HR MANAGER

About the role

Oversee end-to-end HR functions for the company's local and foreign workforce across production, QC, warehouse, and office operations. Own manpower planning, recruitment, retention, industrial/employee relations, compliance, and people management strategy to support a manufacturing operation with 32+ years of history and multi-market export operations.

Key responsibilities

• Develop annual and project-based manpower plans aligned with production capacity and order volume
• Forecast headcount needs across departments (production, QC, warehouse, sales admin, shipping)
• Maintain optimal local-to-foreign worker ratios in line with government quotas and company cost structure
• Manage full recruitment cycle for local hires: job postings, screening, interviews, offer negotiation
• Manage foreign worker recruitment pipeline: liaising with approved agents/source countries, quota applications, and intake scheduling
• Build talent pipelines for hard-to-fill factory roles (machine operators, QC technicians)
• Manage full foreign worker lifecycle: permit applications, renewals, medical checks (FOMEMA), levy payments, and repatriation
• Design retention strategies specifically for factory-floor roles, where turnover tends to be highest
• Handle disciplinary matters, grievances, and domestic inquiries fairly and consistently across local and foreign staff
• Administer payroll inputs, EPF/SOCSO/EIS/HRDF compliance for local staff; levy and permit costs for foreign staff

About you

• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business Administration, or related field
• 5–10 years HR experience in a manufacturing environment, with direct foreign worker management experience essential
• Strong knowledge of Malaysian labour law, Immigration foreign worker procedures, and Act 446 housing standards
• Proven track record in manpower planning and retention strategy for blue-collar/production workforces
• Bilingual/multilingual capability an advantage (to bridge communication with foreign worker population)
• Comfortable working both on the factory floor and in strategic planning discussions with management