Human Resources Consultant

The HR Cartel; Gold Coast City; On-site; AUD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The HR Cartel on the Gold Coast is seeking an experienced HR/IR professional to provide day-to-day HR and industrial relations support for a portfolio of SME clients. You will handle multiple matters live at once, including performance processes, contract reviews, and resignation scenarios.

You will interpret Modern Awards, conduct investigations, draft contracts and letters, and ensure wage compliance. This role reports to the Head of Client Services and requires proactive communication.

Qualifications

• 5–6 years in HR roles including internal, consulting or outsourced.
• Experience with Awards, EBAs, the FWC and IR Commission frameworks.
• Knowledge of Fair Work Act and Modern Awards with ability to advise and escalate when needed.
• Ability to manage a high volume of matters simultaneously.
• Strong written communication and client-facing confidence.

Responsibilities

• Advise owners and managers on ER matters and perform work directly.
• Interpret Modern Awards and not just the Pay Guide.
• Coordinate performance management, disciplinary processes and terminations.
• Draft contracts, policies and letters that hold up.
• Support investigations and Fair Work matters.
• Check wages and compliance before issues land.
• Maintain proactive, timely client communication.

Skills

ER exposure

Awards knowledge

Fair Work Act knowledge

Written communication

Client-facing

Multi-tasking / triage

Job description

Five matters. Same mornjng. different clients. If your stomach just sropped, this isnt upie role.

If you felt something switch on, keep reading.

ABOUT US

We're The HR Cartel. Outsourced HR and Industrial Relations for Australian SMEs.

We don’t just send the HR advice email, attach a template, and invoice, leaving the owner alone with the hard part.

Where it’s needed, we’ll get in the room, run the meeting, handle the matter, and close it out.

Small team, Gold Coast based, growing fast.

THE ROLE

You’ll be the day-to-day HR and IR support for a portfolio of SME clients.

Multiple clients. Multiple matters. All live at once.

That’s the job. Some weeks it’s a performance process, a contract review, an award query and a resignation that’s about to become something worse, all before Wednesday.

You’ll be:

• Advising owners and managers on ER matters — and often doing a lot of the work, not just handing it back
• Interpreting Modern Awards properly. Not the Pay Guide. The Award.
• Running and coordinating performance management, disciplinary processes and terminations
• Drafting contracts, policies and letters that hold up
• Supporting investigations and Fair Work matters
• Checking wages and compliance before the problem lands
• Keeping every client warm, no one waits three days for a callback

You’ll report to the Head of Client Services, and you’ll have backup on anything complex. What you won’t have is someone chasing you for updates - you must be proactive.

WHO WE’RE AFTER

• 5 to 6 years in HR internal, consulting or outsourced, is likely to have provided you with a reasonable level of exposure to Awards, EBAs, the FWC, and IR Commission frameworks.
• Real ER exposure. You’ve run performance processes and sat in terminations, not just written the letters.
• Working knowledge of the Fair Work Act and Modern Awards, enough to advise, and enough to know when to escalation
• Genuinely comfortable running a volume of matters at once. You triage, you prioritise, and nothing goes quiet.
• Fast, clear written communication, most of this job lands in writing lawful, reliable correspondence
• Client-facing confidence and acumen. You’ll be talking directly to owners who move quickly on your instructions.

Consulting or outsourced HR background is an advantage. Not essential.

WHAT’S IN IT

A competitive package benchmarked against specialist HR and IR consultancies, plus super and a performance incentive

• Hybrid, 3 days in the office, 2 from home
• Direct access to a supportive team and mentoring. Ask a question, get an answer the same day.
• Ten years of internal HR experience compressed into two. You’ll touch more real IR here in six months than most in-house roles offer in five years.
• Exposure to different industries, different problems, every single week
• A firm that backs your judgment instead of hedging it.
• The

chance to grow with us, not just work for us – we are on a growth journey, your role expands as the business does.

THE HONEST BIT

The volume is real. Clients call us when it’s already difficult, and you’ll carry several of those at once.

What you won’t do is carry them alone. You’ll have backup, structure and a team who genuinely support each other.

If you want one project at a time and a quiet Friday, this isn’t it. If you’re bored in an internal HR seat and you want ten years of experience in two, this is exactly it.