Regional HR Director – APAC
Posted
The Regional HR Director – APAC will serve as a strategic HR leader responsible for driving the people agenda across multiple markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Reporting to the Group CHRO / Global HR Leadership, this role will partner closely with the regional and country leadership teams to shape organisational strategy, strengthen leadership capabilities, drive organisational effectiveness, and build a high-performance culture aligned with the Group’s long-term business objectives.
This is a highly senior regional appointment requiring a strong balance of strategic vision, commercial acumen, organisational leadership, and operational execution. The successful candidate will influence senior stakeholders across diverse markets, lead regional HR transformation initiatives, and ensure people strategies directly support business growth, profitability, and long-term sustainability.
Key Responsibilities
1. Regional HR Strategy & Business Partnership
- Develop and execute the APAC HR strategy in alignment with the Group’s global business objectives and regional growth priorities.
- Act as a trusted strategic advisor to the Regional CEO, business presidents, country heads, and senior leadership teams on all people-related matters.
- Translate business strategy into actionable people initiatives that enhance organisational performance, productivity, and commercial outcomes.
- Provide strategic guidance on workforce planning, organisational design, leadership effectiveness, and talent deployment across the region.
- Ensure consistency in regional HR priorities while balancing local market dynamics, cultural differences, and regulatory requirements.
2. Organisational Effectiveness & Transformation
- Lead regional organisational design, restructuring, and transformation initiatives to support business expansion, operational efficiency, and evolving business needs.
- Drive organisational effectiveness by optimising structures, spans of control, workforce productivity, and talent allocation.
- Partner with business leaders to manage change management initiatives, including business integration, restructuring, and transformation programmes.
- Identify opportunities to streamline HR processes, enhance service delivery, and leverage technology and people analytics to improve decision-making.
- Build an agile, high-performance organisation capable of responding to changing market conditions and business priorities.
3. Leadership Development & Succession Planning
- Drive executive talent management, leadership development, and succession planning across APAC.
- Build a robust leadership pipeline for critical positions, including senior management and key business leadership roles.
- Partner with global HR and business leaders to identify, assess, and develop high-potential talent and future leaders.
- Oversee talent reviews, performance management, leadership assessments, and development interventions for senior executives.
- Strengthen leadership accountability, organisational capability, and a performance-driven culture across the region.
4. Talent Acquisition & Workforce Strategy
- Establish regional workforce strategies to attract, develop, and retain critical talent in competitive markets.
- Partner with business leaders to anticipate future talent requirements and ensure the availability of critical skills and leadership capabilities.
- Drive strategic talent acquisition for senior leadership, specialised, and business-critical positions.
- Develop effective talent mobility and deployment strategies across APAC to support business expansion and leadership succession.
- Monitor talent market trends, workforce risks, and emerging capability requirements to inform regional business planning.
5. Compensation, Benefits & Performance Management
- Oversee regional compensation and benefits strategies to ensure competitiveness, internal equity, and alignment
with Group remuneration philosophy.
- Guide executive compensation, incentive structures, performance-based rewards, and retention strategies in partnership with global stakeholders.
- Drive consistent performance management frameworks that reinforce accountability, differentiation, and business results.
- Review regional compensation trends and ensure remuneration practices remain competitive across key markets.
6. Employee Relations, Governance & Risk Management
- Provide oversight of complex employee relations matters, employment risks, and sensitive HR issues across multiple jurisdictions.
- Ensure regional HR policies, practices, and governance frameworks comply with applicable local employment laws and Group standards.
- Partner with legal, compliance, and country HR teams on regulatory matters, investigations, restructuring, and other high-risk employment issues.
- Establish appropriate HR controls, policies, and reporting mechanisms to mitigate people-related risks.
- Promote ethical leadership, diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, and a consistent organisational culture across the region.
7. Regional HR Leadership & Capability Building
- Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing regional HR team, including country HR leaders and functional HR specialists.
- Establish clear HR priorities, operating standards, performance expectations, and accountability across the APAC HR organisation.
- Drive collaboration between regional, country, and global HR teams to share best practices and improve organisational effectiveness.
- Build a strong HR business partnering capability, ensuring HR operates as a strategic business function rather than solely an administrative support function.
- Champion continuous improvement, digital HR solutions, and data-driven decision-making across the regional HR organisation.
Requirements
Requirements & Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organisational Psychology, or a related discipline. A Master’s degree or relevant professional qualification would be an advantage.
- Typically 15–20+ years of progressive HR experience, including substantial regional or multi-country leadership responsibilities within APAC.
- Proven track record operating at senior HR leadership level, ideally as a Regional HR Director, HR Vice President, HR Head, or equivalent.
- Strong experience partnering with C-suite executives and senior business leaders to shape business strategy and drive organisational performance.
- Demonstrated expertise in organisational transformation, workforce planning, executive talent management, succession planning, and leadership development.
- Experience managing complex HR environments across multiple APAC markets, with a strong understanding of regional employment practices and cultural dynamics.
- Commercially astute, with the ability to connect HR initiatives to business performance, productivity, growth, and profitability.
- Strong leadership presence, executive stakeholder management, influencing, and change management capabilities.
- Experience leading regional HR teams and driving alignment across diverse countries, functions, and business units.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders across different cultures and organisational levels.
- High integrity, sound judgement, and the ability to navigate complex and sensitive people matters.