Director of Regional Human Resources at IREX

Your Background & Skills 

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management, Business, or related field required. 
• Professional HR certification from globally acceptable accredited institutes such as HRCI and SHRM.
• Minimum of 12+ years of experience including (6+ years of regional HR experience, and a minimum of 8 years of experience in a Human Resources role in positions of increasing responsibility).
• Demonstrated experience effectively working with a large group of individuals from diverse cultural, ethnic, and national backgrounds.
• Strong creative problem-solving skills with the ability to develop and implement practical solutions.
• Must have strong influencing skills, and excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience delivering effective presentations and training material to a variety of audiences.
• Strong ability to research and learn employment law of various countries within the regions supported by this position.
• Experience conducting and managing sensitive investigations.
• Experience compiling and presenting accurate and timely periodic reports.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and juggle multiple priorities with a positive attitude.
• Strong ability to exercise excellent judgement, discretion, and confidentiality in all matters.
• Experience working and living in the region.
• Proficient verbal and written English language skills.
• Proficient skills in major regional languages.
• Strong ability to deal with ambiguity and work collaboratively in a team environment.
• Must be trustworthy, reliable, dependable, and possess a high level of integrity.
• Must have a strong sense of fairness and equity.
• Must consistently maintain the highest level of ethics, discretion, confidentiality, and excellent judgment in all matters and at all times.
• Must demonstrate valid proof of unrestricted authorization to work in the country and region.

Your Daily Tasks

• Collaborates effectively with other units within Global HR to ensure the delivery of comprehensive, accurate, and timely HR support to country and regional staff.
• Conducts regular meetings with local Chiefs of Party/Country Directors to ensure they are fully engaged in the implementation of IREX policies and procedures. These meetings also serve as regular check-ins to assess their needs for additional support or clarification from the regional HR team.
• Oversees the onboarding of new local Chiefs of Party/Country Directors, ensuring they receive all necessary HR policies and resources to effectively carry out their responsibilities.
• Collaborates with the Learning and Development team to design and implement a year-round training plan for managers and staff on IREX policies, procedures, and processes, ensuring continuous development and ongoing training activities throughout the year.
• Maintains in-depth knowledge of country and regional legal requirements related to employee management, proactively mitigating legal risks and ensuring regulatory compliance.
• Oversees the full implementation and execution of HR processes across regional offices, including recruiting, onboarding, orientation, performance management, learning and development, off-boarding, and the accurate processing, approval, and documentation of all personnel actions in the HRIS. This includes the administration of exit surveys, training surveys, and overall employee satisfaction assessments.
• Identifies and trains designated HR Points of Contact in each country office, ensuring they are fully equipped to adhere to IREX policies and procedures. Additionally, provides comprehensive guidance and support to the country office lifecycle, including project start-up, maintenance, and closeout, ensuring alignment with regional HR strategies.
• Establishes and maintains competitive compensation structures for country offices, conducting necessary personnel and job analysis, and leading a comprehensive compensation study at least every two years to ensure alignment with market standards and organizational needs.
• Coordinates the collection and analysis of global, country, and regional HR data, metrics, and trends to provide actionable insights to regional and country leadership, contributing to positive, program-focused outcomes.
• Acts as the confidential and trusted point of contact for employee relations for IREX country and regional staff, ensuring issues are addressed and resolved in line with local regulations and IREX policy. Takes responsibility for personally following up or assigning a trained team member to handle the matter as appropriate.
• Provide consultative HR support to IREX country leaders on people-related and program-impacting issues, aligning with global, country, and regional HR best practices.
• Participates within the larger Global HR team to share ideas, develop standard practices, and implement best practices across IREX programs.
• Designs and streamlines processes in collaboration with others on the HR team to enhance staff experience across IREX.
• Designs and leads the tracking systems for performance review dates and personnel transactions, ensuring timely reminders are generated and the accurate completion of all changes and end-of-service activities is coordinated effectively.
• Leads the development and delivery of comprehensive HR reports to regional and country leadership, ensuring that data-driven insights and analyses are provided regularly to inform strategic decision-making and enhance HR operations across the region.
• Oversees and audits staff records to ensure they are maintained appropriately and with the necessary approvals. Ensures all country staff records are properly uploaded into UltiPro.
• Assists with all internal and external audit requests related to HR files and benefits, ensuring that findings identified during reviews and audits are appropriately resolved.
• Works with project staff to provide guidance and support in performance management, employee relations, local compensation planning, onboarding, off-boarding, professional development, and HR policies to improve work relationships, morale, productivity, and retention.
• Creates, updates, and manages standardized tools to provide a holistic approach to the employment lifecycle for local staff across all IREX projects in-country offices.
• Maintains a reliable and centrally accessible reference system for country and regional HR, ensuring that country office HR manuals, employment letters, country supplements, employee handbooks, and HR policies and procedures are developed, continuously monitored, and compliant with local laws, HQ standards, and HR best practices. For non-compliant country offices, ensure that a compliance plan is in place and monitors it until full compliance is achieved.
• Reviews employee agreements/templates and project policy manuals to ensure compliance with applicable policies and local laws.
• Works to ensure a transparent and legally compliant full-cycle recruitment process is in place for each project in alignment with IREX’s recruitment policy.
• Works with colleagues to develop targeted professional development programs for country staff and ensures that country office staff take advantage of existing professional development opportunities.
• Standardizes job descriptions according to country office job classification, prepares job postings, assesses and supports hiring managers with candidate interviews, and conducts comprehensive employment reference and background checks as needed.
• Maintains a database of HR country profiles that includes country-specific mandatory and statutory benefits, country profiles for benefits, compensation, and labor codes.
• Partners with program staff and local PoCs to understand the areas of greatest HR needs in the country offices and develops plans and initiatives to support these needs.
• Supports investigations of sensitive employee relation matters.
• Ensures that all exiting country staff complete exit interview surveys and, where appropriate, exit interviews via conference.
• Provides support to employees and managers on country and regional HR issues, including answering questions, researching, and resolving issues, and processing related paperwork.
• Manages Regional HR Generalists, Regional HR Managers, Senior Regional HR Managers, interns, and other assigned staff on an ongoing basis, including their onboarding, orientation, mentoring, skills development, evaluation, and providing continuous guidance to ensure their growth and effectiveness in their roles.
• Develops and implements a succession plan for the regional HR team to ensure the identification and development of internal talent for key HR leadership roles within the region, securing continuity and long-term success of HR operations.
• Develops and oversees the execution of regional HR strategies and annual work plans, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and the unique needs of each country office.
• Leads and integrates Gender Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (GEDI) initiatives into all HR strategies, policies, and practices across the region.
• Fosters strong collaboration with other regional teams (e.g., IT, Operations, Finance, Programs, etc.) to ensure cohesive operations and support for HR initiatives.
• Manages HR functions in emergency response and high-pressure environments, ensuring that HR practices support the organization's ability to respond effectively to crises.
• Provides HR services to other countries or regions as needed.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.

You will Get: 

Committed, passionate, collaborative, and mission-driven colleagues who make IREX a good place to work. You will receive best-in-class learning, development, and growth opportunities, as well as a comprehensive benefits package designed to help you thrive. This includes a well-being and employee assistance program, health coverage, a flexible work schedule, a generous PTO policy, a technology stipend, a diverse and inclusive work environment, and many more benefits.