Principal HR Business Partner

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive. Role Summary The Principal Human Resources Business Partner (Principal HRBP) is a senior, individual-contributor role within People & Culture that serves as a strategic thought partner to executive leadership, typically at the EVP level. This role is designed to support enterprise-level transformation, providing deep expertise in organizational design, talent strategy, leadership effectiveness, and culture. The Principal HRBP operates with broad scope and influence, partnering with senior leaders to translate business strategy into people strategies that drive measurable outcomes. This role is intentionally non-managerial, enabling full focus on complex, high-impact work without dilution from people-management responsibilities. Key Responsibilities Executive & Strategic Partnership • Serve as a trusted advisor to EVP-level leaders, providing counsel on organizational effectiveness, leadership dynamics, and workforce strategy. • Translate business priorities into long-term people and talent strategies aligned to F5’s transformation agenda. • Anticipate risks and opportunities by looking around corners, offering clear, data-informed recommendations to senior leaders. Organizational Design & Transformation • Lead enterprise-level organizational design efforts, including operating model changes, restructures, role clarity, and decision-rights. • Partner with leaders through periods of significant change, ensuring clarity, alignment, and sustainable adoption. • Diagnose systemic organizational issues and design solutions that improve speed, effectiveness, and talent outcomes. Talent & Leadership Effectiveness • Shape talent strategy for critical roles and leadership populations, including talent density, succession, and pipeline health. • Coach senior leaders on leadership effectiveness, performance, and navigating complexity. • Partner with HR Centers of Excellence to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions. Data-Driven Insight & Influence • Use workforce data, business metrics, and external perspective to inform executive decision-making. • Present insights and recommendations with executive-level clarity, including tradeoffs, risks, and expected outcomes. Culture & HR Capability Leadership • Champion F5 culture and leadership behaviors that support business strategy and values. • Influence and mentor other HRBPs through thought leadership and modeling strong strategic partnership. • Contribute to the evolution of People & Culture practices, frameworks, and ways of working. Scope & Impact • Operates with enterprise-level scope, addressing the most complex, ambiguous, and high-risk people challenges. • Influences outcomes across multiple functions or business units. • Focuses on durable, transformational impact rather than transactional HR delivery. Qualifications & Experience • Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred. • Typically 8+ years of progressive HR experience in complex, fast-changing environments. • Demonstrated expertise in organizational design, talent strategy, and executive consulting. • Strong business acumen with the ability to connect people strategy to business outcomes. • Proven ability to influence senior leaders without formal authority. Role Design Notes • Individual Contributor role with no direct people-management responsibilities. • Designed to provide deep, embedded EVP-level partnership during periods of transformation. • Success is measured by business outcomes, organizational health, and leadership effectiveness. The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change. The annual base pay for this position is: $160,000.00 - $240,000.00 F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change. You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits. F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice. Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com). Equal Employment Opportunity It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination. F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting accommodations@f5.com.