Senior Manager: Human Capital Operations

Core purpose of the role

The Senior Manager: Human Capital (South Africa) serves as a strategic business partner, accountable for leading and executing the Human Capital agenda across the South African operations. The role provides strategic direction, governance, and leadership across all people-related functions to enable business performance, organisational agility, and transformation.

The incumbent drives the implementation of people strategies that build leadership capability, foster a high-performance culture, and ensure compliance with South African labour legislation.

Key deliverables and outputs

Strategic Leadership and Business Partnership

• Partner with the Executive: Chief Human Capital Officer and functional executive leaders to translate business strategy into actionable people priorities
• Lead the design and execution of the annual Human Capital plan, ensuring alignment to business and HC strategy objectives
• Provide strategic insights on workforce trends, organisational design, and leadership capability
• Act as a trusted advisor and coach to executives and senior management
• Use people analytics and reporting to drive decision-making and track impact of HC interventions.

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Ensure compliance with South African labour legislation (LRA, BCEA, EE Act, SDA, OHSA) and company policies
• Implement and maintain governance frameworks across all HC processes and decisions
• Identify and mitigate people-related risks proactively through robust controls and monitoring
• Lead and oversee disciplinary, grievance, and dispute processes, ensuring procedural and substantive fairness
• Represent the company in external dispute forums, including CCMA or Bargaining Council conciliations and arbitrations.

Workforce Planning, Talent and Capability Management

• Lead workforce planning initiatives to ensure organisational structures are optimised for efficiency and agility
• Partner with business leaders to identify and address current and future talent needs
• Drive leadership development and succession management processes for critical roles
• Oversee the implementation of the talent review and HIPO development processes
• Strengthen internal talent mobility and retention through proactive talent management.

Learning and Development

• Champion a culture of continuous learning, capability development, and leadership growth
• Partner with the Learning & Development team to deliver impactful programmes that address identified skills gaps
• Support managers in embedding learning outcomes and performance improvement.

Performance, Reward and Recognition

• Promote a performance-driven culture aligned to organisational goals and values
• Partner with the Remuneration and Benefits team to ensure equitable pay and fair application of remuneration and reward policies
• Provide strategic input into annual salary reviews, incentive allocations, and recognition frameworks
• Use data to drive reward decisions that support engagement and retention.

Employee Relations and Engagement

• Provide strategic oversight and guidance on all Disciplinary Enquiries (DEs) and grievance matters
• Ensure all ER practices uphold procedural and substantive fairness and are consistent with company policy and labour law
• Analyse ER trends to identify emerging risks and recommend proactive interventions
• Drive employee engagement initiatives, monitor climate, and support action planning post-surveys
• Champion employee wellness initiatives and promote a healthy, safe, and inclusive work environment.

Transformation, Diversity and Inclusion

• Drive Employment Equity and Skills Development compliance and ensure achievement of transformation targets
• Oversee functional Employment Equity and Skills Development Forums across business units
• Provide quarterly transformation insights and reporting to management and governance structures
• Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging aligned with organisational values.

Change Management and Organisational Effectiveness

• Lead the people dimension of organisational change initiatives, ensuring engagement and adoption
• Partner with business leadership to embed culture shifts and align structures, systems, and people
• Promote innovation and continuous improvement within the Human Capital function
• Champion digitisation and the use of technology to enhance HC efficiency and employee experience.

People Leadership

• Create and maintain a climate conducive to performance to ensure that the company delivers against objectives
• Provide clear direction and decisive leadership to direct reports, ensuring all are aligned to the goals and have a clear purpose
• Set clearly defined performance standards/targets for direct reports, holding them accountable to achieve these and providing support and guidance where needed
• Create and maintain a constructive atmosphere within the team, engaging and motivating direct reports to always give their best, while respecting any areas of diversity (whether areas of expertise, cultural, gender, age, background, etc.)
• Ensure direct reports adhere to set business policies and procedures, emphasising the importance of general discipline at work and objectively correcting and handling any deviations as they arise
• Set the example to the team and deliver on the employee value proposition by leading the team and the business in line with the Zeda Leadership pledge
• Support and encourage direct reports to drive their own individual development plans in order to further grow as professionals in their jobs.

Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain strong, professional partnerships with executives, people managers, employees, and external stakeholders
• Partner cross-functionally with Centres of Excellence (OD, Talent, Rem and Ben, Employee Relations) to deliver integrated solutions
• Represent the HC function at internal committees, governance structures, and external forums
• Influence business decisions by providing credible, data-informed people insights.

Academic Qualifications

Essential:

• Bachelor's degree (NQF 7) in human resources, Industrial Psychology, Human Sciences or related field
• Valid Driver's License.

Advantageous:

• Postgraduate qualification (NQF 8) in Business, Human Capital, or Organisational Development.

Note:
Will be required to travel occasionally to regional branches and operational sites within South Africa.

Work Experience

Essential:

• Minimum 10 Years' Human Capital experience, with at least 5 years in a managerial or strategic business partner role
• 5-10 years' In-depth knowledge of South African labour legislation, industrial relations, employee relations and employment equity frameworks
• 5-10 Years' Proven experience managing Disciplinary Enquiries (DEs), complex ER cases, and representing the company at CCMA at conciliation and arbitration
• 5-10 Years' Demonstrated success in organisational transformation, leadership enablement, and strategic workforce planning.

Advantageous:

Experience leading large-scale change and transformation initiatives