People Business Partner

Zutari; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Zutari in Cape Town seeks a strategic People Business Partner to align workforce priorities with business strategy, improving capability, engagement and performance across markets. You will partner with leaders, coach managers, and deliver data-driven insights within a governance framework.

Key focus areas include workforce planning, learning and development, talent and succession management, employee relations and organisational design to build future-ready capability for sustainable growth in

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or related field.
• Honours Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or related field.
• SABPP registration.

Responsibilities

• Align the company’s people strategy with business strategy.
• Partner with business leaders and managers to understand priorities, workforce challenges, and people requirements.
• Translate people priorities into practical plans and interventions relevant to the needs of the business area or market.
• Contribute to the implementation of people initiatives that support sustainable business performance and organisational capability.
• Provide first-line guidance to managers on people matters, escalating more complex or high-risk cases where required.
• Promote fair, consistent, and values-based treatment of employees in line with company policy and labour legislation.
• Track and report on HR metrics as part of leadership meetings and provide insights to inform decisions.

Skills

Strategic Workforce Planning

Employee Relations

Performance Management

People Analytics

Organisational Design

Stakeholder Partnership

Change Management

Communication & Coaching

Business Acumen

Confidentiality & Integrity

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or related field

Honours Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or related field

SABPP registration

Job description

Cape Town - Century City, WC ZA (Primary)
Paarl - , WC 7646 ZA

Description

Behind every transformative infrastructure project is a network of people, systems, and ideas working in sync.

We are a leading buildings, infrastructure engineering and advisory firm with over 90 years of experience across Africa and the Middle East. While our work shapes physical infrastructure, from schools to stadiums, dams to bridges, it is powered by the strength of our people and the systems that support them.

We are seeking individuals who bring clarity, structure, and insight to complex environments, enabling our teams to deliver meaningful, sustainable impact at scale.

Job Summary:

The People Business Partner supports the alignment of people priorities within Zutari. The role works closely with leaders, managers, employees, and specialist People teams to implement practical people solutions that improve strategic workforce planning, workforce capability, employee engagement, organisational effectiveness, and business performance. The role focuses on partnering, implementation, advisory support, and execution of people initiatives within an established people strategy and governance framework.

As a trusted partner to business unit leaders, the incumbent provides data-driven insights, coaches leaders on people and organisational matters, and champions a high-performance, values-driven culture. The role plays a critical part in building future-ready capability, strengthening organisational agility, and ensuring that business units are equipped to deliver on its strategic ambitions. The People Business Partner must demonstrate sound judgement, effective collaboration skills, strong stakeholder engagement, and the ability to influence leaders and employees without formal line authority.

Key responsibilities:

People Strategy Implementation and Business Alignment

• Managing and supporting the alignment of the company’s people strategy with business strategy.
• Partner with business leaders and managers to understand commercial priorities, workforce challenges, and people requirements.
• Translate people priorities into practical plans and interventions relevant to the needs of the business area or market.
• Contribute to the implementation of people initiatives that support sustainable business performance and organisational capability.

Employee Relations and Positive Workplace Climate

• Working together with management and employees to solve conflicts and help facilitate positive employee relations, maintain a good working environment, build morale, and decrease unwanted attrition.
• Facilitate positive employee relations practices that contribute to a healthy working environment, improved morale, and reduced unwanted attrition.
• Provide first-line guidance to managers on people matters, escalating more complex or high-risk cases where required.
• Promote fair, consistent, and values-based treatment of employees in line with company policy and applicable labour legislation.

Workforce Planning and Future Readiness

• Support workforce planning activities to help ensure the market or business area has the right size, structure, skills mix, and agility for future needs.
• Assist leaders in identifying current and future capability requirements, skills gaps, and workforce risks.

Workforce Planning and Future Readiness

• Support workforce planning activities to help ensure the market or business area has the right size, structure, skills mix, and agility for future needs.
• Assist leaders in identifying current and future capability requirements, skills gaps, and workforce risks.
• Contribute to future-readiness efforts by helping business areas assess existing workforce capability against anticipated business demands.
• Provide people insights to support planning for growth, mobility, succession, and workforce sustainability.

Learning, Development and Capability Building

• Identify training and development needs in partnership with leaders and managers.
• Support reskilling and upskilling initiatives aimed at preparing employees for changing technical, digital, and market requirements.
• Work with the Learning experience team and relevant stakeholders to align learning interventions with business objectives and capability priorities.
• Encourage a culture of continuous learning, professional development, and career growth.

Talent and Succession Management

• Support talent review and succession planning processes within the relevant market or business area.
• Facilitate the process of identifying key talent, critical roles and succession risks.
• Work with leaders to support the development of employees with high potential or critical skill relevance.
• Encourage career discussions and development planning to strengthen internal capability and retention.

Performance Management Guidance

• Provide guidance to line managers on the application of performance management processes and good people leadership practices.
• Support managers with their approach to coaching, feedback conversations, development planning, mentoring, and career discussions.
• Support the embedding of fair and consistent performance management practices across teams.
• Leverage available people and performance information to highlight trends, concerns, or areas requiring intervention.

Organisational Design and Team Effectiveness

• Provide guidance and advice to managers on team structures, role clarity, and organisational design principles to support effective team design and workforce planning.
• Assist in identifying opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, collaboration, and performance through role or team design.
• Contribute people input into change initiatives affecting structures, roles, and ways of working.
• Ensure recommendations are aligned to business needs, approved frameworks, and practical implementation considerations.

Attraction and Retention

• Collaborate with the talent acquisition team on attraction and recruitment for vacancies within the business units supported.
• Partner with Talent Management and the Rewards team on retention of key talent, relevant to the business needs.
• Support leaders in the identification of retention risks, scarce and/or critical skills concerns, and talent pools within the business unit.
• Contribute to inclusive and practical attraction and retention approaches suited to a consulting engineering environment to ensure that we have the right people in the right role at the right time.

Reward, Recognition and Remuneration Support

• Support the implementation of compensation and benefits practices aligned to broader company remuneration policies and procedures.
• Provide guidance to managers on reward-related processes within approved frameworks.
• Assist with reward and recognition interventions that support employee engagement and reinforce high performance.
• Provide input on market-related talent concerns that may influence retention and reward considerations.

Culture, Engagement, Wellness and Inclusion

• Provide advice and support on culture-related initiatives, including embedding company values, expected behaviours, and codes of conduct.
• Implement or support people interventions focused on employee wellness, diversity and inclusion, and all initiatives supporting Zutari’s social licence to operate.
• Support Leadership in initiatives aimed at strengthening employee engagement and enhancing employee experience aligned to the Employee Value Proposition.
• Support the creation of an inclusive, respectful, and collaborative workplace environment across diverse teams and geographies.

Policies, Processes and Governance

• Provide guidance on people policies, procedures, and processes, ensuring consistent interpretation and application.
• Support the implementation of people practices in line with business requirements, governance standards, and employment legislation.
• Maintain confidentiality and professional discretion in handling employee and business information.
• Identify policy or process improvement opportunities and raise these through appropriate People channels.

People Metrics and Reporting

• Track and report on HR metrics as part of the monthly Management Committee meetings in the respective business units.
• Interpret these people metrics to build insights, identify risks and trends to inform people interventions that support business decisions and outcomes.

Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or related field
• Honours Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or related field
• SABPP registration

Experience

• Minimum 8-10 years of experience in human resource management
• With a minimum of 7 yrs experience as a human resource business partner.
• Working knowledge of different human resource disciplines including total rewards, organisational design and effectiveness, talent and performance management and employee relations
• Proven ability and experience in managing conciliation and arbitration processes
• In-depth understanding of relevant employment legislation

Skills

• Ms Office Proficiency: (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook)
• Strategic Workforce Planning: Ability to assess current and future workforce needs, identify skills gaps and risks, and support plans that align talent capacity with business growth and operational priorities.
• Employee Relations and Labour Practice: Knowledge of employee relations processes, company policy, and applicable labour legislation to guide managers on people matters and support fair, consistent case handling.
• Performance and Talent Management: Capability to support performance management, talent reviews, succession planning, and development conversations that strengthen leadership pipelines and employee retention.
• People Analytics and HR Reporting: Skill in tracking, interpreting, and presenting HR metrics and people trends to generate insights that inform management decisions and targeted interventions.
• Organisational Design and Capability Development: Ability to advise on team structures, role clarity, learning needs, and capability-building initiatives that improve effectiveness, agility, and business readiness.
• Business Acumen: Understands commercial priorities and translates business needs into practical people solutions that support sustainable performance.
• Stakeholder Partnership: Builds trusted relationships with leaders, managers, and employees to influence decisions and drive collaborative people outcomes.
• Communication and Coaching: Ability to engage effectively with management and employees at all levels. Communicates clearly and confidently while guiding managers through feedback, performance, development, and sensitive people discussions.
• Problem Solving and Judgement: Analyses people issues, identifies root causes, and applies sound judgement to recommend balanced, practical, and policy‑aligned solutions.
• Confidentiality and Professional Integrity: Handles sensitive employee and business information with discretion, professionalism, and a strong commitment to ethical practice.
• Change Agility: Adapts quickly to changing business, workforce, and market needs while supporting leaders and teams through organisational change.
• Inclusion and Employee-Centric Mindset: Promotes a respectful, inclusive, and positive workplace culture that values employee wellbeing, engagement, and equitable treatment.

We believe that a diverse workforce is key to our business success. We seek the best peoplefor our jobs based on their skills, qualifications, and experience. We embrace the principle ofequal opportunity in employment, and we work towards eliminating all forms of unlawfuldiscrimination in our employment practices. In support of diversity and the equal opportunityprinciple, preference will be given to individuals from designated groups within South Africa.