Chief People Officer

U&U Recruitment Partners; Sunshine Coast Regional; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Country Chef Bakery Co. on the Sunshine Coast is seeking an experienced Chief People Officer to lead the People & Culture agenda through the next phase of growth and organisational maturity.

Reporting to the CEO, you will shape the people strategy, build leadership capability, ensure the structure and culture support continued expansion, and translate commercial priorities into practical people outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the People & Culture function and partner with the executive team.
• Shape the people strategy to support growth and organisational maturity.
• Develop leadership capability and performance across the business.
• Ensure safety, engagement and employee experience are prioritised.
• Translate commercial priorities into practical people solutions.

Job description

U&U Recruitment Partners – Bells Creek QLD

u&u is proud to partner with Country Chef Bakery Co. to appoint an experienced and commercially minded Chief People Officer. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the People & Culture agenda through the next phase of growth, building on a successful period of transformation while shaping the leadership, culture and capability required for the future.

About The Country Chef Bakery Co.

Country Chef Bakery Co. is an established Australian owned food manufacturing business with a proud family heritage and a strong position within the Australian bakery and dessert market. Based at Bells Creek on the Sunshine Coast, the business supplies a broad range of bakery and dessert products, including pavlovas, meringues, banana bread and cupcakes, serving retail and foodservice customers.

Following a period of transformation, Country Chef has established a stronger and more commercially focused platform and is now entering its next phase of growth, performance and organisational maturity.

About the Opportunity

The Country Chef Bakery Co. is seeking an experienced and commercially minded people leader to lead the People & Culture agenda through its next phase of growth, performance and organisational maturity.

Reporting to the CEO, you will lead a lean and efficient People & Culture team, supported by specialist capability across Learning & Development and HSE. Working closely with the executive team, you will shape the people strategy, strengthen leadership capability and ensure the organisation has the structure, capability and culture required to support continued growth.

This is a senior leadership role where People & Culture is genuinely connected to business performance. You will be comfortable moving between strategic conversations with the executive team and the operational floor, bringing a practical understanding of the realities of a manufacturing environment. You will take a hands‑on and pragmatic approach, with the ability to challenge, influence and translate commercial priorities into meaningful people outcomes.

Key priorities will include:

• Building a commercially focused and high-performing P&C function;
• Strengthening leadership capability, accountability and performance;
• Embedding a stronger culture of development and continuous improvement;
• Aligning workforce capability with operational and commercial priorities;
• Supporting the organisation through its next phase of growth and transformation;
• Driving greater consistency, structure and accountability across the employee lifecycle;
• Maintaining a strong focus on safety, engagement and employee experience; and
• Ensuring people decisions balance commercial outcomes with Country Chef’s values and heritage.

About You

You will be an experienced senior People & Culture leader who understands that effective people strategy and strong commercial outcomes go hand in hand. You will bring a combination of strategic thinking and operational credibility, with the confidence to influence at executive level while remaining close to the workforce and the realities of the business.

Experience within manufacturing, FMCG or another operationally complex environment will be highly regarded. Importantly, you will be pragmatic, commercially astute and comfortable working in an environment where pace, accountability and performance matter. You will enjoy building capability, developing leaders and creating practical people solutions that make a genuine difference to the organisation.

Why Country Chef Bakery Co.

This is an exciting opportunity to join an Australian owned business with a strong heritage and an established foundation, at a point where the organisation is ready to take its next step.

You will have genuine scope to shape the future of People & Culture, influence the broader leadership agenda and help build the culture, capability and performance framework required to support continued growth.

At u&u Recruitment Partners, we value diversity, equity and inclusion.

We welcome applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and people with disability.

Should you require reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats to apply), or have a preferred method of communication, we encourage you to make a request via ***********@uandu.com or contact u&u on 07 3232 9*** to discuss. In response to these requests, we will collaborate closely with you to implement the appropriate adjustments.