, manager guides, and clear escalation paths.

• Connect Sunnyvale and APAC. Bring regional perspectives into global decisions early and make global programs work locally. Know what must stay consistent worldwide and what should flex by country, and bring HQ recommendations with tradeoffs, not just concerns.

• Lead the region through growth and change. Support expansion into new countries and entities, reorganizations, and leadership transitions with a clear plan, narrative, and follow-through.

• Increase talent density. Lead calibration, promotion, and talent review. Develop top talent, coach managers to raise the bar, and handle performance and employee relations issues with judgment, discretion, and dignity. Move fast and move safe.

We are looking for someone who has:

• 8+ years of HR experience, including 3+ years partnering directly with senior leaders (preferably in high-tech) and experience as the sole or lead People leader for a country or region.

• Breadth across the full HR function: employee relations, compensation, payroll and leave administration, performance management, org design, and engagement. You move comfortably from an individual pay issue to a reorganization conversation with an executive on the same day.

• Working knowledge of employment practices in Japan and Korea, and the judgment to know when to bring in local counsel.

• Strong business acumen and data fluency. You understand how the business makes money and where the constraints are, and you communicate clearly and directly with executives.

• High agency and strong judgment. You’ve led a region or business with minimal direction, directed partners without formal authority, and decided with incomplete information. You know when to move fast, when to slow down an irreversible decision, and how to prioritize ruthlessly.

• A record of influencing in both directions: advocating for a region with HQ and challenging regional leaders, while telling a legal requirement from a business need or a preference.

• A record of leading change, including implementing global programs locally and guiding teams through growth or reorganization.

• Business-level fluency in Japanese or Korean (a plus), and comfort working across time zones with a California-based team.

Nice to have:

• Experience supporting engineering, research, or other highly technical organizations.

• Experience supporting expansion into new countries, including entity setup and work with an employer of record or PEO.

• Experience building People programs from scratch in a high-growth company.

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.

FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available, requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way, and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request. If you require an accommodation please contact [email protected]. We will work with you!