HR Operations and Business Partner Manager

Unissant, Inc. delivers innovative capabilities to the agencies that keep our nation healthy and safe. We apply our domain expertise, data acumen, and technology know-how to achieve breakthrough results for our clients. Working collaboratively, we advance missions and careers through a focus on honesty, integrity, and dependability. We continuously look for talent, excited to join that effort. To learn more about our exciting organization, please visit us at www.unissant.com. We are seeking a strategic, hands-on HR Operations and Business Partner Manager to join our team at our HQ in Herndon, VA. In this role, you will partner with leaders to drive excellence across the employee lifecycle, combining business acumen and operational expertise to enhance people processes, elevate employee experience, and support organizational growth. Candidates with strong business operations or people leadership experience who can demonstrate high business acumen and an aptitude for learning HR practices are encouraged to apply. This is a hybrid position. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: • Serve as the primary HR partner for leaders and employees across the organization, building trusted relationships and providing coaching on organizational design, workforce planning, performance, and employee engagement. • Act as a thought partner to business leaders, translating business objectives into integrated people, process and actional operational strategies that support growth, efficiency, and culture. • Manage and continually improve core HR processes across the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, employee changes, leaves of absence, performance management, and offboarding, ensuring scalability, efficiency and alignment with organizational goals. • Lead the new hire process from offer acceptance through onboarding, including background checks, employment verification, coordination with hiring managers, and initial benefits enrollment and orientation, while identifying opportunities to streamline and enhance the onboarding experience. • Own HRIS data integrity and transactions (hires, transfers, compensation changes, terminations) and identify opportunities to leverage system capabilities and data to generate actionable insights, reporting and drive automation operational efficiency and integration opportunities. • Proactively assess HR workflows, tools, and practices to identify inefficiencies; leading or supporting enterprise-level process improvement efforts that improve cycle time, reduce manual work, and enhance the employee and manager experience. • Develop, standardize, and maintain SOPs, process maps, and checklists to ensure consistency, scalability, and audit readiness across HR activities. • Track and analyze key people and HR metrics (e.g., headcount, turnover, time to fill, leave utilization) and translate data into actionable insights and recommendations for leaders. • Use data and observation to identify trends and risks (e.g., attrition, performance patterns, team health) and propose targeted interventions that improve organizational health and effectiveness. • Work employee relations issues from intake through resolution, including fact finding, documentation, and partnering with leaders to determine appropriate actions that align with policy, culture, and legal requirements. • Advise and coach managers on handling difficult conversations, corrective action, and performance improvement plans, ensuring consistency, fairness, and clear communication and strengthening leadership effectiveness. • Coordinate and administer benefits and leave programs (e.g., health benefits, FMLA, PTO), including annual open enrollment and ongoing employee education, partnering with vendors and payroll to ensure accurate, timely processing and clear communication. • Design and support training, communications, and change management efforts related to HR programs, policies, and new or improved processes and systems. • Help ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations, as well as internal policies, audits, and standards. • Lead or contribute to cross functional projects (policy updates, organizational changes, system implementations, audits, engagement initiatives), coordinating work across HR, Finance, IT, Operations, and Programs and driving alignment, timelines, and outcomes through influence and leadership. • Identify gaps and opportunities across people, processes, and systems, and proactively develop solutions that improve organizational effectiveness, employee experience, and operational efficiency. • Informally mentor colleagues by sharing best practices in HR operations, HR technology