Senior Director, HR Business Partner

IDC is a premier global provider of trusted technology intelligence, helping shape how the world understands technology. The Senior Director, HR Business Partner will serve as the primary HR partner to the CRO and CMO, advising on talent assessment, organizational design, and performance coaching while navigating complex, globally distributed commercial organizations.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the CRO and CMO on all people matters — org design, talent, team dynamics, and culture
• Act as thought partner on the talent and organizational structure needed to support business transformation and execute the business plan
• Partner with the Chief People Officer and serve as an active, contributing member of the HR Leadership Team (HRLT) — breaking down silos, sharing best practices, and building a more unified, strategically aligned people function
• Bring the commercial perspective into HRLT discussions, connecting what is happening in sales and marketing to enterprise-wide HR priorities and decisions
• Anticipate future workforce needs, assess emerging trends, and proactively develop programs to support strategic objectives
• Conduct rigorous, objective talent assessment across the commercial organization — building a clear and honest picture of who the top performers are, who is coachable, and who is a systemic underperformer. Help leaders act on those distinctions
• Identify and develop high-potential talent; build succession pipelines for key commercial leadership roles
• Lead leadership assessment initiatives in partnership with the CPO, using structured frameworks to evaluate readiness and development needs at the director level and above
• Build and sustain a high-performance culture — one where expectations are explicit, accountability is consistent, and the performance bar is raised continuously across the organization
• Coach senior leaders through difficult performance conversations with candor and rigor. Manage PIPs, address underperformance early, and support termination decisions when results and impact are below requirements
• Support organizational transformation by helping shape high-performing teams through restructuring, and culture change
• Drive job architecture and leveling alignment within the commercial functions as part of the broader transformation
• Act as a true talent advisor on commercial hiring — partnering with TA on candidate assessment, interview calibration, and offer decisions for critical roles
• Drive talent mapping for key commercial positions, helping build pipeline before roles open
• Own interview calibration across the sales and marketing hiring process — ensuring interviewers evaluate against a consistent, objective bar
• Proactively flag hiring risks, including when the organization is about to make a mistake. Bring candid, evidence-based perspective to hiring decisions and help raise the overall quality of commercial hires
• Use engagement surveys and pulse tools to take the organization's temperature, synthesize findings, and translate data into actionable plans
• Hold leaders accountable to engagement outcomes, sharing results transparently and tracking progress over time
• Quickly and amicably resolve employee relations issues, communicating proactively to prevent escalation
• Manage communications around changes to sales compensation plans, addressing employee concerns clearly and empathetically
• Develop and lead the broader HR team supporting sales and marketing, ensuring team members are set up to deliver on their goals
• Model a collaborative, solutions-oriented HR approach that elevates the function's credibility across the business
• Work without a net when needed — filling gaps, owning execution, and managing up and across simultaneously

Requirements:

• Proven track record of objectively assessing talent in a commercial organization — distinguishing top performers from coachable performers from systemic underperformers — and helping leaders act on those distinctions with speed and conviction
• Experience managing the full performance cycle: from early coaching conversations and expectation-setting through formal PIPs and, when necessary, supporting exits. Has helped shift organizational norms toward genuine accountability
• Direct experience as a talent advisor in commercial hiring — candidate assessment, interview design and calibration, and raising the bar on hiring quality
• 10+ years of progressive HR experience across the full HR function — generalist breadth with business partner depth
• Direct experience supporting commercial leaders in sales or revenue-generating functions
• Located in Eastern or Central time zone
• Meaningful experience supporting employees and leaders across international markets — particularly Europe (employment law, GDPR), Middle East, China, and Japan. Knows enough to navigate local nuance, partner with regional HR, and avoid costly missteps
• Proven success driving change in complex, ambiguous environments — large-scale organizational transformation
• Has operated in a fast-paced, PE-backed environment where urgency is the norm, resources are constrained, and the pace of change is unrelenting
• Experience operating as part of an HR Leadership Team (HRLT) — understands the dual accountability of serving a business unit while contributing to the broader HR agenda
• Experience with job architecture, hierarchy alignment, and org design at scale
• Strong working knowledge of how each HR function (TA, Talent Development, Comp, ER, HRIS) interacts with and serves the business
• Bachelor's degree required
• Advanced degree or HR certification (SHRM-SCP, SPHR) a plus