(Associate) Director, People Partner

The Opportunity

The unprecedented convergence of multi-modal data and AI has the potential to revolutionize drug discovery. insitro is harnessing this moment to redefine how medicines are developed for complex diseases. Our success depends on our ability to attract, develop, inspire, and retain amazing, diverse talent and build a collaborative, high-performing, inclusive, and equitable culture.

Our (Associate) Director, People Partner will be a key leader in bringing this people vision and strategy to life, aiming to set a new standard for the employee experience in our industry. You will serve as a hands-on business advisor and organizational "fixer," coaching our leaders through complex team dynamics, organizational design, and rapid scaling.

In this role, you will report directly to insitro's Chief People Officer and be a key member of their leadership team. The role is based in South San Francisco and is required onsite most days, with flexibility to work remotely up to 2 days a week.

Responsibilities

Strategic Partnership & Organizational Effectiveness

• Workforce Planning & Strategy: Own and execute end-to-end strategic workforce planning to ensure talent pipelines align with aggressive R&D and scaling milestones

• Executive Advisory: Advise executives on aligning manager and employee capabilities to mid-to-long-term business needs

• Business Integration: Partner with leaders to translate business strategy into people initiatives that accelerate progress

• Organizational Design: Support senior management in translating company mission into sustainable organizational strategies, programs, and behaviors

• Change Management and L&D: Work to individually lead change management initiatives and design and implement fit for purpose L&D exercises

Talent Development & Coaching

• Operational Mediation: Act as a practical, hands-on mediator, "parachuting" into dysfunctional teams to diagnose and resolve work environment issues and disruptive dynamics

• Performance Leadership: Drive performance management cycles and targeted interventions that favor results over complex HR pedigree

• Talent Problem-Solving: Bring both best practices and fresh, scrappy problem-solving to issues of retention and engagement

People Operations & Compliance

• Employee Relations: Partner closely with the Legal team to ensure full compliance with local, state, and federal laws

• Data-Driven Insights: Draw on quantitative (people analytics) and qualitative (roundtables, exit interviews) insights to strengthen priorities

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with other People team leaders to create a holistic strategy for how we hire and inspire "insitrocytes"

About You

Work Experience & Functional Competence

• 12+ years of People function experience, including high-growth environments building processes from the ground up

• 5+ years in an HRBP/People Partner role directly supporting Director- and VP-level leaders

• Industry Context: Experience in Biotech/Pharma is preferred; however, we are highly open to candidates from fast-moving tech or startup cultures (Product/Engineering focus)

• Technical Versatility: Demonstrated competence in organizational design, performance management, employee relations, and strategic workforce planning

• Leadership: Experience leading and coaching small teams of HR professionals

• Biotech/Pharma experience is required, ideally including in a company with a strong Data Science or Machine Learning element to their business model

Technical Skills & Business Acumen

• Lean Execution: A "builder" mindset—comfortable operating with limited COE resources and executing solutions without heavy vendor reliance

• Business Judgment: Respected just as much for your business judgment and operational pragmatism as for your HR expertise

• Data Fluency: Always looking for information and data to strengthen your work and impact

Personal Attributes

• Approachable & Empathetic: Emotionally intelligent and able to build deep trust with diverse employees at all levels through active listening

• Exceptional Communicator: Clear, concise, and courageous in giving tough but respectful feedback

• Comfort with Ambiguity: At your best leading through constant change; nimble and responsive to short-term surprises

• Proactive "Can-Do" Energy: Motivated by challenges; willing to roll up your sleeves and do whatever is needed to achieve results

• Mission-Driven: Passionate about making a difference in the world and for patients

Compensation & Benefits at insitro

Our target starting salary for successful US-based applicants for this role is $173,000 - $242,000. To determine starting pay, we consider multiple job-related factors including a candidate's skills, education and experience, market demand, business needs, and internal parity. We may also adjust this range in the future based on market data.

This role is eligible for participation in our Annual Performance Bonus Plan (based on company targets by role level and annual company performance) and our Equity Incentive Plan, subject to the terms of those plans and associated policies.

In addition, insitro also provides our employees:

• 401(k) plan with employer matching for contributions

• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage as well as mental health and well-being support

• Open, flexible vacation policy

• Paid parental leave of at least 16 weeks to support parents who give birth, and 10 weeks for a new parent (inclusive of birth, adoption, fostering, etc)

• Quarterly budget for books and online courses for self-development

• Support to attend professional conferences that are meaningful to your career growth and role's responsibilities

• New hire stipend for home office setup

• Monthly cell phone & internet stipend

• Access to free onsite baristas and daily lunch for employees who are either onsite or hybrid

• Access to a free commuter bus network that provides transport to and from our South San Francisco HQ from locations all around the Bay Area

insitro is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

We believe diversity, equity, and inclusion need to be at the foundation of our culture. We work hard to bring together diverse teams–grounded in a wide range of expertise and life experiences–and work even harder to ensure those teams thrive in inclusive, growth-oriented environments supported by equitable company and team practices. All candidates can expect equitable treatment, respect, and fairness throughout the interview process.

Please be aware of recruitment scams: we never request payments, all recruitment communications are from @insitro.com, and if in doubt, contact us at info@insitro.com.roughout the interview process.

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About insitro

insitro is a drug discovery and development company using machine learning (ML) and data at scale to decode biology for transformative medicines. At the core of insitro’s approach is the convergence of in-house generated multi-modal cellular data and high-content phenotypic human cohort data. We rely on these data to develop ML-driven, predictive disease models that uncover underlying biologic state and elucidate critical drivers of disease. These powerful models rely on extensive biological and computational infrastructure and allow insitro to advance novel targets and patient biomarkers, design therapeutics and inform clinical strategy. insitro is advancing a wholly owned and partnered pipeline of insights and therapeutics in neuroscience and metabolism. Since launching in 2018, insitro has raised over $700 million from top tech, biotech and crossover investors, and from collaborations with pharmaceutical partners. For more information on insitro, please visit www.insitro.com.