Director, People Partners

About Us

Barkbus is the nation's premier mobile dog grooming company. We are dog-loving creatives, operators, technologists, and entrepreneurs taking a Silicon Valley startup approach to disrupt and modernize the fragmented legacy pet grooming industry. Driven by our mission to deliver joy to pets and their people, we're proud to operate across California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia. We’re the fastest-growing pet health & wellness startup in the country and would love you to join us in building the nation’s beloved pet brand.

Who We Are

We’re a collaborative, high-quality team of dog-lovers that solves problems with thoughtfulness, empathy, and speed. We have a big dream: to build a generational company that remakes the pet health & wellness industry nationally. We’re a fun, ambitious group that is working to build something new in pet care. We move with high velocity, collaborate closely, and deliver results faster than anyone in the market. We want your time at Barkbus to be the greatest time of your career. If you’re ready to build the future of pet care with high standards and speed, come on board. We need exceptional people to help us build something new in the world.

About This Role

As the Director, People Partners, you will lead and develop a high-performing team of incredible People Partners, ensuring they have the systems, guidance, and support to drive a best-in-class employee experience. You will act as a strategic partner to leadership, aligning People strategies with business objectives while scaling the function to support rapid company growth.

You will also foster leadership excellence by acting as a trusted sounding board to fellow leaders, equipping them with the necessary skills to enable a high-performing culture of accountability and heart.  Success for this role is leading a thriving People Partners function that is highly trusted, proactive, and deeply embedded in the business while scaling people strategies that drive retention and support the infrastructure necessary to sustain rapid growth.

Role & Responsibilities

• Develop, mentor, and empower the People Partner team through ongoing coaching, structured feedback, and professional development initiatives.

• Expand upon the existing HRBP operational infrastructure to support the organization through a high growth phase of the company lifecycle and beyond.

• Partner with senior leadership in crafting people programs, compensation, and benefits that effectively attract and retain top talent across both grooming and corporate teams.

• Collaborate with leaders and managers to identify key retention drivers and deploy targeted initiatives that enhance engagement, job satisfaction, and reduce regrettable attrition.

• Guide all day-to-day employee relations activity by supporting People Partners in problem solving, policy enforcement, and conflict resolution. 

• Own the execution of key people programs, including; LOAs, accommodations, and injury reporting.

• Drive performance management and progressive discipline by enabling clear, fair, and consistent policies that empower managers to navigate complex situations with confidence and accountability.

• Build and lead execution of end-to-end annual performance review processes, including timeline management, system configuration, stakeholder training, and calibration sessions, while working closely with People Ops on aligning compensation review cycles with performance management. 

• Partner with Recruiting, People Ops, and L&D to align hiring, incentive programs, and development pathways with organizational needs and growth, while driving the creation of development pathways for every position across the organization that support professional growth and succession planning. 

• Work closely with the Manager, People Experience to drive retention through strategic employee engagement and satisfaction initiatives.

• Minimize risk by driving compliance – implementing and maintaining scalable policies, training programs, and audit processes that ensure a fair and ethical workplace. 

• Act as a People Partner to fellow Directors, provide recommendations and solutions that support their development individually and the development and effectiveness of their teams.  

• Partner with senior leaders on long-term vision and strategy that positions the company to achieve our ambitious goals while fully realizing Barkbus as the employer of choice for groomers across the country.

• Champion Barkbus’s values in every interaction to build trust across all levels of the organization

Qualifications