Director, HR Business Partner

The Director, HRBP is a global team leader and the senior people advisor to the Management Leadership Team (MLT). You report to the Global SVP of People and partner with every MLT member on organization design, talent, performance, engagement, and change. The company is scaling rapidly through a combination of autonomous growth and M&A activity. This role ensures that the human resources in the company are available, performing, and ready for every next growth stage.

This is a role for someone who sees AI as a reason to rethink how a People team works, not as a side project. You will advise leaders on how work, roles, and teams change, and you will use and shape AI in your own work to cover more ground with more insight.

You work alongside People Ops, Recruiting, Benefits, and set the standard for how HR business partnering is done at Kiteworks.

You are deeply curious about what really drives performance, retention, and trust inside each leader's team, and you keep asking until the root cause shows up. Kiteworks highly values people who are focused on delivery: you judge your impact by reorgs, hires, and leadership transitions that land on time with managers ready, not by plans that stay on paper.

You’ll be expected to work from our Amsterdam office every Tuesday through Thursday.

What you’ll do

• Advise the MLT. Act as a trusted, candid advisor on people decisions, team structure, leadership effectiveness, and succession.
• Lead org design and workforce planning. Run restructures, role and level design, and headcount planning with Finance and function leaders.
• Coach leaders and drive performance. Run calibration and talent reviews, raise manager quality, and handle senior performance and promotion decisions.
• Own engagement. Read engagement survey results with MLT members, turn them into focused action plans, and track progress.
• Guide global employee relations and compliance. Handle complex or sensitive cases and keep practices consistent across the US, EMEA, and APAC, working with Legal and local counsel.
• Support M&A and change. Lead the people side of acquisitions, reductions, and leadership transitions, including communications and manager readiness.
• Use data and AI. Build insights from HRIS, surveys, and performance data, and share what works with the wider People team.
• Ensure secure handling of employee personal data in compliance with GDPR, including access control and data minimization; support onboarding/offboarding processes aligned with ISO 27001 security policies.

Three AI shifts define this role.

• AI-enabled HRBP work. Use AI for workforce insights, case preparation, manager coaching, and analysis, so one senior partner can support the whole MLT with depth and speed.
• Workforce and org redesign. Advise leaders on how roles, team shapes, skills, and headcount change as AI changes how work gets done, and turn those choices into clear plans.
• Driving AI adoption. Partner with leaders to build AI fluency in their teams, remove blockers, and make new ways of working stick.

How success is measured in the first 12 months

• MLT trust. Every MLT member sees you as a real advisor, shown in direct leadership feedback.
• Engagement and retention. Measurable movement in engagement scores and regretted attrition in the areas you partner with.
• AI adoption. Clear, measurable change in AI use and workflows across covered teams.
• Org change delivery. Reorgs, hires, and leadership transitions land cleanly, on time, and with managers ready.

What you’ll bring

• 10+ years in HR business partnering, with senior experience advising executive teams.
• Experience at a scaled tech or SaaS company, ideally enterprise software or security, at growth stage.
• Global scope: you have partnered across the US, EMEA, and APAC and have an understanding of, and appreciation for, differing employment laws and norms.
• A record in M&A integration, restructuring, or leadership transitions.
• Hands-on AI fluency: you already use and define AI tools or agents in your own HR work and can show examples.
• Strong judgment, clear communication, and the credibility to give leaders direct feedback.
• Comfort working independently without a team, and influencing without authority.

About Kiteworks
Kiteworks empowers organizations by ensuring secure and compliant data exchanges across all channels, including email, file sharing, APIs, and A.I. Agents. To this end, we created a platform that delivers data governance, compliance, and protection to customers. The platform controls, monitors, and protects every data interaction between people, machines, and systems across user collaboration, automated workflows, and enterprise AI.

The values that define us

• Execution – We deliver results with focus, ownership, and consistency. Our teams take initiative, solve challenges proactively, and continuously optimize how we work to create meaningful impact for our customers.
• Transparency – We communicate openly and clearly, ensuring stakeholders have the information they need to make informed decisions. We foster a culture of trust, welcome feedback, and embrace accountability in everything we do.
• Integrity – We uphold the highest standards of honesty and responsibility. Our teams act ethically, consistently honor commitments, and build trust through principled, reliable actions.

Compensation range

• Annual Base Salary Range: €130,000 - €150,000
• Base pay depends on many factors, such as location, education, experience, and skills. Base pay is only one part of Kiteworks competitive Total Rewards package that can include benefits, perks, equity, and bonuses. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

Benefits & Perks

• Stock options
• Hybrid working model
• PTO: Unlimited (guided ~35 days/year including public holidays)
• Pension Plan
• Temporary working from X

Commitment to equal opportunity & inclusion
Kiteworks is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances.

Other requirements
Ability to meet Kiteworks, customer, and/or government security screening requirements for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the following specialized security screenings: Kiteworks Background Check: This position requires passing the Kiteworks background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.