Group Human Resources Manager (Urgently Hiring)

JOB SUMMARY

The Group HR Manager is responsible for providing centralized HR leadership, governance, and operational oversight across all entities within the Group. This role ensures consistency in HR policies, statutory compliance, and people practices across entities that differ in size, legal structure, and business nature, while allowing appropriate flexibility for entity-level operational needs. The role operates within a matrix reporting structure and works collaboratively with the Group leadership and entity heads. The Group HR Manager is not the sole decision-maker on HR matters; decisions of material impact (e.g., disciplinary outcomes, restructuring, policy changes, compensation adjustments) are made collectively with relevant stakeholders such as entity heads and/or the Group leadership, in accordance with the Group's governance and approval matrix.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop, implement, and act as custodian of a harmonized Group HR framework (policies, SOPs, employment contracts, handbooks) across all entities; maintaining version control, consistency, and legal compliance, while accommodating entity-specific legal or operational requirements.
• Provide recommendations to entity heads on HR matters requiring escalation or collective decision-making.
• Ensure Group-wide compliance with the Employment Act 1955, Industrial Relations Act 1967, and related legislation.
• Monitor changes in employment law and statutory requirements and cascade compliant policy/practice updates to all entities.
• Oversee end-to-end HR operations and standardize HR processes including but not limited to recruitment, onboarding, payroll coordination, employee relations, and offboarding; across entities ranging from small headcount units to the largest entity.
• Provide oversight, guidance, and quality control on disciplinary and grievance cases handled at entity level, ensuring fair, consistent, and legally sound handling, and escalating complex or high-risk cases for joint decision-making.
• Advise entity heads/line managers on disciplinary procedures, show cause processes, domestic inquiries, and termination matters, ensuring due process and legal defensibility.
• Manage or oversee complex employee relations matters in coordination with entity management and, where required, external legal counsel.
• Coordinate Group-wide salary benchmarking, benefits harmonization, and manpower budgeting across the entities.
• Support entity-level compensation reviews while ensuring alignment with Group compensation philosophy and market competitiveness.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor's Degree in Human Resource Management, Business Administration, Law, or related field. A postgraduate qualification (MBA, HRM, or equivalent) is preferred given the strategic scope.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive HR experience, including at least 3 years managing HR across multiple entities or business units in a hands-on capacity (not purely advisory).
• Demonstrated experience running or building HR service delivery processes at scale across multiple business units.
• Track record of balancing strategic HR work with operational/transactional accountability.
• Experience operating in a matrix environment with shared/collective decision-making.
• Strong grounding in Malaysian employment law (Employment Act 1955, Industrial Relations Act 1967, statutory bodies).
• Strategic workforce planning and organizational design expertise, combined with strong process discipline.
• HRIS/payroll systems fluency sufficient to oversee (or personally manage) transactional accuracy across group entities.
• Ability to context-switch between strategic thinking and hands-on operational execution.
• Ability to triage competing entity requests fairly and transparently.