Assistant Manager Human Resources

aló; Mumbai; On-site; INR 800,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

aló is seeking an Assistant HR Manager to lead HR activities across India, UAE and the wider GCC region from Mumbai. The role emphasizes talent acquisition, employee relations, performance management and robust HR processes beyond routine recruitment.

The candidate will own end-to-end recruitment, build pipelines including Arabic-speaking talent, manage HR calendars, and drive engagement across multiple locations with minimal supervision.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of HR experience with strong recruitment and HR operations exposure.
• Experience recruiting across multiple countries / geographies is strongly preferred.
• Ability to source and assess Arabic-speaking candidates when required.
• Strong employee relations and communication skills.
• Excellent planning, organisation and follow-through.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.

Responsibilities

• Talent Acquisition: Manage end-to-end recruitment across India, UAE, Egypt and GCC markets.
• Build strong relationships with department heads to understand manpower needs and budgets.
• Source talent across countries based on skills, location and language requirements.
• Develop sourcing capabilities for Arabic-speaking talent for GCC-facing roles.
• Maintain recruitment trackers and update management on pipelines and challenges.
• Oversee HR operations: maintain records, calendars, processes and vendor relationships.
• Provide management with regular updates on open positions, joiners, attrition and performance reviews.
• Drive proactive HR ownership, propose solutions and ensure process adherence across locations.

Skills

HR recruitment

Employee relations

Performance management

Talent management

People management

Job description

Location: Mumbai, with coordination across UAE, India and GCC

Experience: 3–5 years

Reports to: Management

ROLE PURPOSE

We are looking for a proactive, organised and people-focused Assistant HR Manager to manage and strengthen HR across our teams working across India, UAE and the wider GCC region, including markets such as Egypt and other countries as required.

The role goes beyond recruitment and administration. It requires strong ownership of talent acquisition, employee relations, performance management, HR processes and proactive people management, with minimal dependence on management follow-up.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Talent Acquisition & Recruitment

• Manage end-to-end recruitment across India, UAE, Egypt and other GCC / regional markets as required, from understanding the requirement through to joining.
• Work with department heads to understand manpower requirements and ensure hiring is justified by business need, workload, budget and role requirements.
• Source talent across different countries based on the skills, experience, location and language requirements of the business.
• Develop strong sourcing capabilities for Arabic-speaking talent, particularly for GCC-facing advertising, marketing, creative, technology and client-facing roles.
• Build and maintain active talent pipelines across creative, account management, digital, social media, production, technology and support functions including freelancers.
• Source, screen and shortlist candidates based on capability, experience, cultural fit, language requirements and budget.
• Maintain accurate recruitment trackers and proactively update management on open positions, pipelines and challenges.
• Ensure vacancies are closed within agreed timelines with minimal management intervention.
• Manage offer negotiations and ensure compensation offered is aligned with the role, candidate value, market expectations and approved budget.

2. Employee Relations & Team Culture

• Build strong, trusted relationships across teams working in India, UAE and other regional markets.
• Act as the first point of contact for employee concerns and proactively resolve issues wherever appropriate.
• Identify team conflicts, dissatisfaction or communication gaps before they escalated to management.
• Support managers in handling people-related matters fairly and professionally.
• Drive initiatives that improve engagement, communication, accountability and team culture across locations.

3. Performance, KRAs & KPIs

• Ensure every employee has a clear and updated JD, KRAs and KPIs.
• Coordinate and ensure performance reviews happen as scheduled.
• Track review outcomes and ensure agreed actions are followed through.
• Support management in performance-related discussions, improvement plans and documentation.
• During increments and promotions, ensure recommendations are supported by clear performance evidence, responsibilities, contribution and business justification.
• Be confident in having objective, well-reasoned compensation discussions with employees, balancing employee expectations with business performance and requirements.

4. HR Operations & Processes

• Maintain accurate employee records, HR trackers and documentation across all operating locations.
• Own the HR calendar covering joining, probation, confirmations, appraisals, reviews, leave and exits.
• Ensure HR processes are not only created but consistently implemented and followed through.
• Ensure scheduled HR meetings and reviews take place without management having to repeatedly remind or chase.
• Identify gaps in HR processes and proactively recommend improvements.
• Manage relationships with HR-related vendors, recruitment agencies, consultants, freelancers and service providers across relevant markets.
• Negotiate effectively with vendors on rates, terms and service levels while maintaining quality and business requirements.
• Evaluate vendor performance and recommend alternatives where value or service levels are not satisfactory.
• Ensure HR-related costs remain within approved budgets.

6. HR Reporting & Management Support

• Provide management with regular, concise updates covering:
• Open positions and recruitment status
• Candidate pipeline and expected joiners
• Country / location of hiring requirements
• Employee movements and attrition
• Performance review status
• Pending HR actions
• Employee concerns
• Key HR initiatives and risks
• Management should not need to repeatedly ask for routine HR updates.

7. Proactive HR Ownership

• Identify what needs to be done rather than waiting for instructions.
• Maintain a clear HR action tracker and prioritise important tasks.
• Follow through on commitments, meetings and deadlines independently.
• Bring solutions and recommendations, not just problems, to management.
• Ensure agreed HR processes and initiatives are completed from planning through execution.
• Stay aware of talent availability, salary expectations and recruitment challenges across the markets in which the company operates.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Performance will be assessed on:

Recruitment

• Timely closure of approved vacancies.
• Quality and suitability of candidates shortlisted and hired.
• Ability to source specialised and Arabic-speaking talent when required.
• Minimal management intervention required.

Employee Relations

• Stronger relationships across India, UAE and regional teams.
• Early identification and resolution of employee issues.
• Reduced unnecessary escalation of routine people matters to management.
• Performance Management
• Current JDs, KRAs and KPIs for employees.
• Reviews completed on schedule.
• Performance actions consistently followed through.
• Compensation recommendations supported by objective performance and business justification.

HR Operations

• Accurate records and timely HR processes.
• HR calendar maintained and followed.
• Minimal reminders required from management.
• Commercial & Negotiation
• Effective negotiation with recruitment and HR vendors.
• Hiring and compensation decisions aligned with approved budgets, market conditions and business requirements.

REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• 3–5 years of HR experience with strong recruitment and HR operations exposure.
• Experience recruiting across multiple countries / geographies is strongly preferred.
• Ability to source and assess Arabic-speaking candidates when required.
• Strong employee relations and communication skills.
• Excellent planning, organisation and follow-through.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Ability to have difficult but professional conversations with both candidates and employees.
• Commercial understanding and ability to balance employee expectations with business requirements.
• Strong ownership, confidentiality and problem-solving ability.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced advertising, creative and technology solutions environment.
• Experience managing teams across multiple locations is preferred.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

A proactive HR professional who can hire well, manage people well, negotiate well and execute without being chased.

The person should be comfortable operating across different countries, cultures and employee groups, and be able to identify and source the right talent wherever it is available—not simply limit recruitment to India or the UAE.

The role offers the opportunity to grow into a broader HR / People Operations leadership role as the organisation and its regional teams continue to grow.