Head of HR Operations

About the role

BURN, a corporate staffing services company, is hiring a Head of HR Operations in Nairobi. The role takes day-to-day ownership of the group-wide employee lifecycle, making sure contracting, onboarding, performance systems, employee relations and exits run systematically, compliantly and reliably across every market. It is a full-time management position.

Key responsibilities

• Run a single front door for employee and manager HR queries, with tracking, response standards and escalation routes
• Maintain the HR policy suite and its country annexes, and run policy sign-off for all employees
• Engage casual workers compliantly and ensure statutory employment compliance across all ten markets, working with Payroll on statutory deductions
• Oversee employee relations, disciplinary and grievance cases, escalating disputes to in-house legal and external counsel
• Deliver performance processes such as check-ins and annual reviews on time with clean data
• Manage the employee lifecycle: contracting, onboarding, probation, contract management, leave management and offboarding
• In-country HR standardisation: replace market-by-market practice with one group process set, with country annexes only where local law differs
• Keep the company ready for labour inspections and audits, including ISO and lender environmental and social requirements

Required profile

• 8+ years of experience, including 4+ years in a leadership position
• Degree in HR, law, business or a related field
• IHRM membership (Kenya)
• Experience implementing an HRIS or moving HR processes onto digital platforms
• Desirable: experience leading teams across several countries, designing standard HR processes across countries, handling labour inspections and HR audits, and working with manufacturing or large shift-based workforces
• Fluent English and occasional travel; French or Portuguese desirable

Required skills

• Strong data discipline and accurate employee records
• Confident in Excel
• Deep knowledge of Kenyan employment law and working knowledge of employment law in other African markets
• Ability to discuss payroll, audit footprints and multi-country compliance with finance and legal teams

The role applies to employees and casuals only, and excludes payroll, recruitment, training content and HR data architecture. To apply, candidates use the application link provided in the original listing.