Senior Officer - People and Culture at Busara Center

About the Role

• The Senior People Officer plays a crucial role in implementing Busara's talent and people strategies, supporting the organization's growth, and enhancing the employee experience. As an advisory firm, Busara operates in a consulting firm setup, managing multiple teams in different geographies. This dynamic environment requires a strong focus on people management, talent acquisition, employee development, and the maintenance of a positive organizational culture.
• The Senior People Officer leads and implements key people initiatives that align with Busara's strategic talent objectives across five core themes. This role ensures people processes are efficient, inclusive and reflective of organizational values.
• This position is responsible for implementing talent acquisition and staffing processes, supporting performance and talent development efforts, coordinating employee engagement activities, ensuring effective HR administration, and promoting diversity, inclusion, and well-being. Success requires exceptional communication and relationship management skills to collaborate effectively with managers, staff, and external partners across multiple locations.

Key Accountabilities/Responsibilities:

Talent Development

• Provide guidance to team leads on professional development for their teams
• Ensure talent development policies and processes are clear and understood by the team
• Lead the implementation of talent development strategies and programs such as the A2A program, Growth plans, and so on
• Identify org-wide training opportunities and implement accordingly
• Monitor and evaluate the impact of the development programs
• Maintain accurate records of all learning and development programs and initiatives
• Implement succession planning programs
• Continuous improvement on talent development strategies

Performance Management & Objective Setting

• Responsible for the onboarding process, ensuring consistent implementation of organizational and functional onboarding activities.
• Implement and monitor performance management cycle (objective setting, reviews, feedback, reporting)
• Provide guidance to DMs on performance management processes, including: Probation management, objective setting, snapshots, and competency reviews
• Monitor performance improvement plans, provide support to DMs and staff, and ensure appropriate closure of performance processes
• Continually updating competency frameworks, sensitizing managers and employees of competencies required for each job group; monitor the progress of employees against competencies.

HR Administration and Compliance

• Responsible for payroll processing, ensuring timely and accurate payments for all staff.
• Prepare, review, and maintain employment contracts; ensure 100% timely contract renewals.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date employee records (personal information, employment history, documentation).
• Maintain statutory information records and facilitate employee registration with relevant bodies.
• Ensure health, WIBA, and insurance records are current; notify the provider of any changes.
• Support immigration processes for foreign nationals; ensure accurate and timely visa applications.

People, Policies, and Process Management

• Ensure people policies and SOPs are up to date through continuous reviews and updates
• Ensure staff are aware of the policies and processes through training & dissemination
• Maintain accurate records of people policies and processes
• Continuously innovate improvements on people, systems, and processes

Employee Engagement and Wellness Programs

• Create and coordinate staff engagement and wellness activities across Busara offices.
• Ensure regular check-ins with staff about well-being, including illness recovery, parental leave experiences, and other life events.
• Oversee Staff Pulse Survey (SPS) rollout, and actioning of feedback
• Develop comprehensive and structured well-being programs.
• Plan and organize company-wide events (town halls, Barazas, research festival, team building)
• Monitor engagement metrics and program participation; undertake improvements based on feedback
• Manage the administration of the medical and pension benefits for all employees

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

Minimum Requirements 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management or relevant field. 
• 4 years of experience as a HR generalist and at least 1 year in a senior officer capacity.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills that enable you to work with people at all levels of an organization, motivate others, and influence people's attitudes when necessary.
• Strong written and spoken communication and presentation skills that allow you to inform and advise others clearly.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities at a time. 
• Ability to innovate new strategies, initiatives that engage, inspire, and motivate employees to perform at their best. 
• Critical thinking skills – ability to analyze situations and come up with the best possible solutions
• Collaborative mindset – can coordinate and work well with a team towards a singular outcome 
• Leadership mindset – takes initiative in situations, demonstrates ability to balance objectivity and empathy in managing complicated scenarios
• Agility and adaptability – easily and quickly adapt to changing circumstances