(Associate) Director, People Partner

About the role

The unprecedented convergence of multi-modal data and AI has the potential to revolutionize drug discovery. insitro is harnessing this moment to redefine how medicines are developed for complex diseases. Our success depends on our ability to attract, develop, inspire, and retain amazing, diverse talent and build a collaborative, high-performing, inclusive, and equitable culture. Our (Associate) Director, People Partner will be a key leader in bringing this people vision and strategy to life, aiming to set a new standard for the employee experience in our industry. You will serve as a hands-on business advisor and organizational "fixer," coaching our leaders through complex team dynamics, organizational design, and rapid scaling. In this role, you will report directly to insitro's Chief People Officer and be a key member of their leadership team. The role is based in South San Francisco and is required onsite most days, with flexibility to work remotely up to 2 days a week.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Partnership & Organizational Effectiveness
• Workforce Planning & Strategy: Own and execute end-to-end strategic workforce planning to ensure talent pipelines align with aggressive R&D and scaling milestones
• Executive Advisory: Advise executives on aligning manager and employee capabilities to mid-to-long-term business needs
• Business Integration: Partner with leaders to translate business strategy into people initiatives that accelerate progress
• Organizational Design: Support senior management in translating company mission into sustainable organizational strategies, programs, and behaviors
• Change Management and L&D: Work to individually lead change management initiatives and design and implement fit for purpose L&D exercises
• Talent Development & Coaching
• Operational Mediation: Act as a practical, hands-on mediator, "parachuting" into dysfunctional teams to diagnose and resolve work environment issues and disruptive dynamics
• Performance Leadership: Drive performance management cycles and targeted interventions that favor results over complex HR pedigree
• Talent Problem-Solving: Bring both best practices and fresh, scrappy problem-solving to issues of retention and engagement
• People Operations & Compliance
• Employee Relations: Partner closely with the Legal team to ensure full compliance with local, state, and federal laws
• Data-Driven Insights: Draw on quantitative (people analytics) and qualitative (roundtables, exit interviews) insights to strengthen priorities
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with other People team leaders to create a holistic strategy for how we hire and inspire "insitrocytes"
• About You
• Work Experience & Functional Competence
• 12+ years of People function experience, including high-growth environments building processes from the ground up
• 5+ years in an HRBP/People Partner role directly supporting Director- and VP-level leaders
• Industry Context: Experience in Biotech/Pharma is preferred; however, we are highly open to candidates from fast-moving tech or startup cultures (Product/Engineering focus)
• Technical Versatility: Demonstrated competence in organizational design, performance management, employee relations, and strategic workforce planning
• Leadership: Experience leading and coaching small teams of HR professionals
• Biotech/Pharma experience is required, ideally including in a company with a strong Data Science or Machine Learning element to their business model
• Technical Skills & Business Acumen
• Lean Execution: A "builder" mindset-comfortable operating with limited COE resources and executing solutions without heavy vendor reliance
• Business Judgment: Respected just as much for your business judgment and operational pragmatism as for your HR expertise
• Data Fluency: Always looking for information and data to strengthen your work and impact
• Personal Attributes
• Approachable & Empathetic: Emotionally intelligent and able to build deep trust with diverse employees at all levels through active listening
• Exceptional Communicator: Clear, concise, and courageous in giving tough but respectful feedback
• Comfort with Ambiguity: At your best leading through constant change; nimble and responsive to short-term surprises
• Proactive "Can-Do" Energy: Motivated by challenges; willing to roll up your sleeves and do whatever is needed to achieve results
• Mission-Driven: Passionate about making a difference in the world and for patients
• Compensation & Benefits at insitro
• This role is eligible for participation in our Annual Performance Bonus Plan (based on company targets by role level and annual company performance) and our Equity In

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