Senior HR Business Partner, Engineering

Role Overview 

Astera Labs is seeking a Senior HR Business Partner to join our People team in San Jose, CA. In this high-impact role, you will partner directly with engineering organizations—serving as a trusted advisor, coach, and strategic partner to engineering leaders, managers, and employees across our technical teams. 

You will bring deep HRBP/Generalist experience, strong employee relations expertise, and substantial knowledge of US labor and employment law to ensure our people practices are both effective and compliant as we scale. This role is critical to supporting the talent strategies, people leader development, and organizational health that enable our engineering teams to deliver world-class AI infrastructure connectivity products. 

Key Responsibilities 

1. Engineering Partnership & Coaching 

• Serve as a trusted partner to engineering people leaders, providing hands-on coaching on people management, team dynamics, and leadership effectiveness 

• Build strong relationships across all levels ensuring employees and managers have accessible, credible HR support 

• Coach engineering managers on performance conversations, career development discussions, feedback delivery, and navigating difficult team situations 

• Help translate the unique challenges of semiconductor product development into practical people strategies 

2. Employee Relations & Compliance 

• Serve as the primary point of contact for employee relations matters across supported engineering groups, handling investigations, performance issues, interpersonal conflict, and conduct concerns with professionalism and care 

• Apply strong knowledge of North America labor and employment law—including federal, state, and local regulations—to advise leaders and ensure compliant, defensible people decisions 

• Conduct thorough, fair, and well-documented workplace investigations, partnering with Employment Counsel and Legal on complex or high-risk matters 

• Proactively identify compliance risks and partner with HR Operations to ensure policies, practices, and manager actions align with legal requirements 

• Stay current on evolving employment legislation and regulatory changes, advising leaders on implications and necessary adjustments 

• Provide clear, empathetic, and legally sound guidance to managers navigating terminations, leaves of absence, accommodations, and other sensitive situations 

3. Talent Strategy & Organizational Effectiveness 

• Partner with engineering leaders on organizational design, role clarity, and team structure to support product roadmap execution 

• Lead talent reviews, retention planning, and succession planning for critical technical roles 

• Support headcount planning and workforce decisions, balancing near-term delivery needs with long-term capability building 

• Identify talent risks and hotspots early, working proactively with leaders to address retention and engagement challenges 

4. Performance Management 

• Guide leaders and managers through performance cycles, calibration sessions, and compensation reviews with fair, consistent, and well-reasoned recommendations 

• Ensure performance management practices are applied consistently and in compliance with company policy and legal standards 

• Partner with Compensation and HR Operations to support equitable pay decisions and address compensation-related concerns 

5. Operational Excellence & Scalability 

• Identify gaps in people processes or manager capability and proactively propose solutions 

• Partner with HR Ops and Centers of Excellence to simplify, standardize, and scale HR practices as the engineering organization grows 
• Operate with an owner's mindset—taking accountability for outcomes, not just recommendations 

Basic Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or related field 

• 8+ years of HR Business Partner experience supporting engineering or technical organizations 

• Demonstrated experience in supporting engineering organizations 

• Strong knowledge of North America employment and labor law, including federal and California state regulations (wage and hour, leaves, accommodations, terminations, harassment/discrimination) 

• Proven track record handling complex employee relations matters, workplace investigations, and sensitive personnel issues 

• Demonstrated ability to coach managers and build trusted relationships with technical employees at all levels 

• Strong judgment and comfort operating in fast-paced, ambiguous environments 
• Clear, confident communicator who can influence and advise engineering leaders effectively 

Preferred Qualifications 

• PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP certification 

• Experience supporting organizations through rapid scaling or hypergrowth phases 

• Background partnering with engineering teams 

• Strong analytical skills with experience using people data to inform talent decisions 

• Track record of developing manager capability and building coaching cultures within engineering organizations 
• Experience in AI, data center, or connectivity-focused technology companies 

Salary range is $133,200 to $185,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role may be eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits.