Job Description

Worker Type

Regular

The Sr. Director, People & Culture (P&C) Business Partnerships is a key member of the P&C Leadership Team and a principal advisor to the Chief People Officer and executive leadership. This role is also a critical strategic partner to the Business Leadership Team, proactively shaping and enabling business strategy through people, culture, and organizational effectiveness.

This role leads the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of AV’s people strategy to support business goals and a high-performance culture. It is a hands-on leadership role that partners with leaders and employees at all levels and across all functions. The Sr. Director will drive initiatives that:

• Elevate and humanize the employee experience and lifecycle
• Strengthen leadership and people-manager capability
• Improve engagement, retention, and organizational effectiveness
• Ensure empathetic, compliant, and consistent employee relations globally
• Equip and support the Business Leadership Team as trusted advisor, coach, and thought partner on all people, culture, and organizational topics

The Sr. Director builds strong alliances across the organization, using data and insights to demonstrate the business impact of people strategies. They lead and develop a global team of Sr. P&C Managers, Business Partners, and Generalists, providing strategic direction, coaching, and P&C functional expertise.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic People & Business Partnership

• Partner with the Chief People Officer to develop and execute global People & Culture strategies that align with business strategies and growth plans.
• Serve as a primary P&C advisor to the Business Leadership Team, providing insight, coaching, and recommendations on organization design, leadership effectiveness, culture, and talent decisions.
• Embed P&C strategy into segment and functional business plans, ensuring people implications are understood, funded, and sequenced appropriately.
• Translate strategy into P&C initiatives, define success metrics, monitor progress, and identify risks and countermeasures.
• Work cross-functionally to ensure strategies and policies are understood, implemented, and compliant across global locations.

Employee Experience & Lifecycle

• Design and implement an exceptional employee journey across the full lifecycle (attraction, onboarding, development, performance, engagement, retention, and separation).
• Partner with Business Partners, functional P&C leaders, and cross-functional teams to ensure people policies and processes are employee-centric, scalable, and effective.
• Champion initiatives that continuously improve engagement and foster an inclusive, high-performance culture.
• Equip business leaders and managers with tools, training, and coaching to deliver a consistent, high-quality employee experience.

Business Partnership & Organizational Effectiveness

• Ensure each business segment/function is strategically supported by a strong cadre of Sr. P&C Managers, Business Partners, and Generalists.
• Partner closely with segment and functional leaders as a trusted advisor on organizational design, workforce planning, succession, and talent deployment.
• Provide thought leadership on organizational development, workforce planning, change management, and talent strategy to support evolving business needs.
• Lead change management efforts in partnership with business and P&C leaders to support reorganizations, pivots, and growth.

Compliance & Employee Relations

• Direct and oversee all P&C compliance requirements; serve as an active member of the Regulatory Compliance Team.
• Lead the P&C team’s compliance-related activities, ensuring alignment with U.S. labor law and applicable global regulations.
• Oversee complex and sensitive employee relations matters, ensuring issues are handled with empathy, fairness, consistency, and legal compliance.
• Coach business leaders on effective, compliant, and empathetic people leadership, especially in complex performance, conduct, or structural situations.

Global Programs, Systems & Operations

• Direct the consistent application and delivery of global corporate P&C programs through the Business Partners, including performance management, compensation, talent reviews, employee relations, and separations.
• Act as project leader and governance owner for P&C initiatives, ensuring Business Partners’ effectiveness and measurable impact.
• Lead Workday and other HCM system integrations as part of the SteerCo; assign and guide P&C team members involved in implementations and enhancements.
• Integrate the employee engagement app into the employee communications ecosystem to drive communication, feedback, and engagement.

M&A & Integration

• Lead P&C components of M&A activity, including due diligence, compliance, organizational design, integration, and talent retention.
• Provide clear direction to Business Partners to ensure successful integration of new entities and achievement of one-year M&A people-related goals.
• Partner with acquiring/divesting business leadership teams to align structures, leadership roles, and key talent decisions with the strategic intent of the deal.

People Analytics & Workforce Planning

• Partner with the HRIS team to define, analyze, and report key people metrics monthly and quarterly.
• Lead global strategic workforce planning in alignment with annual business planning and shifts in strategic priorities.
• Work with Business Partners and segment leaders to align talent pipelines, succession plans, and hiring strategies with current and future needs.
• Present insights and recommendations to the Business Leadership Team, using data to inform decisions on capacity, capability, and organizational health.

Culture, Community & Leadership

• Foster a culture of excellence, ownership, continuous improvement, and learning within the P&C function and across the organization.
• Provide matrix leadership to Sr. P&C Managers and Business Partners: establish clear goals, create Individual Development Plans, hold regular team and 1:1 meetings, and promote regular feedback.
• Oversee the IMPACT community involvement program, providing strategic direction in collaboration with the Generalist managing and executing the program.
• Role-model AV’s values, champion change, and inspire trust-based, collaborative relationships across all levels.
• Influence and align the Business Leadership Team around desired culture, leadership behaviors, and people priorities, ensuring visible executive sponsorship and role-modelling.

Basic Qualifications (Required)

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Management, or related field, or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• 15+ years of progressive HR/P&C experience.
• 10+ years of directly managing a team of senior P&C/HR leaders, preferably supporting multi-function organizations.
• 5+ years in a senior leadership role leading a global team of P&C business partners within a multi-national organization.
• Demonstrated success as a people strategy leader with deep expertise in Organizational Development, Change Management, and talent development.
• Proven experience designing and implementing talent processes that enable a high-performance culture.
• Experience supporting and influencing C-suite executives and senior leadership teams.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a trusted advisor to business leadership teams, including challenging and coaching leaders to drive better people and business outcomes.
• Track record of planning and executing large, complex programs or transformations.
• Experience leading and developing in a matrixed environment.
• M&A and post-merger integration experience (people-related workstreams).
• Experience translating talent strategies into measurable business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of U.S. labor law and ability to research, interpret, and apply changes; familiarity with global employment practices.
• Ability and willingness to travel occasionally within the continental U.S. and internationally.

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• SPHR or equivalent senior HR certification highly preferred.
• Prior experience scaling a P&C/HR organization to support high growth.
• Prior Aerospace & Defense or similarly complex, regulated industry experience.
• Prior HRIS/HCM implementation experience, ideally Workday.
• Experience overseeing the entire employee lifecycle and depth in one or more HR functional areas (e.g., Talent Management, OD, Total Rewards, ER).

Leadership & Behavioral Competencies

• Exceptional emotional intelligence, empathy, and relationship-building skills.
• Demonstrated strength in analysis, root cause identification, and structured problem solving.
• Clear, concise communicator; able to effectively convey plans, reports, ideas, and complex concepts to cross-functional teams and executives.
• Thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic, and deadline-driven environment; displays strong initiative and drive.
• Adept at working on complex issues that require deep understanding of business context, data, and tradeoffs.
• Strategic and systems thinker—able to look beyond the immediate situation, consider multiple scenarios, and adapt decision-making style as needed.
• Inspirational leader who motivates and empowers others to deliver organizational goals while enhancing the employee experience.
• Champion of change who promotes a culture of agility and helps others navigate and adapt to change.
• Demonstrates strong judgment in assessing risk and opportunity, and takes appropriate actions to mitigate risks or capitalize on opportunities.
• Highly collaborative; prioritizes team and organizational success over individual interests.
• Strong executive presence and credibility with senior business leaders; able to influence decisions, constructively challenge, and build alignment around people strategies.

Clearance Level

No Clearance

The salary range for this role is:

$191,000 - $280,875

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

ITAR Requirement:

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR § 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown. For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit: http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us.

Principals only need apply. NO agencies please.

About AV:

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you're ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR

U.S. Citizen, U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card holder), asylee/refugee status as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) or a person approved for an export license from the appropriate governing agency.