Principal HR Business Partner (R&D)

Toast creates technology that helps restaurants and local businesses succeed in a digital world by enabling them to operate, increase sales, engage customers, and support employees. The Principal HR Business Partner will serve as the strategic HR partner for Toast's R&D organization, advising senior leaders on organizational design, people strategy, performance, engagement, and company-wide people programs.

Responsibilities:

• Partner with R&D SVPs, VPs and senior directors to design and evolve org structures that scale; Serve as a trusted advisor during reorgs and structural changes, helping leaders navigate people impacts with care and clarity
• Lead org design initiatives end-to-end: from diagnosing root causes through to stakeholder alignment, change communication, and implementation
• Drive consistent, high-quality performance calibrations across Engineering, PM, and Design — building leader capability and ensuring fair, differentiated outcomes
• Champion a culture of clear expectations and candid feedback; help leaders understand what "raising the bar" looks like in practice
• Cultivate an AI "Builder" approach by adopting and testing AI solutions to address challenges at scale
• Use engagement data, pulse surveys, and qualitative signals to surface org health risks and partner with leaders on action planning
• Serve as the R&D voice in the design and rollout of company-wide people programs — ensuring compensation cycles, leveling frameworks, and engagement initiatives land effectively
• Bring an analytical lens to your work — using data to shape decisions, measure outcomes, and tell a coherent story to senior stakeholders

Requirements:

• 10+ years of HR Business Partner experience, with at least 5 years supporting engineering, product, or design organizations
• Demonstrated expertise in org design — you've led restructuring initiatives, not just supported them
• Experience as a trusted partner to VP- and SVP-level leaders; you're known for your ability to influence and coach
• Strong analytical skills — comfortable using AI tools and working with employee data, engagement metrics, and headcount models to shape recommendations
• Excellent judgment: you know when to push, when to listen, and when to escalate
• High EQ and the ability to build trust quickly across a diverse, technically-oriented workforce
• Experience at a high-growth SaaS or fintech company
• Experience supporting a globally distributed R&D org
• We are prioritizing candidates located near our hubs in Boston, New York City, Toronto, San Francisco, and Omaha