People & Culture Director at SmartBear in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

People & Culture Director

This is a pivotal role for SmartBear's India operations, combining hands-on HRBP partnership with company-wide accountability for statutory compliance. As HRBP to your assigned function, you'll partner with senior business leaders to align People & Culture strategies with business priorities, coach leaders on talent, performance, and organizational effectiveness, and drive strategic people initiatives that build high-performing, engaged, and inclusive teams. You'll also serve as India's statutory compliance expert, owning alignment with Indian labor law across all India-based SmartBear employees including those outside your HRBP client group, regardless of function or reporting line, in partnership with our Director of Global People Operations.

About the Role:

• Partner with business leaders to align People & Culture strategies with organizational goals and translate business priorities into actionable people plans.
• Coach and advise managers on performance management, employee development, organizational design, compensation, and employee relations.
• Analyze employee engagement survey results and develop action plans with leaders.
• Develop and implement talent retention strategies that enhance employee experience.
• Serve as a trusted advisor, influencing leaders through data, business insight, and People & Culture expertise.
• Collaborate across the People & Culture organization to deliver consistent, scalable, and impactful people programs.
• Partner with global People & Culture teams to adapt enterprise-wide programs to local legal and cultural context.
• The successful candidate will work from our Bengaluru, India office in hybrid model.

India Statutory Compliance (all India employees):

• Own compliance with Indian labor law — including the Industrial Relations Code, Shops & Establishments Act, and related regulations — for every India-based employee, regardless of which function or HRBP they are otherwise supported by, serving as SmartBear's go-to expert on India employment regulation.
• Partner with the Director of Global People Operations, Legal, and other HRBPs to maintain visibility into employment actions (hiring, compensation changes, terminations) across functions, so compliance risk is caught even outside your direct client group.
• Serve as the single point of accountability and escalation for India regulatory questions raised by other HRBPs or business leaders.

We are looking for you if you have:

• 8+ years of experience in a senior People Partner or HR Business Partner role, ideally within a high-growth technology environment.
• Demonstrated success partnering with senior leaders to develop and implement strategic People & Culture initiatives.
• Strong expertise in performance management, employee relations, and organizational effectiveness.
• Experience analyzing employee engagement data and translating insights into measurable action plans.
• Excellent communication, coaching, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• A passion for building inclusive, high-performing teams and creating exceptional employee experiences.
• Strong working knowledge of Indian labor law, statutory compliance, and HR regulatory requirements is required, given this role's company-wide compliance ownership.
• Experience working as part of a global, distributed People & Culture team is a plus.
• A background in people operations — including HR systems, processes, and policy administration — is a plus.

Why you should join the SmartBear crew:

• You can grow your career at every level.
• We invest in your success as well as the spaces where our teams come together to work, collaborate, and have fun.
• We love celebrating our SmartBears; we even encourage our crew to take their birthdays off.
• We are guided by a People and Culture organization - an important distinction for us. We think about our team holistically – the whole person.
• We celebrate our differences in experiences, viewpoints, and identities because we know it leads to better outcomes.

Did you know?

• Our main goal at SmartBear is to make our technology-driven world a better place.
• SmartBear is committed to ethical corporate practices and social responsibility, promoting good in all the communities we serve.
• SmartBear is headquartered in Somerville, MA with offices across the world including Galway Ireland, Bath, UK, Wroclaw, Poland and Bangalore, India.
• We’ve won major industry (product and company) awards including B2B Innovators Award, Content Marketing Association, IntellyX Digital Innovator and BuiltIn Best Places to Work.

SmartBear is committed to creating an inclusive workplace for employees where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. We are an equal opportunity employer and make employment decisions based on merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, gender, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace that reflects a diversity of thought and experience as well as our values of being smart, open, driven, accountable, and curious.