About the Role:

We are looking for a sharp, analytical, and execution-focused HR professional to join the CHRO's office as Senior Manager - COE & Special Projects. This is a high-visibility strategic role that sits at the intersection of HR strategy, business partnering, and organizational excellence - working directly with the CHRO and senior leadership to design, drive, and institutionalize enterprise-wide people initiatives across the group.

The ideal candidate is a strong systems thinker who can move seamlessly between big-picture strategy and hands-on execution, with the ability to build frameworks from scratch and drive adoption across diverse business units.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Projects & CHRO Office Mandate:

- Own and drive special projects directly mandated by the CHRO - ranging from org design, workforce planning, and leadership frameworks to M&A people integration and strategic HR initiatives.

- Act as a thought partner to the CHRO, translating business priorities into structured, actionable people strategies.

- Prepare board-level and leadership presentations, business reviews, and strategic HR dashboards.

2. Center of Excellence (COE) Design:

- Build and scale COE frameworks across talent management, performance management, compensation & benefits, org design, and HR analytics.

- Standardize and institutionalize HR policies, processes, and governance frameworks across business units/brands.

- Partner with HRBPs and business leaders to ensure COE frameworks are practical, adopted, and business-aligned - not just theoretical.

3. Business Partnership & Stakeholder Management:

- Build strong, trusted relationships with CXOs, business heads, and HRBPs across group companies to understand business priorities and translate them into people strategy.

- Act as a strategic advisor to business leaders on org structure, talent decisions, and workforce planning.

- Collaborate closely with HRBPs to ensure COE frameworks and CHRO priorities are effectively cascaded and embedded within business units.

- Represent the CHRO's office in cross-functional and leadership forums, ensuring alignment between central HR strategy and on-ground business needs.

4. HR Analytics & Data-Driven Decision Making:

- Own the enterprise HR dashboard - attrition, hiring funnel, cost-to-hire, span of control, performance distribution, etc.

- Bring data-backed insights to leadership to inform workforce and talent decisions.

- Leverage HR tech/AI tools to automate and improve reporting accuracy and turnaround time.

5. Governance & Reporting:

- Ensure timely, high-quality reporting and communication to the CHRO on all ongoing initiatives.

- Track and measure impact of COE frameworks and special projects against defined success metrics.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

Experience: 4-8 years in HR, with a mix of HR Business Partnering, HR Strategy/COE, or Management Consulting (strategy/people consulting background is a plus).

Education: MBA/PGDM in HR from a Tier-1 /2 institute.

Industry Background: Experience in high-growth startups, D2C/consumer, FMCG, or professional services preferred.

Core Strengths:

- Strong strategic and analytical thinking with the ability to structure ambiguous problems.

- Excellent stakeholder management - comfortable operating with CXOs and founders.

- Proven track record of building frameworks/processes from 0 to 1.

- Strong business partnering orientation - able to balance central strategy with ground-level business realities.

- Strong PowerPoint and Excel/data storytelling skills.

- High ownership, bias for execution, and comfort with fast-paced, dynamic environments.

What Success Looks Like in This Role:

- Institutionalized COE frameworks adopted consistently across business units.

- CHRO's strategic priorities translated into measurable, executed outcomes.

- A reliable, data-driven people dashboard driving leadership decisions.

- Strong trust and partnership built with business leadership and HRBPs.