People Business Partner, South

**Position:** People Business Partner, South **Organization:** Cobalt Service Partners – Alpine Investors Portfolio Company – () **Location:** Dallas, TX (based), with regular travel primarily across the South and Southeast regions **Reports To:** VP of People, with dotted line to Regional President **Cobalt Service Partners Overview** Cobalt Service Partners is a private equity–backed platform building the leading commercial access and security integration business in North America. Our partner companies design, install, and service mission-critical systems including access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection, and related low-voltage infrastructure for enterprise, institutional, and commercial customers. Backed by Alpine Investors, a private equity firm specializing in middle-market companies in the services and software industries with $15B+ in AUM, Cobalt has scaled rapidly since launch. With more than 20 acquisitions completed in a highly fragmented operating environment, Cobalt is building a differentiated, data-driven platform designed to scale through both organic growth and M&A. **Cobalt's Core Values Are** - **Unwavering stewardship:** We believe advancing founders' legacies is a privilege. We do right by our founders, teams, and customers in good times and in bad. - **Excellence in action:** We hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards. We're bold in our pursuits, don't make excuses, and relentlessly empower each other to get the job done. - **Seek and tell the truth:** We're honest with ourselves and others. We do what we say we'll do, say what needs to be said, and search for the right answer regardless of where it comes from. - **Love learning:** We're always learning as individuals, as a team, and as a business. We show up humble, curious, and with the courage to change our minds. - **Enjoy the ride:** We're fired up by our mission, love our team, and don't take either for granted. We show up authentically, assume best intent, and try not to take ourselves too seriously. **Position Overview** The **People Business Partner, South** serves as an on-the-ground extension of Cobalt's People team, partnering directly with regional leaders across the South and Southeast to execute people strategy, manage talent, and lead organizational change. This is a high-autonomy, field-based role: the right person will build trust with regional leaders, translate headquarters initiatives for frontline teams in a way that upholds a people-first culture, and know when to make the call versus when to escalate. **Key Responsibilities** - **Regional People Strategy & Workforce Planning:** Partner with regional leaders to execute Cobalt's people strategy across the South and Southeast, and support workforce planning as the region and portfolio grow. - **Talent Management & Organizational Change:** Own talent management processes and lead organizational change initiatives, proactively identifying and addressing systemic trends in employee-relations issues. - **Headquarters Alignment & Change Management:** Translate headquarters initiatives and directives for frontline teams in a way that upholds a people-first culture, supported by thoughtful, well-sequenced change management. - **Data-Driven Communication:** Collect, analyze, and interpret regional people data, communicating it differently — and always actionably — for leadership versus employees. - **Field Presence & Trust-Building:** Build relationships and influence with regional leaders without formal authority, spend meaningful time in the field with employees and managers, and exercise sound judgment on when to escalate. - **People Leadership:** Lead direct reports with clear direction and autonomy, upholding the highest standards of execution as the team grows alongside the region. **Qualifications** - 5+ years of relevant HR/People experience, ideally in a field-based, multi-site, or regionally distributed environment - Experience in security integration, entrance solutions, or other blue-collar, multi-location industries (e.g., HVAC, plumbing, electrical) - Proven people-management experience, with a clear track record of leading a team to drive results — enabling direct reports to operate with clear direction and autonomy while upholding the highest standards of execution - Demonstrated experience in workforce planning and full-cycle talent management - Proven ability to lead and support organizational change management initiatives - Strong data collection, analysis, and interpretation skills, with the ability to translate data into clear, actionable recommendations for both leaders and employees - Track record of building relationships and driving influence without formal authority over the teams being advised - Comfort and direct experience working with blue-collar or frontline employee populations, with an understanding of how blue-collar and white-collar work environments differ - Understanding of private equity culture and comfort navigating the tension between people and profit — finding ways to advance both without compromising performance or company values (nice to have) - Sound, independent decision-making, including good judgment on when to escalate versus resolve directly - Learning & development experience, including designing or delivering training content (nice to have) - Ability to travel an average of 50%, with the possibility for more at times **Core Competencies** - **Communication:** Distills complex information for the audience in front of them, communicates concisely, and favors genuine, down-to-earth language over anything scripted or corporate. - **Active Listening:** Listens actively and empathetically, balancing personal, employee, and business needs. - **Adaptability & Judgment:** Comfortable operating in ambiguity, applying nuanced judgment that balances policy, business, and people needs. - **Decisiveness:** Confident and decisive, with the courage to make a call and own it. - **Positive Energy:** Brings positive, light, engaged energy no matter the moment or challenge — someone people want to see walk into the room. - **Initiative & Execution:** Self-starter who takes initiative rather than waiting to be told what to do; executes according to directives or the vision, staying on task and filtering out lower-priority noise to focus on what matters most. **Compensation and Timing** This role offers a base salary of $120-135k (DOE), plus bonus, along with a comprehensive benefits package (healthcare, 401(k) match, flexible time off).