Assistant Manager - People & Culture

Americana Restaurants; Sharjah; On-site; AED 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Americana Restaurants is seeking a strategic People & Culture partner to enable a high-performing workforce across the business. You will translate priorities into practical actions, empower managers with effective coaching, and drive fair, data-informed decisions that strengthen leadership and outcomes.

You will lead talent processes, deliver actionable insights from data, and promote digital tools and continuous improvement across markets, ensuring a strong employee experience and alignment

Responsibilities

• Partner with business leaders to translate people priorities into practical, on-the-ground actions.
• Enable managers to effectively lead teams through goal setting, feedback, and performance conversations.
• Support real-time decision-making on people matters, balancing business needs with governance and fairness.
• Reinforce a culture of ownership, accountability, and performance excellence.
• Drive execution of talent and performance processes including OPR, performance cycles, IDPs, and succession planning.
• Ensure quality of talent discussions and meaningful development planning, not just process completion.
• Support managers in embedding development actions within day-to-day work.
• Provide insights on capability gaps, performance trends, and leadership readiness.
• Support workforce planning aligned to business priorities, organizational structure, and cost considerations.
• Enable effective hiring and internal mobility in partnership with Talent Acquisition.
• Monitor talent pipeline strength and movement across roles and markets.
• Support creation of a positive and high-performing work environment through strong manager practices.
• Ensure engagement initiatives translate into visible actions and measurable outcomes.
• Act as a point of contact for people relations matters, ensuring fair and timely resolution.
• Reinforce organizational values through consistent behaviors and decisions.
• Ensure smooth execution of core people processes (onboarding, transfers, promotions, exits)
• Focus on simplifying processes and improving people and manager experience.
• Maintain accuracy and integrity of data within HR systems.
• Identify opportunities to streamline workflows and reduce friction points.
• Use people data to identify trends and provide actionable insights to business leaders.
• Leverage AI-enabled tools to enhance reporting, identify patterns, and improve speed of decision-making.
• Support a shift from reactive reporting to forward-looking insights (e.g., attrition risk, talent gaps)
• Ensure data quality and responsible use of analytics.
• Drive adoption of digital tools, automation, and AI solutions across P&C processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce manual effort, and enhance turnaround time.
• Support implementation of scalable, tech-enabled people solutions across markets.
• Promote a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation.
• Support rollout of enterprise initiatives and transformation programs.
• Drive adoption through clear communication, manager alignment, and follow-through.

Job description

Job Purpose:

The P&C plays a key role in enabling a high-performing, agile, and future-ready workforce across Americana Restaurants.

Working closely with business leaders and P&C COEs, the role focuses on translating people priorities into practical, business-relevant actions, ensuring that talent, performance, and engagement initiatives drive measurable impact on leadership effectiveness and organizational outcomes.

The role combines strong execution discipline with a forward-looking approach, leveraging data, digital tools, and AI-enabled solutions to enhance decision-making, improve efficiency, and strengthen the overall people and manager experience.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Business Partnership & Manager Effectiveness

• Partner with business leaders to translate people priorities into practical, on-the-ground actions.
• Enable managers to effectively lead teams through goal setting, feedback, and performance conversations.
• Support real-time decision-making on people matters, balancing business needs with governance and fairness.
• Reinforce a culture of ownership, accountability, and performance excellence.

2. Talent & Performance Execution

• Drive execution of talent and performance processes including OPR, performance cycles, IDPs, and succession planning.
• Ensure quality of talent discussions and meaningful development planning, not just process completion.
• Support managers in embedding development actions within day-to-day work.
• Provide insights on capability gaps, performance trends, and leadership readiness.

3. Workforce Planning & Talent Flow

• Support workforce planning aligned to business priorities, organizational structure, and cost considerations.
• Enable effective hiring and internal mobility in partnership with Talent Acquisition.
• Monitor talent pipeline strength and movement across roles and markets.

4. People Experience & Engagement

• Support creation of a positive and high-performing work environment through strong manager practices.
• Ensure engagement initiatives translate into visible actions and measurable outcomes.
• Act as a point of contact for people relations matters, ensuring fair and timely resolution.
• Reinforce organizational values through consistent behaviors and decisions.

5. Operational Excellence & Process Improvement

• Ensure smooth execution of core people processes (onboarding, transfers, promotions, exits)
• Focus on simplifying processes and improving people and manager experience.
• Maintain accuracy and integrity of data within HR systems.
• Identify opportunities to streamline workflows and reduce friction points.

6. Data, Insights & AI Enablement

• Use people data to identify trends and provide actionable insights to business leaders.
• Leverage AI-enabled tools to enhance reporting, identify patterns, and improve speed of decision-making.
• Support a shift from reactive reporting to forward-looking insights (e.g., attrition risk, talent gaps)
• Ensure data quality and responsible use of analytics.

7. Digital & Continuous Improvement

• Drive adoption of digital tools, automation, and AI solutions across P&C processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce manual effort, and enhance turnaround time.
• Support implementation of scalable, tech-enabled people solutions across markets.
• Promote a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation.

8. Change & Adoption

• Support rollout of enterprise initiatives and transformation programs.
• Drive adoption through clear communication, manager alignment, and follow-through.