Senior People + Culture Business Partner

Role: Senior People + Culture Business Partner, Distribution Center 

Team: People + Culture Business Partner & Talent Strategy, Frontline Communities 

Scope: Individual Contributor, P5 

Years of Experience:  5+ 

Location: Onsite — Reno, NV (Reno Distribution Center) 

Overview: 

As a Senior People + Culture Business Partner (PCBP), Distribution Center, you will advise operations leaders at our Reno Distribution Center on people strategy, employee experience, labor relations, and organizational effectiveness. You will bring senior HR business partner experience, sound judgment, and a practical understanding of multi-shift, high-volume fulfillment environments to help teams deliver business results while upholding Patagonia’s culture, values, and commitment to justice and belonging. 

This role supports DC leaders, supervisors, and hourly frontline employees in Reno by shaping talent strategies, strengthening leadership capability, and helping create consistent, equitable practices across every shift. They support the people and teams that bring our mission to life: we are in business to save our home planet. 

What You’ll Do: 

Strategic Advisory 

• Advise DC leaders on people strategy, workforce planning, organization design, succession planning, leadership development, and team effectiveness across shifts and departments. 

• Evaluate complex people matters by balancing business needs, employee experience, legal and labor obligations, operational realities, and Patagonia’s values. 

• Use employee data, feedback loops, engagement surveys, and workforce trends to identify risks, shape solutions, and connect people strategies to DC business outcomes such as throughput, safety, attendance, and retention. 

• Recommend practices, policies, and operating rhythms that improve consistency, fairness, engagement, and effectiveness across the site. 

Program Management 

• Partner with People, Culture and Justice Centers of Expertise to adapt and implement programs that meet the needs of DC leaders and hourly frontline teams. 

• Guide key talent processes, including goal setting, performance management, succession planning, talent reviews, compensation programs, and learning initiatives, adapting each for a shift-based, non-exempt population. 

• Lead change management and communications for organizational changes that affect DC teams, including shift changes, restructures, and new operating models. 

• Determine practical approaches for new or evolving frontline people initiatives, translating corporate tools and programs so they work on the warehouse floor. 

Distribution Center Operations 

• Provide onsite, shift-aligned partnership across day, swing, and weekend operations so hourly employees and their supervisors have consistent, in-person access to People + Culture support. 

• Partner with DC leadership on peak-season workforce planning, seasonal and temporary staffing ramps, onboarding at volume, and retention of the hourly workforce. 

• Advise on scheduling, attendance, overtime, and leave practices in partnership with Employee and Labor Relations, Leave of Absences teams and site operations leadership. 

• Partner with Safety and Security on workplace safety, ergonomics, injury prevention, accommodations, and return-to-work so people practices reinforce a strong safety culture. 

• Build supervisor and lead capability through coaching on frontline management fundamentals: setting clear expectations, giving timely feedback, holding performance conversations, and recognizing contribution. 

Justice & Belonging 

• Coach leaders on inclusive, equitable, and culturally aware people practices across a diverse, multilingual frontline workforce. 

• Help managers uphold Patagonia’s justice and belonging commitments in daily leadership and decision-making. 

• Partner with DC leaders to identify and address barriers to belonging, access, and employee experience across shifts and departments. 

Employee and Labor Relations 

• Partner with Employee and Labor Relations, Legal, and business leaders to resolve employee matters with objectivity, confidentiality, equity, and fairness. 

• Coach leaders on compliant, respectful approaches to employee relations, conflict resolution, performance concerns, and workplace expectations. 

• Help leaders understand and uphold collective bargaining obligations, labor law requirements, and agreed-upon workplace practices where applicable. 

Leading Self Expectations 

• Builds People + Teams: builds cooperative working relationships, communicates clearly, seeks feedback and acts on it, and recognizes others’ contributions and perspectives. 

• Drives Results: delivers work with a strong results-orientation, persists through obstacles, and follows through on commitments. 

• Demonstrates Good Judgment: connects own work to broader team and organizational goals, makes sound decisions with incomplete information, and learns quickly from new experiences. 

• Champions Vision + Purpose: demonstrates how the work supports company purpose and exhibits our Core Values — Quality, Integrity, Environmentalism, Justice, and Not Bound by Convention — throughout work and behaviors. 

• Coaches DC leaders against the Leading People and Leading Teams expectations, and grounds performance and development conversations in the Leader Expectation Guides so leaders are assessed on both what they deliver and how they lead. 

Who You Are: 

• Strategic, practical, and able to connect people work to distribution and fulfillment business priorities. 

• An influential partner who builds trust with operators and hourly employees alike, advises through complexity, and moves work forward. 

• A clear communicator who uses data, judgment, and empathy to shape recommendations. 

• Steady through change, comfortable on the floor, and energized by a fast-paced operating environment. 

• Committed to inclusive practices, frontline employee experience, and saving our home planet. 

Experience You Bring: 

• 10+ years of progressive HR experience, including at least 5 years as an HR Business Partner supporting frontline, distribution, fulfillment, manufacturing, or other operational employee populations. 

• Direct experience supporting a non-exempt, hourly, multi-shift workforce in a distribution center, warehouse, or plant environment, or similar industry including peak-season or high-volume staffing cycles. 

• Demonstrated employee relations experience, including conducting or overseeing workplace investigations and managing performance, conduct, and accommodation matters through resolution. 

• Working knowledge of federal and Nevada state employment law, including FLSA wage and hour requirements, leave administration (FMLA/ADA), and OSHA-regulated workplace obligations. 

• Experience advising senior leaders and cross-functional partners on workforce planning, organization design, succession planning, and compensation decisions. 

• Proficiency with HRIS and people analytics tools (e.g., Workday) to pull, interpret, and present workforce data such as turnover, headcount, attendance, and engagement. 

• Ability to work onsite at the Reno Distribution Center and to flex hours to support day, swing, and weekend shifts as business needs require. 

Target Hiring Range: 

Reno Hiring Range — $140,960 - $165,500 USD Annual 

At Patagonia, pay ranges are assigned to a job based on the location specific market median of similar jobs according to 3rd party salary benchmark surveys. Individual pay within that range can vary for several reasons including skills/capabilities, experience, and available budget. 

Benefits 

Patagonia offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, retirement and leave of absence plans. Benefit plans may vary slightly depending on the nature of your employment. 

Workplace Location Overview 

This position is performed onsite at our Reno, NV Distribution Center, with a standard schedule of Monday through Friday during normal business hours. Flexibility to shift start and end times, and occasional weekend presence, is required to support day, swing, and weekend operations. 

Employee Conduct 

It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive, inclusive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers and vendors.