HR Business Partner

JobsCloseBy Editorial Insights

ecoinvent seeks a hands-on HR Business Partner in Zurich to act as a strategic partner and trusted advisor, blending people strategy with operational excellence while ensuring Swiss employment law compliance. The role partners with team leads to shape people initiatives, manage change, and strengthen engagement, performance, and wellbeing across a growing, multicultural environment. You’ll translate people data into actionable insights, coach leadership, and drive standardized policies and cycles from performance reviews to promotions. To apply, highlight Swiss HR experience, proven change management, and your ability to navigate ambiguity with a growth mindset, showcase multilingual fluency (German and English) and concrete outcomes, and tailor your resume to ecoinvent’s mission and culture.

Job Description

We're looking for an HR Business Partner to act as a strategic partner and trusted advisor. You'll work hands-on to further develop people strategy, guide managers through key HR cycles, and ensure our practices align with Swiss employment law while supporting our growth. This role requires someone who can balance strategic thinking with operational excellence.

What you will be doing in the role

• Be a strategic partner to team leads. Collaborate with them to develop and implement people strategies that align with overall business objectives, identifying gaps and proposing solutions to address them

• Proactively identify people-related risks, gaps, and opportunities (capacity, skills, engagement, succession) and propose concrete solutions

• Drive and support HR initiatives (new processes, role changes, org shifts, cultural evolution etc.)

• Develop and implement change management plans, including communication strategies, training sessions, and follow-up processes to ensure smooth transitions

• Ensure fair and equitable HR practices across teams, aligned with Swiss law and internal frameworks

• Support leaders in addressing engagement, performance issues, conflict, and team dynamics early and constructively

• Contribute to initiatives that improve employee experience, development, and wellbeing in a sustainable way

• Collaborate with HR team to develop standardized policies, procedures, and benefits, helping team leads implement them within their departments

• Support team leads in performance management cycles, including goal setting, mid-year reviews, and annual evaluations

Your Experience

• Proven experience working in Switzerland, with hands on exposure to Swiss labor law and HR best practices

• Experience working in international, growing, multicultural environment (start up, scale up)

• Ability to interpret people data and translate insights into clear recommendations

• Strong experience with key people cycles: performance management, promotions & salary processes, career progression, end-of-year cycles, engagement surveys

• Has worked closely and coached the leadership teams and senior stakeholders

• Solution-oriented, comfortable with ambiguity and growth

• Growth mindset: eager to take ownership, learn, and evolve with the organization

• Fluency in German & English language

Why ecoinvent?

As a fast-growing team based in Zürich with over twenty nationalities, we embrace diversity and promote a collaborative and adventurous mindset. We are committed to building an inspiring work culture that nurtures creative thinking, transparency, and reliability.

Our benefits include flexible and hybrid work, employee professional growth plans, and our most vital asset: our community. We value transparency, flexibility, and a diverse working environment that encourages learning and continuous improvement. Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. Join us and make an impact.

Our Mission

ecoinvent is an internationally active, mission-driven organization devoted to supporting high-quality, science-based environmental assessments. Its activities include publishing and maintaining the ecoinvent database—a comprehensive life cycle inventory database that provides reliable and transparent information on the environmental impacts of various products and services. It is used by companies, researchers, and policymakers to analyze the environmental impacts of their operations and make informed decisions.