Employee Relations Leader
On-siteDubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates or Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Job Summary
Lead adviser on complex employee relations matters across Africa and Asia, managing disciplinaries, grievances, investigations, performance concerns, and sensitive exits. Partner with HR, Legal, Compliance, and business leaders to assess people risk, determine appropriate approaches, and deliver timely, fair, and well-documented outcomes. Support organizational change activity, including workforce optimization programs, consultation processes, and communication planning. Advise and coach managers on case handling, documentation quality, and risk-aware decision-making. Conduct or guide complex investigations ensuring processes are followed and recommendations are defensible. Partner with Operations to deploy AI and automation for process efficiency. Use people data and case trends to identify risk themes and recommend actions that improve consistency and leadership decision-making. Develop ER frameworks, policies, and toolkits to support scalability. Ensure local practices align with employment legislation and Optasia's values.
Required Qualifications
- Significant direct experience (8+ yrs) leading delivery of ER including at a regional level
- Extensive employee relations experience in international, high-growth, regulated, or complex business environments in Asia and Africa
- Experience dealing with complex M&A, assessment & integration projects
- Demonstrated capability in handling complex investigations, conduct matters, performance cases, grievances, redundancies, and other sensitive employee relations issues from initial assessment through to resolution
- Strong experience operating across multiple countries, with practical understanding of employee relations risk, employment practices, and the need to balance consistency with local compliance
- Strong knowledge of employee relations risk, process discipline, and the importance of clear documentation, consistency, and defensible decision-making
- Data-informed, pragmatic, and business-oriented approach to solving people risk and workplace issues
- Proven ability to build effective working relationships with senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders including Legal, Compliance
- Strong coaching and influencing skills, with the ability to challenge constructively and raise the quality of people decisions
- High levels of integrity, professionalism, discretion, and resilience when dealing with complex or high-pressure situations
- Ability to plan and prioritize work under tight deadlines, work on own initiative, and as a member of a team
Desired Qualifications
- experience of business partnering preferred
Hiring someone like this?
Get your role in front of qualified candidates on Sorce.