Principal Manager, People Operations Business Partner

About Nava Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.   As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure.

We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively.

This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.   Position summary  The Principal Manager, HR Business Partner is a strategic people leader responsible for the direction, effectiveness, and growth of Nava's HR Business Partner function, including the direct management and development of the People Operations Business Partner (POBP).

This role sets the strategy for how Nava's people practices support the business, translating enterprise priorities into workforce frameworks, organizational design principles, and talent strategies that HR Business Partners apply across their assigned business areas.  The Principal Manager builds a high-performing People Operations Business Partner team, coaching and developing POBP talent while serving as a trusted strategic advisor to senior executives on organizational structure, workforce planning, performance, and labor and employee relations.

This role co-owns the enterprise frameworks: workforce planning, career pathing, and organizational design standards that POBP’s use to advise business leaders, and ensures those frameworks remain consistent, equitable, and aligned with Nava's mission.  As Nava evolves toward an AI-native operating model, the Principal Manager, People Operations Business Partners sets the strategic point of view on how artificial intelligence and automation will change roles, skills, team structures, and management practices, and equips the POBP team to guide leaders through that change responsibly, balancing efficiency gains with employee trust, equity, compliance, and sound human judgment.

Working closely with People Operations leadership, Finance, Legal, Talent Acquisition, and business operations leaders, the Manager ensures that people strategy and POBP practice are financially responsible, legally compliant, operationally practical, and aligned with Nava's values.  All responsibilities will be carried out in service of Nava’s values: Be Active Stewards, Delivery over Dogma, Build Together, Innovation Requires New Perspectives, and Progress Takes Work.

  What you'll do Directly manage, coach, and develop the People Operations Business Partner, setting clear goals and providing regular feedback and career development support  Build and scale the People Operations Business Partner function across the employee lifecycle managing the workload distribution as the organization scales  Establish performance expectations, competencies, and quality standards for POBP work and regularly assess the team  Foster a culture of accountability, trust, and continuous improvement within the POBP team  Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to senior executives on organizational design, workforce planning, performance management, and employee relations Translate enterprise business priorities into people strategy, ensuring HRBP practice aligns with company goals  Set the strategic point of view on how AI and automation will affect roles, skills, team structures, and management pr