In the last several years, HR software provider HiBob has undergone significant growth, including a workforce that went from 130 employees to more than 1,400, as well as annual recurring revenue that jumped from $10 million to $320 million. And HR was a critical driver, with its own function transforming from just two employees to over 60.
Nirit Peled-Muntz, chief people officer at HiBob, has been at the center of the growth, building the HR function largely from the ground up, as well as creating the org design and processes to enable HiBob to tap high-potential talent from around the world.
The leadership philosophy that has come to define Peled-Muntz’s 30-year HR career—which includes HR leadership roles at Caeserstone, Lumos Global and IQVIA—helped her create an HR function primed to be a strategic driver of growth.
“I always work to bring together people I appreciate, who I think are smarter than me, who add value. Remove the barriers for them, get them the budget and resources and then let them work,” she says, noting she sees herself as a “facilitator” for others’ innovation. This philosophy helped earn Peled-Muntz the title of HR Executive’s 2026 HR Leader of Distinction.
Alongside HR Executive of the Year Monique Herena, Peled-Muntz will be honored at the Icons Awards dinner Oct. 19 during HR Tech in Las Vegas, followed by a celebration in partnership with the Institute for Leadership and Work in Boston.
Listening and leadership
Peled-Muntz joined HiBob in 2020, just a month after the COVID pandemic started. As she worked to grow both her function and the organization, the disruption caused by the pandemic prompted her to lean heavily into continuous listening to ensure employees’ needs were being met. This strategy persists to this day, as leaders hold frequent roundtables, one-on-ones, and conduct employee surveys multiple times a year—which have a participation rate of about 85%.
“When I run a survey, the most important part is the action plan afterwards and the communication it takes to make people understand their feedback is valued,” she says.
The trust leadership built with employees over the years is evident in the metrics: Engagement sits at 4.2 out of 5, voluntary attrition remains below 10% and eNPS is between 35 and 40. The organization has also received accolades, including being named as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces, as well as receiving nods as a top employer for wellbeing and employee development. HiBob’s Leadership CODE Framework—built around the leadership pillars of connect, own, disrupt and evolve—has also earned awards.
An ongoing investment in manager and leader development is essential to such broad talent successes, Peled-Muntz says.
Leadership development is all created in-house—“we never take anything off the shelf”—and designed to specifically speak to the issues managers and leaders identify. In fact, leadership development programs spearheaded by Peled-Muntz have garnered participation from 91% of leaders, while such initiatives have reported improvements in leadership dimensions of up to 20%.
‘Reimagining’ what’s possible with AI
Leadership development is particularly critical as organizations navigate the influence of AI. Just a few years ago, the C-suite was setting strategies that looked ahead a handful of years; now, strategy may change every two months, given how quickly AI is evolving.
“Leaders have one of the most difficult roles,” she says, “because there’s no perfect playbook on how to implement AI, and they need to be there day-to-day with employees and give them confidence.”
At HiBob, Peled-Muntz says leaders are resisting “just putting AI powder on everything.” Throwing agents on top of all of the tasks associated with talent acquisition, for instance, won’t meaningfully move the needle; rather, the work needs to be redesigned from scratch, with consideration given to where AI could augment and where a human touch is critical.
Since Peled-Muntz rolled out the organization’s AI Readiness and Workforce Transformation strategy—leveraging learning, AI champions, leadership modeling, experimentation and workflow integration—more than 95% of HiBob employees have become active AI users. Employees have conducted more than 2,500 AI experiments and undergone 1,200 learning hours on AI, leading to approximately 200 AI proofs-of-concept and more than 150 AI agents embedded into workflows.
“We knew we had to have employees play and think and reimagine how things could look, and that has to start from the top,” says Peled-Muntz, noting HiBob CEO Ronni Zehavi advocated several years ago for a philosophy to drive how employees should view AI integration and stated that the tech can help employees “do more with more.”
“In the beginning, there was so much anxiety. We said, ‘We have to change this and create something that gives people confidence.’ We knew they would reject change if it feels threatening.”
Culture at the core
HiBob’s AI transformation embodies the philosophy that threads through Peled-Muntz’s work: The company and the people have to grow together.
“Whenever we talk about how we grow as a company, that’s connected to how we grow our people,” she says. “All of our people initiatives have to be connected to our business strategy; we’re always thinking about how we’re going to support the company’s success.”
The function is equally intentional about the role of culture in people and organizational success.
When HiBob pivoted to become a remote-first, global company, it “honed in” on building relationships among employees around the world. For example, when designing leadership programs, attention is given to grouping leaders from different geographic regions in an effort to help them build connections across barriers.
As the company has expanded into new regions, her team has worked to lead with a global perspective alongside a strong local approach. For instance, wellness initiatives in Germany may involve sporting programs like biking, sailing and running, while in the UK, employees are more inclined to initiatives that involve food and drink, games and entertainment.
“We create a global framework, but give people the freedom to decide what works with their teams locally,” she says.
In a nomination letter for the Leader of Distinction award, CEO Ronni Zehavi cited Peled-Muntz’s capacity to link culture and business performance.
“She didn’t simply build a people function; she helped build the culture that became the foundation for HiBob’s growth,” he wrote. “As we’ve scaled globally, expanded into new markets, navigated acquisitions, embraced hybrid work and adapted to the AI era, she has ensured we never lost what makes HiBob special.”
The breadth of what Peled-Muntz has touched at HiBob has made her not just an exemplary people leader but “one of the architects of the company we have become,” Zehavi says.
“She has created an environment where people feel they belong, leaders are empowered to succeed, and high standards go hand in hand with trust and care,” he adds. “The result is a culture that attracts talent, develops leaders, drives engagement and enables sustainable growth.”
Daniel Marsili, president of the National Academy of Human Resources and a judge for this year’s HR Executive of the Year and HR Leader of Distinction competitions, calls Peled-Muntz an “outstanding choice” for the honor.
“It is clear that she is regarded as one of the company’s key architects,” Marsili says. “She possesses a unique ability to connect culture to business performance and has helped foster an environment defined by belonging, high performance and sustained growth.”
That Peled-Muntz was able to help grow the organization so much, so quickly while still delivering exceptional experience for employees is a testament to the caliber of her leadership, wrote Kelly Durkan Bean, principal and CEO of Heron Strategy Partners, in a recommendation letter.
“While many organizations can scale their workforce,” she writes, “few can do so while preserving the culture, engagement, belonging and employee experience that fueled their success in the first place. Nirit has been instrumental in helping HiBob scale without losing its soul.”
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