Human Resource Business Partner

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This role is HYBRID and will require scheduled days at our office: 311 California St #200, San Francisco, CA 94104

About the Role

HR Business Partner

We’re looking for a Strategic HR Business Partner to join our People team and partner with our North American business at a pivotal time of growth and evolution. The advertising and media landscape is changing quickly. Our clients are changing. Our capabilities are changing. And the way talented people want to work is changing, too.

That creates an exciting opportunity for HR to be more than a support function.

This isn’t an HR role that sits on the sidelines. You’ll be in the room with agency leaders, helping shape decisions about talent, teams, culture, performance, organizational design, and the future of our business.

You’ll work across a fast-moving advertising and media environment where creativity, collaboration, client demands, and commercial priorities intersect every day. You’ll need to be comfortable moving between big-picture strategy and the realities of helping leaders solve people challenges today.

We’re looking for someone who brings strong HR expertise, commercial curiosity, sound judgment, and the confidence to challenge leaders when it matters.

Responsibilities:

What You’ll Do

Be a strategic partner to the business

• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders and become a go-to advisor on people and organizational matters.
• Understand our business, clients, talent, and commercial priorities — and translate that understanding into smart people strategies.
• Bring an objective, thoughtful HR perspective to business decisions.
• Anticipate talent and organizational challenges rather than waiting for them to become problems.
• Use people data and business insights to identify trends, opportunities, and risks.

Help leaders build high-performing teams

• Coach leaders on performance, feedback, development, team dynamics, and leadership effectiveness.
• Lead talent reviews, succession planning, workforce planning, and other strategic talent initiatives.
• Partner with leaders on organizational design, team structures, roles, and capabilities as the business evolves.
• Help identify and develop high-potential and critical talent.
• Raise the bar on leadership accountability and people management.

Shape our employee experience and culture

• Help create an environment where talented people can do their best work and build meaningful careers.
• Partner with leaders on engagement, retention, inclusion, collaboration, and team effectiveness.
• Turn employee insights into practical actions that improve the experience of working here.
• Be a thoughtful advocate for both our people and our business.

Navigate the moments that matter

• Advise leaders through complex employee relations, performance, conduct, and workplace issues.
• Bring empathy, consistency, and good judgment to sensitive situations.
• Partner with Legal and other People teams when appropriate.
• Help leaders handle difficult conversations well — directly, fairly, and with care.

Help the business navigate change

• Partner with leaders through organizational change, restructures, growth, and evolving business models.
• Bring a change-management mindset to communications, organizational transitions, and employee experience.
• Help teams stay focused, connected, and engaged when things are moving quickly.
• Leverage AI tools and automation to help leaders drive business and talent transformation.

Connect the dots across People & Culture

• • Help bring enterprise people programs to life in ways that work for our agency and our people.
  • Contribute to North American and global People initiatives and continuously look for ways to make HR more effective and impactful.

About You

The essentials:

• 7+ years of progressive HR experience, including meaningful experience as an HR Business Partner.
• Experience partnering with senior leaders in a complex, fast-paced, matrixed organization.
• Experience in advertising, media, marketing, creative, technology, professional services, or another similarly dynamic environment is a strong plus.
• A strong understanding of talent management, organizational effectiveness, employee relations, performance, and workforce planning.
• The ability to coach, influence, and challenge leaders — with credibility and without ego.
• Strong business acumen and genuine curiosity about how the business makes money, grows, and evolves.
• Knowledge of AI tools and a drive towards automation
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to make complex HR topics clear and actionable.
• Comfort using data and insights to tell a story and influence decisions.
• The judgment and discretion required to handle highly sensitive people matters.
• A collaborative, pragmatic approach and the ability to move between strategy and execution.
• A healthy tolerance for ambiguity — because agency life rarely comes with a perfectly mapped-out playbook.
• Knowledge of U.S. employment practices across multiple jurisdictions; Canadian HR experience is a plus.

At Monks, we believe in fostering an environment where a diversity of perspectives can thrive. We proactively work to design hiring processes that promote equity and inclusion while mitigating bias. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. We welcome and encourage qualified applicants, from all backgrounds, who are excited to contribute to our mission.  

This role is subject to our Return to Office (RTO) policy. If you reside within a commutable distance of one of our office locations, you will be expected to work from the office a set number of days per week. The specific details, including the number of required office days, will be in accordance with the company’s then-current RTO policy, which is subject to change from time to time.

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What We Offer

Benefits

• Excellent, full coverage medical, dental, and vision insurance - more about our coverage here!
• Generous PTO and 15 company-wide holidays
• 401k with company contribution
• Paid parental leave
• Work-life balance with an emphasis on personal well-being
• Career growth in a disruptor space & entrepreneurial opportunities within the Monks network 
• A globally diverse & inclusive culture with employee resource groups such as S4 Melanin, Pride.Monks, Cultura.Monks, and more!
• Authentic commitment to DEI efforts and sustainable growth. (Why Sir Martin Sorrell signed The Climate Pledge here!)

This role is subject to our Return to Office (RTO) policy. If you reside within a commutable distance of one of our office locations, you will be expected to work from the office a set number of days per week. The specific details, including the number of required office days, will be in accordance with the company’s then-current RTO policy, which is subject to change from time to time.

Monks has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what Monks may pay for the position at the time of posting. Monks may ultimately pay more or less than the posted compensation range. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on job-related factors, but not based on a candidate’s sex or any other protected status.

Salary Range: $110,000—$120,000 USD

About Monks

Monks is the global, digital-first, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc, where our culture centers on how we show up for the work and for one another. That begins with the commitment to strive for mastery—taking deep pride in our craft and creating work that sets the bar. In everyday execution, we drive momentum by choosing bold action rather than waiting for certainty. Above all, our teams are stronger together, bringing diverse perspectives into a unified team that communicates with clarity, trust, and mutual respect.
 
This commitment to craft and innovation translates directly into widespread industry acclaim: Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services and a leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Global Digital Marketing Agencies. It ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-25) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023) and The One Show’s inaugural AI Pioneer Organization (2025), Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group’s 2026 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in the Human-Machine Interaction Team category. Additionally, Monks.Flow earned AI-based Marketing Solution of the Year at the 2026 AI Breakthrough Awards and a 2026 Global Generative AI Award in the Agentic Marketing Innovation category. Finally, Monks achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs and continues to hold the most of any partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.