Hr Generalist - Emea

Canonical; Gauteng; Hybrid; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech firm in South Africa is seeking an HR Generalist to support its EMEA operations. This role involves providing HR guidance, managing employee relations, and overseeing the full life-cycle of HR processes. The ideal candidate will have a strong academic background, relevant certifications, and excellent insights into EMEA HR practices. The company offers a distributed work environment, generous benefits, and opportunities for personal development and travel.

Benefits

Personal learning budget of $2,000 per year

Performance-driven annual bonus

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Annual holiday leave

Opportunities for travel

Qualifications

• Self-directed and organised with the ability to prioritise tasks.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Practical insights into HR practices and employment laws.

Responsibilities

• Provide HR guidance and advice to team members.
• Manage the full life-cycle of HR including onboarding.
• Produce data-driven reports to inform HR initiatives.

Skills

Organised problem-solver

Knowledge of HR practices

Discretion and sound judgement

Excellent communication skills

Education

Relevant professional qualification and certifications

Exceptional academic track record

Job description

Canonical Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

HR Generalist - EMEA

Join to apply for the HR Generalist - EMEA role at Canonical

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors.

Company overview

• The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office-based roles.
• Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.
• The company is founder-led, profitable and growing.

Role summary

We are hiring an HR Generalist to support our EMEA region. With 1,+ colleagues across 75 countries, we require a globally-minded HR function. You'll report into our Regional HR Manager and help build the company as we pursue continued growth plans.

It’s an exciting time to join with an opportunity to shape and create an HR function for the future.

Key responsibilities

• Provide HR guidance to team members and managers, setting high expectations of behaviour and performance.
• Partner with line managers to provide employee relations advice on global policies and procedures.
• Ensure accuracy and timeliness in processing employee changes, joiners and leavers.
• Manage and drive benefit programs spanning our EMEA locations (UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Spain).
• Liaise with our finance team on monthly payroll, projects and enquiries.
• Support the full life‑cycle of HR including onboarding, benefit administration, and departure.
• Apply critical thinking to automate and reduce administrative tasks.
• Take a lead role in the management, continued development, and integration of our HR system.
• Act as a system expert and advocate for the global HR team.
• Produce data‑driven reports to inform and influence HR initiatives.
• Lead and participate in projects where you’ll see the impact of your work.
• Support internal resource groups to drive initiatives such as diversity and inclusion.
• Create, update and maintain corporate policies that have a global lens with local application.
• Ensure consistency of application of our HR policies and procedures.

Qualifications

• Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university.
• Relevant professional qualification and certifications.
• Excellent practical insights into German, UK and/or French HR practices and employment laws.
• Knowledge of other EMEA laws and practices is beneficial.
• Self‑directed, organised problem‑solver with the ability to prioritise and meet goals and deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise discretion, sound judgement, tact and diplomacy in all communications.
• Fearless and principled approach to professional interactions at every level of the business with commitment to confidentiality of sensitive information.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events, with at least one trip of two full working weeks.

What we offer

• Geographical location, experience and performance influence compensation worldwide.
• Annual review of compensation (more frequent for graduates and associates) to recognize outstanding performance.
• Performance‑driven annual bonus.
• Additional benefits that reflect our values and ideals.
• Balanced programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.
• Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly team sprints in person.
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year.
• Recognition rewards.
• Annual holiday leave.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues.
• Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long‑haul company events.

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence – in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do.

Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since its inception. Working here is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

Equal Opportunity

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer. We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.