Position: People Business Partner, South
Organization: Cobalt Service Partners – Alpine Investors Portfolio Company – (https://cobaltsp.com)
Location: Dallas, TX (based), with regular travel primarily across the South and Southeast regions
Reports To: VP of People, with dotted line to Regional President
Cobalt Service Partners Overview
Cobalt Service Partners is a private equity–backed platform building the leading commercial access and security integration business in North America. Our partner companies design, install, and service mission-critical systems including access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection, and related low-voltage infrastructure for enterprise, institutional, and commercial customers.
Backed by Alpine Investors, a private equity firm specializing in middle-market companies in the services and software industries with $15B+ in AUM, Cobalt has scaled rapidly since launch. With more than 20 acquisitions completed in a highly fragmented operating environment, Cobalt is building a differentiated, data-driven platform designed to scale through both organic growth and M&A.
Cobalt's Core Values Are
- Unwavering stewardship: We believe advancing founders' legacies is a privilege. We do right by our founders, teams, and customers in good times and in bad.
- Excellence in action: We hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards. We're bold in our pursuits, don't make excuses, and relentlessly empower each other to get the job done.
- Seek and tell the truth: We're honest with ourselves and others. We do what we say we'll do, say what needs to be said, and search for the right answer regardless of where it comes from.
- Love learning: We're always learning as individuals, as a team, and as a business. We show up humble, curious, and with the courage to change our minds.
- Enjoy the ride: We're fired up by our mission, love our team, and don't take either for granted. We show up authentically, assume best intent, and try not to take ourselves too seriously.
Position Overview
The People Business Partner, South serves as an on-the-ground extension of Cobalt's People team, partnering directly with regional leaders across the South and Southeast to execute people strategy, manage talent, and lead organizational change. This is a high-autonomy, field-based role: the right person will build trust with regional leaders, translate headquarters initiatives for frontline teams in a way that upholds a people-first culture, and know when to make the call versus when to escalate.
Key Responsibilities
- Regional People Strategy & Workforce Planning: Partner with regional leaders to execute Cobalt's people strategy across the South and Southeast, and support workforce planning as the region and portfolio grow.
- Talent Management & Organizational Change: Own talent management processes and lead organizational change initiatives, proactively identifying and addressing systemic trends in employee-relations issues.
- Headquarters Alignment & Change Management: Translate headquarters initiatives and directives for frontline teams in a way that upholds a people-first culture, supported by thoughtful, well-sequenced change management.
- Data-Driven Communication: Collect, analyze, and interpret regional people data, communicating it differently — and always actionably — for leadership versus employees.
- Field Presence & Trust-Building: Build relationships and influence with regional leaders without formal authority, spend meaningful time in the field with employees and managers, and exercise sound judgment on when to escalate.
- People Leadership: Lead direct reports with clear direction and autonomy, upholding the highest standards of execution as the team grows alongside the region.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of relevant HR/People experience, ideally in a field-based, multi-site, or regionally distributed environment
- Experience in security integration, entrance solutions, or other blue-collar, multi-location industries (e.g., HVAC, plumbing, electrical)
- Proven people-management experience, with a clear track record of leading a team to drive results — enabling direct reports to operate with clear direction and autonomy while upholding the highest standards of execution
- Demonstrated experience in workforce planning and full-cycle talent management
- Proven ability to lead and support organizational change management initiatives
- Strong data collection, analysis, and interpretation skills, with the ability to translate data into clear, actionable recommendations for both leaders and employees
- Track record of building relationships and driving influence without formal authority over the teams being advised
- Comfort and direct experience working with blue-collar or frontline employee populations, with an understanding of how blue-collar and white-collar work environments differ
- Understanding of private equity culture and comfort navigating the tension between people and profit — finding ways to advance both without compromising performance or company values (nice to have)
- Sound, independent decision-making, including good judgment on when to escalate versus resolve directly
- Learning & development experience, including designing or delivering training content (nice to have)
- Ability to travel an average of 50%, with the possibility for more at times
Core Competencies
- Communication: Distills complex information for the audience in front of them, communicates concisely, and favors genuine, down-to-earth language over anything scripted or corporate.
- Active Listening: Listens actively and empathetically, balancing personal, employee, and business needs.
- Adaptability & Judgment: Comfortable operating in ambiguity, applying nuanced judgment that balances policy, business, and people needs.
- Decisiveness: Confident and decisive, with the courage to make a call and own it.
- Positive Energy: Brings positive, light, engaged energy no matter the moment or challenge — someone people want to see walk into the room.
- Initiative & Execution: Self-starter who takes initiative rather than waiting to be told what to do; executes according to directives or the vision, staying on task and filtering out lower-priority noise to focus on what matters most.
Compensation and Timing
This role offers a base salary of $120-135k (DOE), plus bonus, along with a comprehensive benefits package (healthcare, 401(k) match, flexible time off).
