Senior HR Business Partner - North Ryde

Freedom Furniture; Ryde; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working flexibility

Team member discounts (Freedom & Amart

Career development

Collaborative People & Culture team

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Job summary

Freedom Furniture is seeking a Senior HR leader to become Head of Business Partnering, reporting to the GM People & Culture. You will lead a small HR team and partner with store and DC leaders across Australia and New Zealand to transform the business partnering function.

You’ll drive workforce planning, succession, leadership capability, performance and engagement, while handling complex ER/IR matters and aligning people insights with business decisions.

Qualifications

• Significant HR generalist experience with senior leadership exposure.
• Strong knowledge of Australian employment legislation, Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements.
• Experience managing complex employee relations and industrial relations matters.
• Experience negotiating Enterprise Agreements and working with unions.
• Strong commercial acumen and ability to tie people decisions to business performance.
• Proven track record in coaching and developing HR professionals.
• Experience supporting organisational transformation and large-scale change.
• Strong capability across workforce planning, organisational design, talent and succession.
• Ability to use data and insights to influence decision making.

Responsibilities

• Deliver on the Strategy & People Plan while seamlessly running BAU.
• Lead workforce succession, pipeline and development design and delivery.
• Manage employee relations matters across AU/NZ including performance and investigations.
• Ensure the People function is compliant.
• Lead IR and Enterprise Agreement negotiations with unions.
• Monitor legislation across AU/NZ and translate to practical action.
• Coach leaders to strengthen accountability and leadership capability.
• Lead organisational change including restructures and consultations.
• Drive engagement and culture initiatives with measurable outcomes.
• Lead remuneration governance, incentives and reward reviews; ensure market competitiveness.
• Develop and use data for data-led decisions and audits.
• Partner with WHS on people cases.
• Lead, coach and develop the HR team.

Skills

HR leadership

HR generalist

AU/NZ employment law

Employee relations

Executive partnering

Commercial acumen

HR data & analytics

HR team development

Organisational change

Workforce planning

Talent & succession

Change management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/Business

Job description

This is an opportunity to take on a senior leadership role with genuine influence across the Freedom ANZ business.

As Head of Business Partnering, you'll report to our GM People & Culture and lead a small HR team, partnering closely with operational leaders across our stores and distribution centres in Australia and New Zealand.

It's an exciting time to join Freedom. You'll help transform our business partnering function, strengthening the foundations across succession, workforce planning, leadership capability, performance and the tools our leaders need to succeed.

You'll lead complex ER and IR matters, support organisational and rostering change, and drive performance, culture, engagement and broader business transformation.

This isn't an HR role that operates from the sidelines. We're looking for someone commercial, strategic and hands on who gets close to the business, challenges leaders when needed and brings the people perspective into decisions before they are made.

You'll help Freedom navigate change, strengthen leadership capability and build greater accountability, while balancing the needs of our people with the commercial needs of a large, fast moving business.

Why You'll Be Excited About This Role

This is an opportunity to take on a senior leadership role with genuine influence across the Freedom ANZ business.

As Head of Business Partnering, you'll report to our GM People & Culture and lead a small HR team, partnering closely with operational leaders across our stores and distribution centres in Australia and New Zealand.

It's an exciting time to join Freedom. You'll help transform our business partnering function, strengthening the foundations across succession, workforce planning, leadership capability, performance and the tools our leaders need to succeed.

You'll lead complex ER and IR matters, support organisational and rostering change, and drive performance, culture, engagement and broader business transformation.

This isn't an HR role that operates from the sidelines. We're looking for someone commercial, strategic and hands on who gets close to the business, challenges leaders when needed and brings the people perspective into decisions before they are made.

You'll help Freedom navigate change, strengthen leadership capability and build greater accountability, while balancing the needs of our people with the commercial needs of a large, fast moving business.

What You'll Be Working On

• Deliver on the Business Strategy & People Plan while seamlessly keeping the BAU running.
• Leading workforce succession, pipeline and development design and delivery.
• Manage complex employee relations matters including performance, conduct, grievances, investigations and terminations in Australia and New Zealand.
• Ensure the People function is compliant.
• Leading Freedom's industrial relations approach, including Enterprise Agreement negotiations, Modern Award interpretation and union relationships.
• Monitoring employment legislation and regulatory change across Australia and New Zealand and translating this into practical business action.
• Coaching and challenging leaders to strengthen accountability, address underperformance, and build leadership capability.
• Leading organisational change including restructures, consultation processes and broader business transformation.
• Driving engagement and culture initiatives and ensuring employee insights translate into meaningful action and measurable outcomes.
• Lead goal setting, remuneration reviews, incentives and reward governance, ensuring pay and benefits stay competitive, support retention and reflect workforce cost considerations.
• Develop and use data for data-led decisions, to identify trends, risks and opportunities, support compliance reporting and audits, and influence business decisions.
• Partner with the WHS team as needed on people cases.
• Leading, coaching and developing the HR team, and building capability across employee relations, business partnering, compliance, change and stakeholder management.

What Type of Person Will Succeed

You are an experienced senior HR leader who combines strong technical HR capability with commercial judgement and credibility. You see the people function as a driver of business strategy, not just an enabler of it.

You Will Bring

• Significant HR generalist experience with demonstrated experience operating at a senior leadership level.
• Strong knowledge of Australian employment legislation, Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements, with working knowledge of the New Zealand employment environment in Retail and Distribution.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex employee and industrial relations matters.
• Experience with Enterprise Agreement negotiations and working constructively with unions and employee representatives.
• Strong commercial acumen and the ability to connect people decisions with broader business performance and to bring a people lens into commercial and strategic conversations before decisions are made.
• Experience partnering with executives and senior leaders and the confidence to constructively challenge when required.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing HR professionals.
• Experience supporting organisational transformation, restructures and complex change.
• Strong capability across workforce planning, organisational design, talent and succession.
• The ability to use data and insights to identify workforce trends and influence decision making.

Why You'll Like Working Here

At Freedom, we believe our people are what make us different.

You'll join a business that is evolving, with the opportunity to genuinely influence how we lead, develop and support our people across Australia and New Zealand and to help shape where the business itself is heading.

You'll work closely with senior decision-makers, lead a capable HR team, and have the opportunity to shape people initiatives that have a visible impact across the organisation.

In return, you'll enjoy:

• Hybrid working flexibility.
• Generous team member discounts across Freedom and Amart products.
• Career development and progression opportunities.
• A collaborative People & Culture team.
• Access to health and wellbeing initiatives.
• The opportunity to influence the people strategy of one of Australia's most recognised home and lifestyle brands.

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