People Operations Team Lead

Maersk; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A global logistics leader is seeking a People Operations Team Lead in Cape Town, South Africa. The role involves guiding People Advisory services within a diverse, multi-cultural team. Responsibilities include mentoring staff, ensuring service excellence, and driving operational improvements. The ideal candidate will have a relevant degree, minimum 3 years in a leadership role, and experience in HR operations. This position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to global people initiatives and enhance the employee experience.

Benefits

Culturally diverse environment

Opportunities for continuous learning

Support for adjustments during hiring process

Qualifications

• At least 3 years’ experience in a people leadership role, preferably within a multinational organisation.
• Experience leading HR advisory or shared services teams in diverse locations.
• Strong ability to build engaged, high-performing teams.

Responsibilities

• Guide the delivery of People Advisory services and mentor a team of People Advisors.
• Monitor service performance and adhere to compliance requirements.
• Analyze service metrics and contribute to reporting on operational insights.

Skills

People leadership

HR operations

Coaching and mentoring

Stakeholder management

Understanding of local labor legislation

Data analysis

Education

Relevant bachelor’s degree in human resources

Tools

HR systems (Workday preferred)

Case management tools

Job description

Would you like to be part of a value-driven, commercially oriented international environment where we enable global trade every day? We are looking for a People Operations Team Lead to join the People Operations Advisory Africa team, leading the delivery of People Advisory services across SAI & EAA (Southern Africa & Islands and Eastern Africa), while contributing to wider Africa, regional, and global people initiatives.

You will lead a team that serves as a trusted People Advisory partner to employees, leaders and stakeholders, delivering high-quality HR support through case management and advisory services. Your team ensures that every employee’s interaction, whether routine or complex, is handled with professionalism, empathy, and a strong focus on the employee experience.

You will have a unique opportunity to apply your leadership and advisory capabilities working closely with diverse and highly skilled colleagues across Africa and globally. You will also play a key role in connecting regional needs with global People priorities and overall strategy. The role is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

WHAT WE OFFER:

When you join Maersk, you’ll find that the world is your workplace. You’ll work in a culturally diverse, stimulating environment, surrounded by new ideas and different ways of doing things. We believe in individual performance within highly professional teams supported by our distinctive values. To us teamwork means acceptance, respect, dedication, and the idea that we can achieve more when we all pull together.

Living our values means competing in the marketplace in an ethical way so our name is synonymous with being a credible and valuable business partner. Through Constant Care and Humbleness, we strive to prepare for the future, while never forgetting that our customers and competitors are key to our ability to improve. In our daily work, Uprightness and Our Employees mean that transparency and accountability in everything we do go hand in hand with being an inspiring, challenging place to work. At Maersk, we take pride in hiring the best person for the job – irrespective of gender, age, nationality, or religious belief.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Your role as a People Operations Team Lead is to guide the delivery of People Advisory services, manage and mentor a multi-cultural, geographically distributed team of People Advisors, and ensure alignment with regional and global People Operations strategy.

You will be responsible for:

Team Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of People Advisors to consistently meet SLAs, quality standards, and service excellence goals.
• Create a highly engaged, motivated, and inclusive team environment where individuals feel valued, supported, and empowered.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reflections, and MPACT conversations, including Individual Development Plans.
• Mentor team members on complex people matters, strengthening advisory capability and decision-making confidence.
• Foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, continuous learning, and customer-centric service.
• Support workforce planning, onboarding, and capability building within the advisory team.

Operational Excellence

• Lead daily operations related to case management and employee advisory interactions, ensuring efficient workload distribution and resolution.
• Monitor service performance including backlog, turnaround times, quality scores, and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure adherence to standard processes, policies, compliance requirements, and data privacy standards.
• Identify trends, pain points, and inefficiencies in service delivery and lead continuous improvement initiatives.
• Drive process optimisation, simplification, and standardisation to enhance service quality and efficiency.
• Partner with technology and global teams to support automation and system enhancement initiatives.
• Embed a continuous improvement mindset within the team, encouraging ideas and ownership for service enhancements.
• Partner closely with People Partners, Rewards, Payroll, TAA and other SMEs to ensure seamless employee lifecycle support.

Regional & Global Collaboration

• Support the implementation of regional and global People initiatives and process changes within the cluster.
• Act as a key liaison between global People Operations and local advisory teams, ensuring alignment and feedback loops.
• Contribute regional insights and data to inform global service improvements and people strategies.

Data, Insights & Reporting

• Analyze case trends, service metrics, and people data to identify themes, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Use dashboards and compile high-level metrics to contribute to monthly and quarterly operational and people insights reporting.
• Use data-driven insights to inform service enhancements, training needs, and process improvements

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

The ideal candidate should have:

• Relevant bachelor’s degree in human resources
• At least 3 years’ experience in a people leadership role, with a track record of managing teams, preferably within a multinational organisation
• Experience leading HR advisory or shared services teams in diverse locations
• Solid experience in HR Operations, People Advisory, and Employee Relations
• A strong ability to build engaged, high-performing teams and foster a positive team culture.
• Knowledge of local labour legislation
• Good knowledge of HR policies, employee lifecycle processes, and employee relations practices
• Experience supporting regional or global HR initiatives and driving process or continuous improvement
• Skilled in coaching, mentoring, and developing others
• Comfort using HR systems (Workday preferred) and case management tools
• Ability to use data and metrics to identify trends and improve service delivery
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills across cultures and levels
• Ability to balance operational delivery with broader strategic priorities
• Flexibility to work across different time zones or business (on needs basis)

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Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with all legal requirements.

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