Position Summary:

The Vice President, Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) will serve as a strategic advisor and thought partner to senior business leaders, driving the alignment of people strategy with enterprise goals. This leader will oversee the global HRBP organization, ensuring delivery of high-impact solutions across talent, leadership, organizational design, and employee engagement. The VP will also play a critical role in embedding Apellis’ culture and values as the company continues to grow and evolve.

This role requires a global, enterprise-oriented leader who can balance strategic foresight with operational excellence, while developing a high-performing HRBP team to elevate the function’s impact.  This leader is a direct report of the Chief People Officer and a member of the HR Leadership Team and Apellis’ Senior Leadership Team.

Key Responsibilities Include: 

  • Strategic Partnership: Serve as a trusted advisor to senior executives, influencing decision-making and shaping people and organizational strategies that drive business performance.
  • In addition to leading the global HR business partner team, this leader will be responsible for direct HRBP support of one of the functions at Apellis.
  • Leadership & Team Development: Lead, coach, and develop the global HRBP team to ensure consistent excellence, agility, and strategic partnership across the enterprise.
  • Enterprise Alignment: Collaborate closely with HR Centers of Excellence (Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards and People Operations) to deliver integrated solutions that advance Apellis’ business priorities and culture.
  • Organizational Effectiveness: Drive organizational design, workforce planning, change management, and talent strategies to enable scaling with discipline and agility.
  • Culture & Engagement: Champion Apellis’ values and ways of working, embedding our patient- and science-centered culture globally while addressing local needs.
  • Talent Development & Succession: Partner with senior leaders to identify, develop, and retain critical talent, ensuring strong succession pipelines for key enterprise roles.
  • Global Mindset: Shape HRBP practices across geographies to support Apellis’ growing international footprint and foster consistent, inclusive employee experiences worldwide.

Education, Registration & Certification:

  • Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree in HR, Business, Law, or related field preferred.

Experience:

  • 15+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including leading HRBP teams in global, high-growth, science-driven organizations (biotech/pharma experience strongly preferred).
  • Proven track record of building trusted relationships with senior executives and influencing at the enterprise level.
  • Expertise in organizational design, talent strategy, workforce planning, and change management.
  • Demonstrated success leading global HRBP organizations and building high-performing teams.
  • Strong global and enterprise mindset; able to balance local nuance with enterprise consistency.
  • Exceptional communication, leadership presence, and ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

  • Ability to work in a fast-moving, nimble environment and willingness to roll-up sleeves
  • Strong influencing and facilitation skills with aptitude to foster collaborative partnerships with senior leadership, peers and colleagues at all levels
  • Highly organized, results driven, problem solver
  • Operate independently and experienced to know when to escalate issues
  • Superior written and oral communication skills and the ability to work across different levels of management 
  • Demonstrated complex problem-solving ability and sound judgement ability
  • Strong leadership, team building, organizational, communication and interpersonal skills

Travel Requirements:

  • Ability to travel/work at the Company's headquarters 3 days a week 

Benefits and Perks:

Apellis offers a comprehensive benefits package, including a 401(k) plan with company match, inclusive family building benefits, flexible time off, summer and winter shutdowns, paid family leave, disability and life insurance, and more! Visit https://apellis.com/careers/benefits/ to learn more.

Company Background:

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company that combines courageous science and compassion to develop life-changing therapies for some of the most challenging diseases patients face. We ushered in the first new class of complement medicine in 15 years and now have two approved medicines targeting C3. These include the first and only therapy for geographic atrophy, a leading cause of blindness around the world. With nearly a dozen clinical and pre-clinical programs underway, we believe we have only begun to unlock the potential of targeting C3 across many serious diseases.

For more information, please visit http://apellis.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

EEO Statement:

Apellis is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state and local fair employment practices laws. Apellis strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy), gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, marital status, AIDS/HIV status, smoker/nonsmoker, and occupational pneumoconiosis or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

For San Francisco postings: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.  

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. 

 

Base salary for this role will consider multiple factors, including but not limited to, candidate qualifications, relevant expertise, specialized skills, and industry experience in complement-targeted therapies.

The targeted base salary range for this position is $276,000 - $384,000 per year. This range represents the base salary only and reflects Apellis' commitment to competitive compensation within the biopharmaceutical industry. The final salary offered may vary based on individual qualifications, business needs, and current market conditions.

Apellis offers a comprehensive benefits package, including a 401(k) plan with company match, inclusive family building benefits, flexible time off, summer and winter shutdowns, paid family leave, disability and life insurance, and more! Visit https://apellis.com/careers/  to learn more.

 

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