HR Manager at Discovery Limited

Key Purpose 

• The Human Resources Manager at Discovery Insure partners with business leaders to enable a high-performance, values-driven culture aligned to Discovery’s purpose.
• The role is responsible for delivering strategic and operational HR support across Personal Lines Operations (or relevant business area), ensuring effective talent acquisition, talent management, organisational capability, and compliance with South African labour legislation, while driving Discovery Insure’s transformation and Employment Equity (EE) objectives.

Key responsibilities

Strategic Business Partnering

• Partner with Operations and functional leadership teams to align people strategy to business objectives
• Act as a trusted advisor to leaders on organisational design, workforce planning, and people-related decision-making
• Translate business strategy into actionable HR plans that support growth, efficiency, and customer experience
• Support leadership in driving Discovery’s culture, values, and performance standards

Talent Management and Talent Reviews

• Lead and facilitate Talent Review processes, ensuring quality inputs, calibration, and outcomes
• Drive succession planning and pipeline development for operational and critical roles
• Identify high-potential talent and ensure targeted development interventions are in place
• Support internal mobility decisions, ensuring alignment to EE and transformation targets
• Provide insights on talent risks and retention strategies

Employee Relations and Compliance

• Provide expert guidance on employee relations matters (disciplinary, grievance, incapacity, misconduct)
• Ensure consistent application of Discovery policies and adherence to South African labour legislation
• Manage ER cases with sound judgement and fairness
• Proactively identify and mitigate people-related risks

Performance and Capability Management

• Drive the performance management process and ensure consistent application across teams
• Support leaders with performance improvement interventions and difficult conversations
• Identify capability gaps and partner with Learning and Development to implement solutions
• Coach leaders to build effective, high-performing teams

Organisational Effectiveness and Insights

• Analyse people data (attrition, absenteeism, engagement, performance trends) to inform business decisions
• Lead organisational design and restructuring initiatives where required
• Provide proactive insights and recommendations to leadership

HR Operations and Governance

• Oversee delivery of end-to-end HR processes (recruitment, onboarding, promotions, transfers, exits)
• Ensure data accuracy and governance across HR systems and reporting
• Support grading, job profiling, and alignment to REM frameworks
• Ensure audit readiness and compliance with HR policies and governance standards

Culture, Engagement and Employee Experience

• Drive initiatives that enhance employee engagement and wellbeing
• Partner with leadership to embed Discovery’s values and high-performance culture
• Support change management initiatives across the business
• Act as a culture champion, ensuring a consistent employee experience

Key Relationships

• Personal Lines Operations Leadership Team (or relevant BU)
• Strategic Enablement / HR Leadership (e.g. Talent, EE, L&D, ER)
• HR Shared Services
• Finance and Reward teams
• External partners (where applicable)

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, or related field (Essential)
• 5+ years’ HR generalist experience, with strong exposure to HR Business Partnering (Essential)
• Proven experience in Talent Reviews, Employee Relations, and talent acquisition (Essential)
• Sound knowledge of South African labour legislation (Essential)
• Experience operating in a fast-paced, operational environment (preferably financial services/insurance) (Essential)
• Experience within Discovery or a similar high-performance, values-led organisation (Advantageous)
• Exposure to EE reporting and transformation initiatives (Advantageous)
• Experience supporting large operational environments (Advantageous)

Skills and key Competencies

• Strong business and operational acumen
• Influencing and stakeholder management at senior levels
• Decision-making and sound judgement
• Analytical thinking and interpretation of people data
• Ability to manage complexity and ambiguity
• High level of professionalism and confidentiality