Chief Human Resources Officer - Automotive Components

About the Role:

We are looking for an experienced Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) to lead the Human Resources function for the Automotive Components business of a diversified group.

The role will partner closely with the Business CEO, Business Leadership Team and Plant Leadership to build the organisation and people capabilities required to support the business growth, operational performance and transformation agenda.

The CHRO will provide strategic leadership across multiple manufacturing locations and business units, with responsibility for organisation effectiveness, leadership development, talent, workforce strategy, employee relations and HR governance.

The role will be expected to balance strategic HR priorities with a strong understanding of manufacturing realities, including workforce productivity, industrial relations, employee engagement, retention and plant-level HR effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Business & HR Strategy:

• Develop and execute the HR strategy for the Automotive Components vertical, aligned with business strategy, growth plans and operational priorities.
• Partner with the Business CEO and leadership team on organisation, talent and workforce-related priorities.
• Translate business plans, capacity expansion and growth requirements into organisation and people plans.
• Provide HR inputs for new plants, expansions, restructuring, acquisitions and other strategic business initiatives.

2. Organisation & Workforce Strategy:

• Drive organisation design, manpower planning and workforce strategy across plants and business units.
• Ensure the organisation has the right structure, capabilities and leadership capacity to support current and future business requirements.
• Improve workforce productivity, organisation effectiveness and utilisation of human capital.
• Develop strategies for critical skills, succession, retention and future capability requirements.

3. Leadership & Talent Management:

• Build a strong leadership pipeline and succession plan for critical positions across the Automotive Components business.
• Identify and develop high-potential and critical talent across corporate and manufacturing operations.
• Strengthen performance management, career development and talent review processes.
• Lead senior-level hiring and ensure timely availability of leadership and specialist talent.
• Develop leadership capability aligned with the future needs of the business.

4. Manufacturing HR & Employee Relations:

• Provide strategic oversight of HR across multiple manufacturing plants and locations.
• Strengthen plant HR capabilities and establish consistent HR practices across locations.
• Partner with Plant Heads on workforce productivity, discipline, engagement, retention and capability.
• Oversee employee relations, industrial relations and labour management across manufacturing locations.
• Develop proactive approaches to managing workforce relations, union/employee representative relationships and industrial risks.
• Ensure effective statutory and labour-law compliance across the business.

5. Performance, Culture & Employee Engagement:

• Strengthen performance management and accountability across the organisation.
• Drive initiatives to build a high-performance culture aligned with business objectives.
• Improve employee engagement, retention and employee experience across corporate and plant locations.
• Promote leadership behaviours and organisational values that support operational excellence and business growth.

6. Compensation & Rewards:

• Develop and review compensation and benefits strategies for the Automotive Components business.
• Ensure compensation structures are competitive, internally equitable and aligned with business performance.
• Oversee annual compensation reviews, incentive structures and senior leadership compensation in partnership with the leadership team.
• Develop appropriate reward mechanisms to support retention and performance.

7. HR Transformation & Digitalisation:

• Drive HR transformation and digitalisation across the business.
• Improve HR processes, systems, analytics and reporting to enable data-driven decision-making.
• Develop meaningful people dashboards and analytics covering workforce, productivity, attrition, talent, engagement and other key metrics.
• Standardise and simplify HR processes across multiple locations while maintaining flexibility for business requirements.

8. Business Transformation & Change:

• Partner with business leadership on growth, transformation, restructuring, acquisitions, integrations and organisational change.
• Lead the people and organisation agenda during major business transformation initiatives.
• Assess organisational capability and workforce implications of new technologies, automation and changing manufacturing models.
• Build change-management capability across the organisation.

9. HR Leadership & Governance:

• Lead, develop and strengthen the HR leadership team across the Automotive Components vertical.
• Establish clear HR governance, KPIs, operating standards and accountability across locations.
• Build strong HR business partnering capability at both corporate and plant levels.
• Ensure consistent HR policies and practices while responding appropriately to business and location-specific requirements.

10. Leadership Advisory & Stakeholder Management:

• Act as a trusted strategic advisor to the Business CEO and senior leadership team on people and organisation matters.
• Work closely with Business Heads, Plant Heads and functional leaders to address critical talent and workforce issues.
• Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders relevant to HR and employee relations.
• Provide leadership with regular insights on organisation capability, talent, workforce risks, employee relations and people metrics.

Candidate Profile:

• 20+ years of HR experience, with significant experience in senior HR leadership roles.
• Strong experience in automotive components, automotive, engineering, manufacturing or a similar industrial environment.
• Proven experience managing HR for a large, complex and multi-location manufacturing business.
• Strong understanding of plant HR, workforce management, industrial relations and labour relations.
• Demonstrated experience in business partnering, organisation development, talent management, succession planning and leadership development.
• Experience supporting business growth, capacity expansion, restructuring, transformation or M&A.
• Strong commercial orientation and ability to connect people strategy with business and operational outcomes.
• Experience leading and developing a sizeable, geographically distributed HR team.
• Proven ability to work closely with CEOs, MDs, Business Heads, Plant Heads and senior leadership teams.
• Strong understanding of compensation, performance management and senior leadership hiring.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, communication and leadership skills.

Education:

• Postgraduate qualification in Human Resources from a reputed institution.
• MBA/PGDM in HR preferred.