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State of Wisconsin Investment Board

Senior Human Resources Business Partner

State of Wisconsin Investment Board, Madison, WI


Our Agency

Making a Difference
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), founded in 1951, is a premier global investment organization responsible for managing the more than $156 billion of assets of the fully funded Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS), the State Investment Fund and other state funds. Through SWIB's effective and innovative investment management, WRS remains one of the only fully funded US public pensions. We are the 9th largest public pension fund in the U.S. and the 25th largest public or private pension fund in the world. SWIB is recognized by the investment industry for our teamwork and innovation. SWIB pursues sophisticated global investment strategies across the asset and risk allocation spectrum. Providers across the investment ecosystem seek to partner with SWIB.

Serving more than 677,000 beneficiaries of the WRS, SWIB is a mission-driven organization focused on providing a strong financial future to those who committed their careers to public service. For public employees and the 1,500 Wisconsin employers who contribute on their behalf, we are a trusted partner. Our team innovates continuously to meet the challenges of an evolving investment landscape while growing and protecting the assets of the WRS.

SWIB provides a strong, steady economic pillar for the state of Wisconsin by growing the trust funds under its management, managing risk, and optimizing costs of the long term. We are a mission-driven organization and the participants we serve are our mission. By bringing a disciplined, prudent, and innovative approach to market opportunities, SWIB has been successful in generating required returns and maintaining the trust of the beneficiaries and stakeholders of the funds we oversee.

Home To Top Talent

Our high-performing staff is key to what makes us a premier investment manager. SWIB is committed to investing in talented professionals to implement our robust, sophisticated investment strategies and to keep the organization at the forefront of the investment industry. We encourage innovation and offer professional development opportunities to help staff sharpen and expand their skills. Approximately 61 percent of SWIB's investment professionals are Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholders.

About the Team

The HR Division consists of 8 staff which includes the Talent Acquisition Team, the HR Operations Team, and two HR Business Partners. We provide all HR functions and support for our 298 professionals.

Position Overview
The Senior Human Resources Business Partner will join the HR Division and report to our Head of Human Resources. In this visible and impactful role, you will help grow our HRBP presence and build our talent management function to align with our organization. This position provides strategic and tactical HR support to assigned business areas/managers and support staff with all aspects of the employee lifecycle including but not limited to talent management & development, workforce planning, organizational design, managing employee relations issues, and leading/supporting HR projects and initiatives. The right candidate will bring a strong passion for employee coaching, commitment to employee learning and development, HR administration, and talent management for strategic organization-wide culture development and preservation. Our HR Division is currently utilizing detailed, manual, and administrative processes and is in progress of implementing Workday. New members of the team will participate in helping us evolve our HR function and presence within the organization while maintaining the current infrastructure.

We have a hybrid work policy which allows remote work. We require all staff to have a regular, in-office presence in our Madison, WI office. Given the nature of this role it will be important to live locally or within a comfortable commuting distance to ensure an onsite presence of three days each week. The regular in-person interaction will allow you to build strong, trusted partnerships with our managers and staff.

Essential activities:
  • Develop deep business relationships that contribute to trustworthy advisement and strategic and tactical HR support.
  • Actively coach and support leaders and staff on a range of issues, including, for example, leader development, performance management issues, and building effective teams.
  • Have a regular meeting cadence with assigned leaders to provide proactive HR support and manage aspects of the employee lifecycle. This includes, but is not limited to interviewing, performance management, talent development, leader development, employment relations, employee engagement strategies, and terminations.
  • Serve as an expert consultant on work-related issues, employment-related law, and policy interpretation.
  • Identify people related issues, trends, and challenges before they arise.
  • Ensure and support a healthy culture, employee experience, and effective business operations.
  • Works within the HR Division reporting structure to proactively inform and collaborate to gain alignment and support on their work. Includes meeting with Head of HR weekly and as needed to ensure communication on matters is shared timely and provide opportunity to collaborate on solutions.
  • Performs various HR generalist duties such as job description development, assist with onboarding and offboarding staff, auditing HR data, completing analysis and preparing reports, coordinating training opportunities, and supporting equity and inclusion efforts.
  • Conduct exit interviews for departing associates, provide feedback to leaders as appropriate, and identify trends and issues.
  • Responsible for producing and maintaining written documentation and records related to their work.
  • Utilize Workday to ensure data integrity, data input and changes, accurate reporting, and usage of data to increase awareness and support business needs.
  • Lead and assist with ad-hoc projects.
  • As a steward of the company's values, advise and contribute to creating an inclusive and productive environment that embodies non-negotiable integrity.

The ideal candidate:
  • Minimum of 8 years' experience as a HR Business Partner in a professional environment, preferably in investment management or other financial services.
  • Bachelor's degree required and master's degree in business, Human Resources, or related field highly preferred.
  • Passionate about coaching, supporting, and developing talent, and have partnered with business leaders in developing high performing teams, building talent pipelines, and driving employee engagement.
  • Ability to handle all aspects of employee relations and support company-wide compliance.
  • Built a career on being a motivated achiever that brings positive energy to your interpersonal and business interactions.
  • Demonstrated ability to learn business objectives quickly and influence talent and organization decisions that impact strategic business outcomes.
  • Enjoy working in change-oriented, fast-paced environments where you manage various tasks simultaneously and work with changing priorities.
  • Skilled communicator who thrives in team settings by being authentic, respectful, and engaging while being direct and communicating with candor.
  • Keen eye for details and can successfully complete competing priorities with high accuracy.
  • Collaborative, considerate, and thoughtful approach to strategic HR projects.
  • Ability to recognize needs, solve problems, anticipate issues, and develop solutions using strong analytical, business, and financial acumen.
  • Highly skilled interpersonal, communication, collaboration, and presentation skills, particularly in building relationships with business leaders and presenting to senior leaders and staff.
  • Demonstrated ability to handle a varied workload of HR generalist tasks and pivot seamlessly between those duties and produce effective results.
  • Thorough knowledge of related state and federal regulations and employment-related laws.
  • Experience with facilitating training programs preferred.
  • Ability to implement change successfully and positively and interact with all levels of management.
  • Ability to demonstrate the highest level of confidentiality and integrity, building trust amongst HR and the business.
  • Proactive; resolves issues with a sense of urgency; willing to take on challenges and projects; detail-oriented with the ability to effectively multi-task, prioritize, and produce results.
  • Strong technical skills, including fluency in Workday (or similar HRIS platforms), Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.


SWIB Offers:
  • Competitive total cash compensation, based on AON (formerly McLagan) industry benchmarks
  • Comprehensive benefits package
  • Educational and training opportunities
  • Tuition reimbursement
  • Challenging work in a professional environment
  • Hybrid work environment


The position requires U.S. work authorization.

Pursuant to our Hybrid Remote Work Policy, all staff have the flexibility to work remotely, but are required to have a weekly presence in our offices, the frequency of which is dependent on their distance from office. Staff are not required to reside locally; however, we offer relocation reimbursement to the Dane County area per our policy.

All SWIB employees are subject to SWIB's Ethics Policy and Personal Trade Approvals Policy. These policies include restrictions on outside business activities and employment and have limits on personal trading. You may request copies of these policies from SWIB's talent acquisition team and any questions can be answered by SWIB's compliance team.