Senior HR Business Partner

Senior HR Business Partner

• Location: Sweet James Headquarters (Newport Beach, CA), on-site
• Team: Human Resources
• Reports to: Chief People Officer

Sweet James is seeking a Senior HR Business Partner to serve as the firm's primary strategic HR advisor, reporting directly to the Chief People Officer. This role partners with leaders across contact center operations, legal, and corporate functions to align HR strategy with business priorities, own performance management and employee relations at a senior level, and ensure compliance across every state the firm operates in. Payroll processing sits outside this role: this position is built for someone who operates at the intersection of people strategy and business results.

Responsibilities

• Partner with leadership: Serve as the primary HR advisor to functional and executive leaders across contact center, legal, and corporate teams, diagnosing people issues and translating them into HR strategy and action.
• Own performance management: Design and administer the company-wide performance review process; set the framework that supervisors and people managers use for coaching and documentation, and step in directly on complex or contested cases.
• Resolve employee relations: Serve as the escalation point for employee relations issues beyond what frontline managers can close; investigate, document, and recommend resolution to the CPO.
• Ensure compliance: Own compliance with federal law and with state employment law in every state Sweet James operates (California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, and New Mexico); monitor regulatory change and update policy accordingly.
• Drive organizational development: Partner with the CPO and senior executives on org design, workforce planning, and change management as the firm scales; surface structural risk before it becomes a problem.
• Govern onboarding and offboarding: Ensure onboarding and offboarding meet legal and company standards across a workforce spanning hourly contact center staff, licensed attorneys, and corporate employees.
• Drive decisions with data: Own the HR metrics that inform leadership decisions (e.g., turnover, engagement) and turn them into recommendations, not just reporting.
• Collaborate cross-functionally: Work with IT, payroll, and office administration to keep HR processes aligned with headquarters' standards.

Qualifications (Required)

• 8+ years of progressive HR experience, including time as a standalone or senior HR business partner supporting an organization of 500 or more employees.
• A track record spanning both a high-volume, metric-driven hourly operation (e.g., contact center, retail, hospitality) and a professional or licensed population (e.g., legal, financial services).
• Deep expertise in multi-state employment law; California required, with working knowledge of Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, and New Mexico strongly preferred.
• A track record advising C-suite or senior executive leadership directly, without a layer of HR management in between.
• Strong data fluency: comfortable pulling and interpreting HR metrics without relying on someone else to build the report.
• High discretion and professionalism; this role sits inside sensitive employee relations and compliance matters across the whole company.

Preferred

• Experience in professional services or legal industry HR.
• Experience with Paylocity and ADP Workforce Now, particularly on the compliance side.
• SHRM-CP/SCP or PHR/SPHR certification.

Sweet James Accident Attorneys is a rapidly growing, AI-powered personal injury firm based in Orange County, CA. In less than a decade, we've built a nationally recognized brand and a proprietary AI and automation stack that make us one of the largest and most efficient providers of legal services in the country. Our growth runs on a culture of excellence, compassion, and results: Our team is committed to exceptional client experience and to supporting one another in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. We invest in our people, encourage professional growth, and provide meaningful opportunities to build rewarding careers while making a real impact in our clients' lives.