Senior People Business Partner

Location: Tokyo, Japan; office-based five days per week

Company

Legora provides an AI-native workspace for legal professionals, supporting legal teams across 80+ countries with document analysis and end-to-end workflows.

What you will do

• Lead the People agenda for Japan and partner with the VP, Country Manager, and local leaders on organisational design, workforce planning, and team effectiveness.
• Translate business priorities into local People plans and advise leaders on performance, talent development, change, and compensation processes.
• Coach managers on expectations, feedback, development, and performance concerns.
• Lead sensitive employee relations matters and coordinate with Legal and specialist advisers.
• Own employee lifecycle delivery, including onboarding, development, role changes, offboarding, benefits, payroll inputs, documentation, and records.
• Adapt global People programmes to Japanese requirements, improve communication across markets, and use employee feedback and People data to recommend improvements.

Requirements

• Substantial People business partnering or broad HR leadership experience in Japan, including experience helping a technology startup or scale-up grow.
• Deep practical knowledge of Japanese employment practices and employee relations, including complex and sensitive matters.
• Experience advising senior leaders on organisational design, performance, talent development, and change.
• Experience across the employee lifecycle and willingness to handle local operational tasks alongside strategic work.
• Experience in an international business, adapting global People programmes to local needs and collaborating across markets.
• Confidence to challenge leaders constructively, explain trade-offs, and recommend clear actions.
• Strong ownership, prioritisation, independence, and ability to create structure in changing circumstances.
• Discretion, empathy, and sound judgement when balancing employee needs, business priorities, and local requirements.
• Strong professional proficiency in Japanese and English, including sensitive employee conversations and advice to senior stakeholders in both languages.
• Commitment to being based in Tokyo and working from the office five days per week.

Nice to have

• Experience supporting other Asian markets.

Culture & Benefits

• Meaningful ownership of the People agenda in Japan and close partnership with business leaders.
• Opportunity to influence team development and build practical People approaches supporting company growth.
• Culture focused on ownership, high standards, direct feedback, collaboration, and contributing beyond titles.
• Equal opportunity workplace committed to diversity, inclusion, and a high-performance environment.