Global HR Director

SSP Limited; Halifax; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global HR service provider in Halifax seeks an experienced HR Director to support the HR strategy, develop future leaders, and ensure compliance with employment laws across various regions. The ideal candidate has strong strategic thinking skills, HR leadership experience, and a proven track record in high-growth environments. This role demands effective communication and the ability to influence stakeholders within a fast-paced context.

Qualifications

• Able to think strategically and tactically execute key initiatives.
• Experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Strong sense of ownership with a track record of success.
• Effective communication and presentation skills.
• Willingness to travel as needed.

Responsibilities

• Support the Portfolio Manager in creating HR strategy.
• Develop future HR Leaders and support their development.
• Drive a high-performance culture and coach leaders.
• Act as HR Business Partner for Portfolio employees.
• Manage all annual talent processes for leaders.

Skills

Strategic thinking

High growth business experience

Strong problem-solving

Sound business acumen

Effective communication

Project management

Education

Extensive knowledge of employment law in UK and Europe

Experience in Software/SaaS/technology

Job description

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACCOUNTABILITIES

Description

STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL :

Support the Portfolio Manager in the creation of our Portfolio’s HR strategy; translate strategic plans into HR initiatives that achieve the end goal; and oversee the implementation within your Region to ensure all the key objectives are met.

Be strategically minded and growth focused, anticipating business needs in advance of the growth of Region, Groups and VBUs. This includes identifying high potential talent within the Region for future roles, having robust EDPs and succession plans in place; and providing opportunities for the HR team to get exposure to and training in relevant areas, enabling them to be developed and therefore considered as a candidate for future roles.

Continually develop a strong business acumen, regularly keeping updated and aligned on, and understanding, our business strategy, goals, priorities, talent strengths and risks. Ensure you are keeping informed / aware of industry trends and market practices.

LEADERSHIP :

Build strong partnerships with your key Business Leaders / Stakeholders (including corporate function leaders within finance, legal, IT) and gain their support and buy-in to HR practices and initiatives.

Develop future HR Leaders to support the anticipated growth for our Region, provide leadership, support, and development (including coaching, and mentoring) for the HR partners in Groups and / or VBUs. As / when required, organise, direct, and evaluate the HR Team’s function and performance in partnership with other business or HR Leaders.

Drive and support a high-performance culture within the business, whilst also providing thoughtful and effective coaching to leaders on all aspects of leadership to help grow, develop, and maximise their capabilities.

Drive various regionally focused HR Team policy and practice reviews or projects across your businesses, either acting as Project Manager, or delegating opportunities across the HR team to do so – for example, evolving remote workforce capabilities, culture, and accountabilities within region.

A CORE MEMBER OF THE VENCORA HR TEAM : – Partnering with the Vencora HR Leader, the ROW HR Leader, HR Directors, HR Specialists to :

Create mandatory and optional programmes, playbooks, policies, etc.

Develop and implement programmes such as career paths, identifying high potential performers, succession planning (incl. identifying external talent), gap analysis leadership development, technical development, DEI, etc.

Partnering with ROW to ensure a consistent approach operationally to our L&D Programs, Talent Development, Succession planning, sharing when it makes best business practices.

Aligned to our Vencora HR strategy, work with and support our Talent Development Specialist in developing and delivering training to our Senior Leaders, and training managers across the businesses on HR practices.

Be the voice and expert on your region’s requirements, providing business context, input, and recommendations to meet your Region / Group’s business and / or legislative requirements.

Leverage technology / data (for example, Workday, Peakon) to enhance and drive our data, analytics, and predictive analytics capability, both measuring success and identifying patterns that highlight areas of concern, opportunity, and / or development, and make recommendations and report achievements. Providing reports, plus presenting / report on, all areas of talent / people as and when required.

REGIONAL EXPERT :

Be the expert on employment legislation; responsible for ensuring compliance with all legislative and Portfolio requirements and practices. Ensure you stay current / updated on all employment law and compliance for the region, and ensure effective plans are in operation to mitigate risk to the VBU, Portfolio, and Vencora. (Immediately flag up any concerns or red flags and address / bring them to resolution.)

Close liaison with our Global HR Leaders for employment legislation, working directly and / or with third party specialists as required.

In all areas, ensure that we consistently remain competitive, and regularly review our practices and processes with a view of continuous improvement.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS :

When required, take the lead, or work as part, of the due diligence team to gather, review, and assess data / information on the business’s various HR practices, flagging any inconsistencies or areas of potential concern, and providing recommendation on how to address.

Leading or supporting the integration activity for the newly acquired business. (For global businesses, ensuring a global integration team is in place to define and align activities and timelines. Where the head office is within your Region, taking the lead on the integration globally, working with your other Regional / Group HR Directors and their teams who will take a supporting role in implementing integration activities locally. In cases where the head office is in another region, following the lead of the relevant Regional / Group HR Director and taking the supporting role to implement the integration activities within your Region according to the aligned timeline.)

HR PARTNER :

Acting as HR Business Partner to all Vencora Portfolio employees based in Rest of the World, supporting the full employee lifecycle (recruitment to offboarding) and ensuring all RoW-specific processes and communications take place.

PORTFOLIO & GROUP SPECIFIC FOCUS – Working in the Business :

Partner with your Portfolio Manager and Group Leaders on a wide range of talent management and organisational business challenges. Provide strategic and operational advice and recommendations to both business leaders and HR partners (such as organisational design, workforce planning, leadership development, performance optimisation, talent assessment, succession planning, employee relations, change management, leadership coaching, retention, etc.).

Responsible for all annual talent / HR processes and employee lifecycle events relating to all leaders within your Region, ensuring they are aware of all processes, communications, and actions they need to take in relation to their direct reports and their own personal employee actions.

Proactively working on removing silos and creating a sense of inclusion across the Vencora Rest of the World Portfolio

Reviewing your various businesses within region and, where possible, aligning policies and practices to create consistency and equity across VBUs.

Partnering with your regional HR team and Senior business leaders to implement, and lead by example, the culture we want to embrace and embody across the Groups.

Executing employee engagement initiatives that support this.

Aligned to the Vencora D, E & I strategy and working with the Portfolio HR Leader to and HR Director Americas, develop a holistic vision and plan on D, E & I strategies and practices that support our Portfolio ethos and mission, including enhancing the D, E & I organisational capabilities and trainings.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Able to think strategically and tactically execute on key initiatives / deliverables. Must be willing and able to be hands on and deliver.

Experience working in a high-growth business and demonstrated ability to deal effectively with ambiguity and change in a fast‑paced environment.

Sound business acumen and able to understand commercial drivers.

Strong sense of ownership and drive, with a proven track record of success within a regional director role.

Expert / extensive, sound knowledge of employment law across the UK, Ireland, and Europe and at least a sound knowledge of employment law knowledge in Africa and APAC, with the ability to know when to seek out additional expertise when required.

Flexibility to work across all of Rest of World (including UK, Ireland, Europe, and APAC), with confidence of what you do know and confident when to bring in other regional HR expertise, bring in 3rd party expertise.

Effective communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills; highly collaborative and strong at building relationships with stakeholders and across the Rest of the World Portfolio. Able to influence and challenge where needed.

Proven track record of problem solving and project management, particularly across various areas within HR, managing multiple areas of delivery in a timely, efficient, and effective way.

Previous experience working in Software / SaaS / technology and the Banking, Insurance or Professional Services industry, particularly in a high‑growth business, is highly desirable.

Ability and willingness to travel as and when needed, at times with short notice, is essential.

Worker Type

Regular