HR Business Partner Jobs in Milwaukee, WI

About Us

Johnson Controls, a global leader in thermal management, mission-critical building systems, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, helps customers use energy more productively, reduce carbon emissions, and operate with the precision and resilience required in rapidly expanding industries such as data centers, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, and higher education.

For more than 140 years, Johnson Controls has delivered performance where it really matters. Backed by advanced technology, lifecycle services and an industry-leading field organization, we elevate customer performance, turn goals into real-world results and help move society forward.

Operational HR Business Partner -Senior Manager

What You Will Do

The Operational HR Business Partner, Senior Manager is accountable for improving business performance by driving process excellence, execution consistency, and data integrity across talent and workforce systems at the local level.

This role ensures that core talent processes, workforce actions, and HR operating-model expectations are executed accurately, consistently, and in alignment with enterprise standards while strengthening manager ownership of people decisions.

The Senior Manager brings discipline to the day-to-day execution of workforce and talent priorities. This includes ensuring actions are completed accurately and on time, workforce data is reliable, enterprise HR products and standard workflows are used as intended, and breakdowns in execution or handoffs are identified and resolved quickly.

The role supports the business's three primary sources of demand through accurate and consistent local execution:

• Annual operating plans and associated performance metrics
• Strategic initiatives and workforce plans
• Colleague experience

Success requires strong process discipline, practical business judgment, attention to data quality, effective manager partnership, and the ability to coordinate across HR teams while keeping ownership for people decisions with managers and leaders.

How You Will Do It: Our Winning Behaviors

At Johnson Controls, how we deliver results matters. This leader will model and embed our Winning Behaviors throughout the organization.

Focus on What Matters

• Go to Gemba with leaders and managers to understand workforce and execution challenges firsthand.
• Use data, reporting, and insight to identify root causes and areas where execution is breaking down.
• Prioritize the talent, workforce, and process issues that have the greatest impact on business performance.
• Activate enterprise HR products and standard processes where they can create the greatest value.
• Keep HRBP capacity focused on business-relevant work by ensuring transactional, administrative, and policy activities are routed appropriately.

Win as One Team

• Collaborate across HR Product teams, Centers of Excellence, HR Operations, PMO, Workforce Analytics, HRBPs, and specialist partners.
• Coordinate actions and handoffs across the HR operating model to improve speed, accuracy, and execution.
• Align managers to enterprise standards while working across HR teams to ensure solutions meet business needs.
• Create clear ownership and effective partnerships across the HR support model.

Own the Outcome

• Take accountability for the quality, accuracy, and completion of workforce and talent execution.
• Reinforce manager ownership of people decisions, workforce actions, performance management, development, and talent processes.
• Use enterprise talent systems and standard processes with discipline.
• Surface and resolve execution breakdowns, data-quality issues, and handoff gaps.
• Track actions to completion and escalate risks when appropriate.

Improve Every Day

• Seek truth through workforce data, reporting, process review, and manager feedback.
• Identify root causes behind errors, rework, delays, and inconsistent execution.
• Continuously improve processes, controls, handoffs, and manager capability.
• Reduce unnecessary variation and manual workarounds.
• Approach improvement with urgency, curiosity, and humility.

How You Will Lead

As Operational HR Business Partner, Senior Manager, you will serve as:

Process Excellence Operator

• Ensure talent and workforce processes are executed accurately, consistently, and on time.
• Maintain clear adherence to enterprise standards and workflows.
• Establish strong completion discipline across workforce and talent actions.
• Identify and address gaps that create delays, errors, or inconsistent outcomes.

Execution Reliability Problem Solver

• Use data, reporting, and process review to identify breakdowns in execution.
• Identify issues affecting data quality, manager follow-through, and completion discipline.
• Diagnose ineffective handoffs across the HR operating model.
• Address execution issues at the root-cause level to improve reliability and reduce rework.

Product and Process Adopter

• Use enterprise HR products and standard processes as the default method for executing talent and workforce work.
• Reinforce consistent local adoption of enterprise solutions and workflows.
• Reduce unnecessary process variation and manual workarounds.
• Improve reliability and quality through disciplined product and process adoption.

Manager Capability Reinforcer

• Strengthen manager ownership of performance management, workforce actions, development activities, and people processes.
• Provide guidance and reinforcement while keeping ownership with the manager.
• Establish clear expectations for completion and follow-through.
• Build greater manager self-sufficiency in executing core people responsibilities.

Data Quality and Controls Leader

• Maintain strong discipline around workforce data accuracy and reporting integrity.
• Ensure actions and commitments are effectively tracked.
• Identify and resolve data-quality issues.
• Provide reliable information that supports effective workforce and talent decisions.
• Reinforce appropriate controls to reduce errors and rework.

Operating Model Discipline Driver

• Reinforce correct routing, clear roles, and effective handoffs across HRBP, HR Operations, and specialist partners.
• Ensure transactional, administrative, and policy work reaches the appropriate team.
• Protect local HRBP capacity for higher-value workforce and talent execution.
• Identify and escalate breakdowns or risks across the support model.

What You Will Accomplish

Talent and Leadership Outcomes

• Support stronger leadership and talent outcomes through disciplined process execution.
• Ensure performance management, development actions, and key talent processes are completed accurately and consistently.
• Strengthen follow-through and completion quality.
• Reinforce manager accountability for people and talent actions.

Organizational Effectiveness and Workforce Planning

• Support effective workforce execution at the local level.
• Maintain accurate headcount actions and workforce data.
• Support role alignment and workforce actions tied to business needs.
• Ensure workforce decisions are implemented with accuracy and discipline.
• Strengthen alignment between workforce execution and business priorities.

HR Product Activation and Adoption

• Ensure enterprise HR products and standard processes are used consistently in local execution.
• Improve reliability and quality through disciplined adoption.
• Reduce manual and local process workarounds.
• Reinforce standard workflows as the primary method for executing talent and workforce activities.

Leader Capability and Performance

• Support managers in executing performance management, development actions, and workforce decisions.
• Strengthen manager discipline, accountability, and follow-through.
• Provide appropriate guidance while reinforcing manager ownership.
• Build greater manager self-sufficiency in core people processes.

Employee Experience and Culture Building

• Improve employee experience through timely, consistent, and high-quality process execution.
• Strengthen processes affecting employee feedback, development, movement, and recognition.
• Reinforce consistent standards and practices that support stronger team effectiveness.
• Help create a predictable, fair, and reliable employee experience through execution quality.

Transformation and Change Leadership

• Support change initiatives through disciplined local execution.
• Maintain process consistency and implementation accuracy during periods of transition.
• Ensure required workforce and talent actions are completed.
• Reinforce adoption of new processes, products, and ways of working.
• Identify and escalate execution challenges that may affect successful adoption.

HR Service Model and Routing Discipline

• Ensure transactional, administrative, and policy work is routed to HR Operations or the appropriate specialist teams.
• Preserve local HRBP capacity for execution of higher-value workforce and talent priorities.
• Reinforce role clarity and service-delivery boundaries across the HR operating model.
• Reduce unnecessary duplication and ineffective handoffs.

Incentive Alignment and Performance Systems

• Support consistent execution of performance and reward processes.
• Reinforce accountability and fair application of performance standards.
• Support recognition aligned to results.
• Identify inconsistent application or execution gaps and ensure they are appropriately addressed.

Execution Controls and Coordination

• Coordinate across HRBP, HR Operations, and specialist partners.
• Ensure workforce and talent actions are completed accurately and on time.
• Reinforce consistent standards across the support model.
• Monitor execution quality and completion discipline.
• Ensure risks, breakdowns, data-quality concerns, or handoff issues are surfaced quickly.
• Support faster and more reliable HR delivery through clear coordination and accountability.

What We Look For

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Strong understanding of talent-process execution, workforce administration, and manager support needs.
• Experience executing performance management, workforce actions, reporting, and/or development processes with strong discipline.
• Proven ability to support and influence managers in improving process consistency, accountability, and follow-through.
• Regular application of workforce data, analysis, and reporting to identify gaps, solve problems, and drive talent solutions.
• Familiarity with enterprise HR systems, standard processes, and HR operating-model expectations.
• Demonstrated attention to accuracy, data integrity, and completion quality.
• Ability to coordinate effectively across HR teams while maintaining clear accountability and appropriate service-model boundaries.

Strongly Preferred Experience

• Experience working in a complex, matrixed, and/or multi-site environment.
• Exposure to workforce planning, reporting disciplines, and process-improvement initiatives.
• Experience coordinating across HRBPs, HR Operations, and specialist teams.
• Experience creating strategy and operating within a Lean business system at an organization with a reputable, mature business system.
• Graduate-level academic background from a leading HR program and/or experience leading scaled HR capability within industrial technology or complex manufacturing environments.
• Experience supporting heavy field-facing industries with a combination of technical, engineering, and skilled-trades talent.

HIRING SALARY RANGE: $130-195,400K (Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.) This role offers a competitive Bonus plan that will take into account individual, group, and corporate performance. This position includes a competitive benefits package. The posted salary range reflects the target compensation for this role. However, we recognize that exceptional candidates may bring unique skills and experiences that exceed the typical profile. If you believe your background warrants consideration beyond the stated range, we encourage you to apply. To support an efficient and fair hiring process, we may use technology assisted tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to help identify and evaluate candidates. All hiring decisions are ultimately made by human reviewers. For details, please visit the About Us tab on the Johnson Controls Careers site at https://jobs.johnsoncontrols.com/about-us