Africa People Experience Operations HUB Lead at Unilever

Role Purpose

The Africa People Experience Operations Lead is responsible for driving performance in day-to-day operations, service levels and improving excellence, experience, efficiencies and effectiveness of people operations within the portfolio. The Operations Hub, which is based in Durban, provides centralised operational support for all markets across Africa, with the intention to drive 100% data quality and simplification, standardisation and automation in HR processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for leading the Africa Operations Hub to deliver and execute centralised HR activities for key employee lifecycles, such as joiners; role moves; exits; pay and benefits and data and reporting capabilities.
• Design and deliver operational reporting metrics to consistently measure and report effectiveness of the services, with a focus on employee experience, quality, responsiveness, and other service KPIs
• Identify, develop and execute continuous improvement initiatives that drive operational excellence and focus on process standardization and simplification
• Build future-fit capabilities and support the digitization and transformation technology agenda 
• Responsible for governance and compliance for all processes and audit requirements
• Escalation point for in-market challenges
• Lead resourcing of Hub team, including managing the implementation of the PEX Intern Program, as part driving youth employability
• Build and expand fully operational hub according to strategic requirements and plans
• Institutionalise knowledge management for repeatability and scalability and ensure knowledge transfer of capabilities and processes of all services that are centralised
• Identify and mitigate key risks to the operations and activities of the hub
• Ensure full compliance with UL code of business principles and responsible for partnering with any local/global auditing committees
• Work closely with global People Experience Finance Business Partner to manage budget and service costs
• Ensure full tracking and delivery of both financial and operational targets/controls
• Drive process synergy across service areas to optimize and cultivate innovation and efficiencies
• Proactively apply organizational diagnostic expertise to analyze and identify potential design improvements and lead change management as needed

Skills:

Required:

• Vision and thought leadership on ‘best practice People Experience’ and ability to translate strategy into an implementation plan
• High business and commercial acumen
• Innovation mindset with proven track record challenging status quo and leading broad organisation change
• Design thinking and agile principles/practices
• Relevant HR generalist experience
• Team leadership experience with track record of building capability with direct reports
• Strong customer service & stakeholder management skills
• Strong influencing skills to achieve business objectives and compliance with local and global policies
• Ability to anticipate needs and solve problems proactively
• Experience in leading and implementing system and process improvements
• Broad understanding of HR systems, processes, and 3rd party providers 
• Have proven experience in implementing new and/or changes to processes, tools and ways of working
• Strong partnership and stakeholder engagement with a key focus on delivering an excellent experience and strengthened partnership with all individuals/contacts across interactions

Standards of Leadership:

• Consumer Love
• Talent Catalyst
• Passion for Performance

Requirements

• Relevant Degree or equivalent
• At least 3-5 years of experience at a management level

Preferred:

• Experience in an HR Shared Services role
• Knowledge of African Markets