Senior Director, R&D HR Business Partnering

Cloudflare is scaling its global connectivity and security platform while transforming into an AI-native organization powered by our own AI harness and developer infrastructure. As Senior Director, R&D HR Business Partnering, you will lead a global team of embedded HRBPs supporting senior executives across Engineering, Product, Security, and Research.

In this role, you serve as the strategic HR leader for R&D and the primary conductor bridging business leadership with our Centers of Excellence (Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, Talent Development, People Operations). You will challenge and champion the business—architecting an organization built for AI-augmented velocity while protecting and evaluating the essential human elements of work: character, critical judgment, empathy, and leadership trust.

Business Acumen & COE Conduction

• Partner directly with the Head of R&D and technical VPs to align talent strategy with Cloudflare’s product roadmap, platform architecture, and operational goals.
• Act as the chief conductor across People Team COEs—synthesizing R&D’s operational realities to push COEs for tailored, high-impact talent programs while challenging R&D leaders to elevate their organizational standards.
• Apply analytical rigor to people metrics, diagnosing organizational health, attrition trends, and productivity indicators to guide business decisions proactively.

Organizational Design & AI Integration

• Architect agile, high-velocity R&D structures designed for AI-native workflows, optimizing team size, spans of control, and cross-functional interfaces across platform and product teams.
• Partner with engineering leadership to rethink operating rhythms and team structures as development shifts from traditional models to AI-assisted, agent-driven engineering.

Talent Portfolio Management & Human Judgment

• Evolve technical career frameworks, leveling, and role definitions to reflect the higher leverage expected in AI-native engineering environments.
• Drive succession planning, critical-role mapping, and retention strategies for specialized technical talent across Cloudflare’s global hubs.
• Establish clear boundaries between work optimized by AI and decisions requiring human judgment, ethical clarity, nuance, and character.

Driving Change & Strategic Initiatives

• Drive complex, continuous change initiatives across global R&D teams, equipping leaders to navigate structural evolution, technological pivots, and shifting priorities with clarity.
• Deliver custom, service-oriented solutions tailored to business needs, providing high-trust coaching to senior technical leaders as they navigate complex team dynamics with empathy and results.
• Team Leadership
• Lead a global team of HRBPs, setting a high standard for strategic partnership, business fluency, and execution speed.

What You'll Bring

• Leadership & Scale: 15+ years of progressive HR experience, including 5+ years leading an HRBP team supporting technical R&D, Engineering, or Product orgs in high-growth environments.
• Core Pillar Excellence: Demonstrated expertise across all four functional buckets: business acumen, organizational design, talent portfolio management, and driving change.
• AI & Human Acumen: Deep understanding of how AI tools reshape technical workflows, combined with strong character assessment and human judgment when evaluating leadership potential and organizational health.
• COE Orchestration: Proven track record acting as an operational conductor between executive stakeholders and specialized People functions to deliver integrated talent solutions.
• Executive Presence: Ability to advise, challenge, and coach VP+ technical leaders with confidence, empathy, and business fluency.