Deputy General Manager - People Business Partner - Freight Forwarding

Key Responsibilities:

1.HR Strategy & Business Partnership

• Define and deploy the HR strategy and transformational people agenda for the Freight Forwarding business in alignment with overall business objectives.

• Partner with the Freight Forwarding leadership team to understand business priorities, growth plans, organizational challenges and workforce requirements, and translate them into actionable HR interventions.

• Act as a trusted advisor to the BU leadership and People Managers on all strategic and operational people matters.

• Embed the annual HR agenda across Freight Forwarding through People Managers and ensure timely execution of recurring people processes.

• Provide data-driven people insights and recommendations to support business and organizational decisions.

• Partner with other HRBPs and COEs to ensure consistency, cross-functional collaboration and effective sharing of best practices.

2. Workforce Planning & Talent Acquisition

• Lead strategic and location-wise manpower planning in line with business growth, productivity and organizational requirements.

• Partner with Talent Acquisition to ensure timely hiring of critical and business-critical positions.

• Review organization structures, spans and layers, workforce productivity and manpower costs to ensure optimal resource utilization.

• Identify critical talent requirements and build proactive talent pipelines for key business roles.

• Support workforce transitions, restructuring, new business requirements and organizational expansion.

3. Talent & Succession Management

• Drive the annual talent review and succession planning agenda across Freight Forwarding.

• Identify critical roles, high-potential talent and succession gaps and develop appropriate talent actions.

• Partner with leaders to create individual development plans and career pathways for key talent.

• Drive internal mobility, career development and opportunities for cross-functional exposure.

• Monitor talent retention risks and implement targeted interventions for critical talent.

4. Performance & Rewards

• Drive the annual performance management cycle across Freight Forwarding, ensuring effective goal setting, mid-year reviews and year-end evaluations.

• Partner with business leaders to establish meaningful KRAs/KPIs aligned with business outcomes.

• Identify performance gaps and support managers in implementing appropriate performance improvement plans.
• Partner with the Compensation & Benefits team on annual compensation reviews, promotions, incentives and other reward programs.
• Ensure fair, consistent and performance-driven people practices across the business.

5. Employee Engagement & Culture

• Develop and execute the employee engagement strategy for Freight Forwarding based on business priorities and employee feedback.
• Conduct regular employee pulse checks, focus groups, one-on-one and skip-level interactions to understand employee sentiment and identify emerging concerns.
• Analyse engagement and employee experience data and translate insights into actionable interventions.
• Drive initiatives that strengthen employee connect, recognition, inclusion, collaboration and organizational culture.
• Partner with leaders to create a positive and high-performance employee experience across locations.

6. Learning & Capability Development

• Identify current and future capability requirements in partnership with Freight Forwarding leadership and functional teams.
• Partner with L&D to design and implement targeted learning and capability-building interventions.
• Drive leadership development, manager capability and functional development programs.
• Monitor effectiveness and business impact of key learning interventions.
• Promote a culture of continuous learning, knowledge sharing and career development.

7. Employee Relations & People Governance

• Provide strategic guidance to managers on employee relations, disciplinary matters, grievances, counselling and workplace concerns.
• Ensure timely and effective resolution of employee grievances and sensitive people matters.
• Drive consistent application of HR policies, processes and employee practices across Freight Forwarding.
• Ensure compliance with applicable labour laws, statutory requirements and company policies.
• Partner with Legal, Compliance and relevant stakeholders on complex employee relations and statutory / establishment regulatory matters.

8. HR Operations & Compliance

• Ensure effective delivery of core HR processes including onboarding, employee lifecycle management, transfers, exits, attendance, payroll coordination and HR documentation.
• Ensure data accuracy and governance across HR systems and employee records.
• Drive process standardization, digitization and automation of HR processes across Freight Forwarding.
• Support internal, external and customer audits and ensure timely closure of audit observations.
• Establish appropriate HR governance mechanisms, dashboards and review processes to monitor service delivery and compliance.

9. Contract Labour & Vendor Management

• Lead the overall contract labour management framework across eligible Freight Forwarding locations.
• Ensure appropriate governance of manpower vendors, including onboarding, attendance, payroll, statutory compliance and performance.
• Drive digitalization and process improvements in contract manpower management through appropriate systems such as CLMS.
• Ensure periodic vendor reviews and audits, including compliance with statutory and contractual requirements.
• Partner with Operations and Procurement to address vendor performance and workforce-related issues.

10. Change Management & Organization Development

• Lead HR interventions during organizational restructuring, business transformation, integrations and other major change initiatives.
• Assess people impact and develop appropriate change management and communication plans.
• Partner with leaders to ensure effective communication, stakeholder alignment and employee adoption of organizational changes.
• Identify opportunities to improve organizational effectiveness, collaboration and ways of working.

11. Stakeholder Management

• Build strong relationships with Freight Forwarding leadership, People Managers, employees, HR COEs and other internal stakeholders.

• Partner closely with Operations, Sales, Finance, Legal, Compliance and other functions to address business and people requirements.

• Represent HR in relevant business reviews, governance forums and leadership discussions.

• Ensure HR remains proactive, responsive and customer-centric in supporting business needs.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Experience

• 12-15 years of overall experience in Human Resources, with relevant experience in HR Business Partnering.

• Prior experience in Freight Forwarding, Logistics, Supply Chain, Warehousing or a similar operations-driven industry will be preferred.

• Experience in partnering with business managers across multiple locations/functions and handling a diverse employee base.

• Strong hands-on experience in employee relations, performance management, workforce planning, employee engagement, talent management and HR operations.

• Experience in managing HR processes in a fast-paced, multi-location environment with strong stakeholder interaction.

• Exposure to labour & Establishment compliances, contract workforce management, HR audits and HR systems/MIS will be an advantage.

Qualifications

• MBA/PGDM in Human Resources or equivalent postgraduate qualification is preferred.

• Strong working knowledge of HR practices, employment laws, Statutory & establishment compliances, employee relations and HR processes.

• Proficiency in MS Excel, PowerPoint and HRMS/HR reporting tools

Key Competencies

• Strategic HR Business Partnering

• Business and commercial acumen

• Workforce & manpower planning

• Talent and succession management

• Organization development and change management

• Employee relations and labour compliance

• Performance and rewards management

• Employee engagement and culture building

• Stakeholder and leadership management

• Data-driven HR decision making

• HR transformation and process digitization

• Strong communication, influencing and problem-solving skills