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Job description Paste the full JD — the more complete, the better

HR Business Partner — Brembilla SpA (Bergamo, Italy)

Brembilla SpA is a mid-sized precision manufacturer supplying tier-1 automotive OEMs across Europe. With 180 employees across two plants and a central HR function of four people, we are creating a new HR Business Partner role to improve alignment between HR strategy and plant operations.

Responsibilities:
— Partner with plant managers and production leads to translate business needs into HR priorities
— Support performance management, talent development, and employee relations on the shop floor
— Act as a trusted point of contact for team leaders on people matters
— Contribute to the development of HR processes that work in an industrial, shift-based environment
— Report to the HR Director; work closely with the Operations Director

We are looking for someone who is comfortable moving between the language of HR and the language of manufacturing — someone who can build trust with people who are skeptical of HR, without losing the analytical rigor the function requires.

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Client briefing What did the client or hiring manager tell you beyond the JD?

The previous HR Business Partner lasted 8 months — she was technically excellent but never managed to earn the trust of the plant managers, who saw HR as an obstacle rather than a partner. The HR Director is clear: we need someone who can walk the floor without being condescending, and who understands that in a manufacturing context, trust is built through presence and pragmatism, not frameworks.

The plant managers (Marco and Luisa) are strong personalities and quite autonomous. The new HRBP needs to be confident enough to hold their own, but humble enough to listen. The HR Director (Andrea) values analytical rigor but also knows she needs someone the floor will talk to.

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Additional notes Optional — team dynamics, red flags, deal-breakers

Strong preference for someone who has worked in manufacturing or logistics — even briefly. A pure corporate HR background is a risk. Language: Italian fluent, English functional.

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AI + web search · Gemini

Team interview questions

Generated from the context above and public information about Brembilla SpA — use these before you start team interviews.

🔍 Consonia searched for public information about Brembilla SpA — including LinkedIn presence, industry context, and employer signals — and combined it with your briefing to ground these questions in the real organisational situation.

Trust between HR and operations

The briefing signals a history of HR–operations tension. These questions surface how the team currently experiences that relationship.

Tell me about a time when HR got in the way of something you were trying to do. What happened, and how did you handle it?
When you think of the HR people you've worked with who were actually useful — what made them different?

Decision-making under pressure

Manufacturing environments move fast. Understanding how the team makes decisions reveals what they need in a partner.

Give me an example of a people decision you had to make quickly, without all the information you would have liked. How did you approach it?
How does this team typically handle disagreements on a people issue — between HR and operations, or within the team?

What success looks like on the floor

The JD describes a bridging role — understanding what "good" means to each stakeholder will shape the grid.

If the new HRBP were doing a great job six months from now, what would you notice that would tell you that?
What does someone have to do — or stop doing — to earn the trust of the people on the shop floor here?

Working style and autonomy

Strong, autonomous plant managers need a partner who can hold their ground — these questions reveal the team's tolerance for pushback.

Tell me about a time when someone on the team disagreed with a decision HR had made. How was it resolved?
How much independence does this team typically give a new hire before expecting them to operate on their own?

Unspoken codes and informal rules

Every team has things that go unsaid. These questions invite people to name them — which is where the real cultural grid lives.

What would someone have to do in the first month to immediately lose credibility with this team?
If you had to describe the unwritten rules of how things work here — the things nobody tells you but everyone knows — what would you say?

What this team values in a colleague

A direct question about values often surfaces what the team is missing — which is as important as what they already have.

Think of the colleague you've worked best with in your time here. What made working with them effective?
What quality do you think this team needs more of — something that isn't well represented right now?

Context saved · 12 interview questions generated

Use these questions in your team conversations, then upload the transcripts in the next step.

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