Human Resource Business Partner (HRBP)

Thanks for your interest in Oklo!  We are searching for an HR Business Partner to join our team. 

Position Description

The HR Business Partner (HRBP) reports directly to the Director of People and serves as an extension of People leadership across the organization. This role partners closely with business teams to drive organizational effectiveness, risk mitigation, manager capability, and employee experience, while operating in tight alignment with the Director of People on priorities, decision-making, and people strategy. This role is ideal for a builder who thrives in complexity, is comfortable navigating regulated environments, and can balance long-term people strategy with hands-on execution.

This is a hybrid position located in Santa Clara, CA with some travel required.

Specific responsibilities may include:

• Act as the primary People partner to assigned business units, advising leaders on organizational design, workforce planning, and team effectiveness during periods of rapid growth and site expansion.
• Support manager coaching on performance management, feedback, escalation, and decision-making in high-accountability, safety-critical environments.
• Support performance cycles, calibration discussions, promotions, and talent reviews for supported teams, ensuring consistency and fairness across the organization.
• Assist with complex employee relations matters, including investigations, performance escalations, and sensitive exits, in close partnership with Legal and leadership.
• Embed safety-first and security-minded expectations into people processes, manager accountability, and employee experience.
• Partner with Legal, IT, and Facilities to identify and mitigate people-related operational, compliance, and security risks.
• Support leaders through organizational change, including reorgs, new site launches, role expansion, and evolving operating models.
• Translate company milestones and operational needs into actionable people strategies that support execution and alignment.
• Partner closely with the HR Manager to ensure seamless execution of HR processes, systems readiness, and policy application.
• Provide strategic input into policy development, workforce planning, and People team priorities based on trends observed in the business.
• Serve as a consistent, trusted escalation point for managers navigating ambiguity, conflict, or high-stakes people decisions.
• Use people data, feedback, and qualitative insights to surface risks, recommend interventions, and inform leadership decisions.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 3+ years as an HR Business Partner or equivalent
• Experience supporting leaders in fast-growing, complex, and regulated environments
• Strong employee relations background with sound judgment and discretion.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and influence leaders at all levels.
• Comfort partnering cross-functionally with Legal, IT, Facilities, and Operations.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Experience supporting engineering, R&D, manufacturing, or lab-based teams.
• Familiarity with multi-site and multi-state workforce management in both remote and in-person environments
• Experience with Workday highly preferred

Competencies

We are looking for an HRBP that:

• Has demonstrated ability to navigate sensitive employee relations, safety issues, and compliance considerations with discretion, fairness, and sound judgment.
• Has the ability to understand Oklo’s technical, operational, and regulatory context and translate business goals into people strategies that enable execution.
• Is skilled at developing manager capability through direct coaching, feedback, and guidance—especially in fast-moving, ambiguous situations.
• Has strong understanding of how people practices intersect with legal, security, safety, and compliance requirements in regulated environments.
• Is comfortable leading through growth, change, and uncertainty while maintaining clarity, trust, and alignment across teams.
• Has proven ability to partner effectively with Legal, IT, Facilities, Finance, and Operations to solve problems and mitigate risk.
• Has ability to reinforce a safety-first, mission-driven culture through everyday people decisions and Oklo values, not just programs or messaging.
• Uses both qualitative insight and quantitative data to diagnose issues, identify trends, and recommend actions.
• Is comfortable working alongside HR Operations on systems (e.g., Workday), documentation, and scalable workflows.
• Balances urgency and execution speed with thoughtful decision-making and long-term organizational impact.

Who you are:

A startup person: You aren't driven by titles or hierarchy, and prefer efficiency to excess process. You don't need or expect to have a lot of guidance but you enjoy working in a fast-paced team. If you prefer the culture and feel of a large organization, that is great, but you likely won’t enjoy working with us! There is plenty of important work and plenty of good opportunities with organizations like that.

Motivated: You are self-motivated. You bring an enthusiasm to the team, and imbue a sense of passion that goes beyond clocking in and clocking out. This isn’t about a fake or arbitrary “pieces of flair” mentality or lack of work-life balance! It is about being a part of the vision and feeling a part of reaching team goals.

A team-player: Oklo genuinely is a team. We aren’t about taking credit for ourselves, and we aren’t about pushing blame to others. We do incredible things because we work as a team.

An excellent communicator: We need a person who is not only technically competent but also a clear and upbeat communicator.

Creative: Being creative means that when things fall outside clear scopes or processes or problems arise without clear solutions, you are able to identify it as well as invent ways to solve a problem or fill a need without micromanagement. The successful person in this job will not only be creative, but also enjoy being creative and solving open-ended problems which may change day-by-day.

Detail-oriented: This focus is a big part of excellence, consistency, and quality. Excellent grammar and spelling matter for both good communication as well as the image of the company that we put forward.

About Oklo travel requirements:

Oklo requires remote employees to travel to headquarters (Santa Clara, CA) twice a quarter annually, based on business or team needs, including attendance at team meetings, off-sites, and other company events or gatherings.

About Oklo compensation:

Salary: $95,000-$130,000

Oklo offers flexible time off, equity, competitive pay, 401k, health insurance, FSA, flexible work hours, and other benefits.

This position may involve access to information subject to U.S. export control laws. Only applicants who meet the definition of a U.S. person under applicable laws may be eligible.

About Oklo Inc.: Oklo Inc. is developing fast fission power plants to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale; establishing a domestic supply chain for critical radioisotopes; and advancing nuclear fuel recycling to convert nuclear waste into clean energy. Oklo was the first to receive a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy for a commercial advanced fission plant, was awarded fuel material from Idaho National Laboratory, and submitted the first custom combined license application for an advanced reactor to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Oklo is also developing advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. National Laboratories.

#CHOP: Oklo’s Values
Collaboration: We go further, together. We bring diverse perspectives, listen actively, and build trust through transparency and respect. We work across disciplines, sharing ownership to turn complex challenges into shared successes.
Humility: We are team players who act for the good of the company and for the world. We are focused on our mission, not personal recognition.
Ownership: We take pride in what we do and how we do it. We are proactive in finding solutions and see tasks through  to completion. We are committed to delivering on our promises to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy.
Pathfinding: We chart new ground where no path exists by approaching challenges with curiosity, courage, and creativity while navigating ambiguity.