The Director, People Partner will lead the People Strategy for S&P Global’s Legal, Risk, Compliance, Communications and Office of the CEO functions. These enterprise-enabling groups operate in highly complex, regulated and reputationally sensitive environments, with broad reach across the company and direct impact on how S&P Global governs, communicates, manages risk and executes strategic priorities.
This is a strategic, high-trust role for an experienced HR leader who can operate at the intersection of business strategy, organizational effectiveness, leadership advisory and enterprise transformation. The role will partner closely with senior leaders to shape and execute a people agenda that enables these functions to evolve their operating models, strengthen capability, clarify accountabilities and support transformation in 2026 and beyond.
The successful candidate will bring strong enterprise judgment, exceptional stakeholder engagement skills and the ability to translate complex business priorities into clear people strategies. They will need to excel at cross-functional collaboration, influence across boundaries, and communicate with clarity and confidence in environments where confidentiality, judgment and timing matter.
As a key member of the leadership teams they support, this individual will be expected to drive alignment of people priorities with the broader S&P Global People Strategy while also bringing a clear point of view on where they can make decisions independently, where they should seek leadership buy-in, and where broader enterprise alignment is required.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic People Forward Leadership
- Partner with leaders across Legal, Risk, Compliance, Communications and OCEO to define and execute people strategies aligned to business priorities, enterprise transformation objectives and future capability needs.
- Serve as a trusted advisor on organizational design, workforce planning, operating model effectiveness and leadership effectiveness within highly confidential, regulated and reputationally sensitive environments.
- Lead and support enterprise transformation initiatives, including organizational change, restructuring, integration efforts, capability building and new ways of working.
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- Translate complex business, regulatory, reputational and transformation priorities into clear people implications, recommendations and action plans.
- Bring an enterprise mindset to portfolio support, ensuring decisions are not made in isolation and that functional people strategies align with broader company priorities.
- Help leaders clarify decision rights, governance forums, accountabilities and escalation paths across complex, matrixed stakeholder groups.
- Be clear on which decisions the role owns directly, including day-to-day people advisory, issue resolution, execution of agreed people plans and recommendations on talent, organization and workforce actions.
- Know when to seek leadership buy-in, particularly for decisions involving organizational design, senior talent moves, sensitive employee matters, material risk, reputational considerations or enterprise-wide precedent.
- Facilitate effective decision-making by surfacing trade-offs, risks, dependencies and stakeholder considerations early.
- Partner across People COEs, Legal, Risk, Compliance, Communications, Finance and business leadership to ensure solutions are coordinated, practical and aligned to enterprise standards.
Talent & Leadership Strategy
- Drive end-to-end talent strategy across the supported functions, including succession planning, leadership development, critical role identification, capability assessment and talent movement.
- Partner with leaders to identify capability gaps across legal, risk, compliance, communications, governance, transformation and executive advisory capabilities, and develop targeted plans to close them.
- Strengthen leadership effectiveness and bench strength through coaching, structured development planning and disciplined follow-through on talent actions.
- Support leaders in building teams that can operate effectively through ambiguity, transformation and heightened enterprise expectations.
- Use talent insights to anticipate future leadership and workforce needs, not simply respond to immediate vacancies or issues.
- Build trusted, proactive relationships with senior leaders and stakeholders across multiple enterprise functions, balancing functional priorities with company-wide outcomes.
- Act as a connector across complex stakeholder groups, helping leaders align on priorities, dependencies, risks and decisions.
- Communicate clearly and confidently with senior audiences, tailoring messages to the needs of Legal, Risk, Compliance, Communications, OCEO and broader enterprise stakeholders.
- Influence without relying on hierarchy, using sound judgment, data, business understanding and relationship credibility to move work forward.
- Ensure stakeholders are appropriately engaged at the right moments, with clear distinction between consultation, decision-making, escalation and communication.
Employee Relations & Culture
- Provide expert guidance on complex and sensitive employee relations matters, balancing business outcomes, risk mitigation, employee experience and reputational considerations.
- Foster a culture of trust, accountability, inclusion and ethical rigor, particularly in environments requiring high confidentiality and strong governance.
- Support leadership in driving employee engagement, retention and culture priorities, with a focus on critical talent segments and teams undergoing change.
- Partner closely with Employee Relations, Legal and Compliance colleagues to ensure sensitive matters are handled with consistency, fairness and appropriate escalation.
- Help leaders model the behaviors required to lead through transformation, including transparency, accountability, collaboration and sound judgment.
Organizational Effectiveness
- Lead initiatives to enhance organizational performance, agility, collaboration and accountability across the supported functions.
- Assess organizational structures, roles, interfaces and ways of working to identify opportunities for simplification, clearer ownership and stronger execution.
- Facilitate change management efforts tied to evolving business, regulatory, reputational and enterprise priorities.
- Support leaders in moving from strategy to execution, ensuring priorities are translated into clear plans, owners, milestones and follow-through.
- Identify and address organizational friction points that slow decision-making, dilute accountability or create stakeholder misalignment.
Compensation & Rewards
- Partner with Total Rewards to design and implement competitive and equitable compensation strategies aligned to market benchmarks, business needs and enterprise standards.
- Provide guidance on executive compensation, incentives and retention strategies for critical Legal, Risk, Compliance, Communications and OCEO talent.
- Use compensation and rewards insights to support retention, succession and workforce planning decisions.
- Ensure compensation recommendations are made with appropriate stakeholder engagement, governance and alignment to broader People processes.
Data-Driven Workforce Insights
- Leverage HR analytics, including Workday, Visier and other data sources, to provide insight-driven recommendations on workforce trends, talent risks, capability gaps and organizational health.
- Develop and present clear, executive-level insights that help leaders make timely and well-informed people decisions.
- Identify opportunities to enhance engage
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