Senior Human Resources Manager
Globeleq
People & HR
South Africa
Posted on Jan 13, 2026
For more than 20 years, Globeleq has been a long-term investor, developer, owner and operator of diversified power projects in Africa, where the company is one of the largest Independent Power Producers. With nearly 1,800MW of generation capacity in operation across 17 power plants in 7 countries, 485MW of new power projects in construction and >2,000MW in development, Globeleq is one of the largest independent power producers solely focused in Africa. Globeleq is 70% owned by British International Investment and 30% by Norfund, the development finance institutions of the UK and Norway, and has a proven track record for supporting the ongoing development of the African power sector.
Globeleq’s various generation technologies include gas, wind, solar PV, battery energy storage (BESS), and geothermal. The company is also actively pursuing new opportunities which are emerging from the energy transition.
The Senior Human Resources Manager acts as the HR generalist for the Group, responsible for designing, standardising, and governing group-wide HR policies, processes, and core people systems. The role also leads the development and implementation of the people management strategy across the South Africa business.
The incumbent provides hands-on guidance and escalation support to the HR teams supporting GDSA and GSAMS, while driving operational implementation and local delivery through in-country HR resources at Group level.
At Group level, the role owns Employee Relations, Onboarding, and Employee Wellness, and works closely with the Group Compensation & Benefits, Learning & Development and Information Systems Managers.
Key responsibilities include assessing capacity planning needs, co-developing organisational structures, and overseeing local in-country recruitment, selection, and induction. The role also manages staff performance processes and ensures the effective resolution of labour relations issues. Additionally, the Senior HR Manager is accountable for statutory and regulatory compliance reporting, including Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE, e.g. skills development) and Employment Equity.
The preferred work location is Cape Town.
The Senior Human Resources Manager acts as the HR generalist for the Group, responsible for designing, standardising, and governing group-wide HR policies, processes, and core people systems. The role also leads the development and implementation of the people management strategy across the South Africa business.
The incumbent provides hands-on guidance and escalation support to the HR teams supporting GDSA and GSAMS, while driving operational implementation and local delivery through in-country HR resources at Group level.
At Group level, the role owns Employee Relations, Onboarding, and Employee Wellness, and works closely with the Group Compensation & Benefits, Learning & Development and Information Systems Managers.
Key responsibilities include assessing capacity planning needs, co-developing organisational structures, and overseeing local in-country recruitment, selection, and induction. The role also manages staff performance processes and ensures the effective resolution of labour relations issues. Additionally, the Senior HR Manager is accountable for statutory and regulatory compliance reporting, including Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE, e.g. skills development) and Employment Equity.
The preferred work location is Cape Town.
- Application Deadline
- February 15, 2026
- Department
- HR
- Employment Type
- Permanent
- Location
- South Africa
- Workplace type
- Hybrid
- Reporting To
- Head of HR
Key Responsibilities
Lead, Direct and Manage the Human Resources Generalist function for the GQ Group
- Aligns team goals to organisational vision/direction and allocates team resources effectively
- Communicates effectively to subordinates, colleagues and senior management, informing or persuading others successfully; listens to understand others’ full meaning before responding
- Effectively delegates responsibilities to HR team members ensuring day-to-day implementation is executed by in-country HR teams, with appropriate oversight and support.
- Change Agent: Leads and cascades organisational initiatives to the team so that they engage with change processes and adapt with ease (including group-wide standardisation and HR systems adoption).
- Support: Champions for the benefit of the team / team goals and supports team members during difficult times.
Implement Human Resources Strategy
- Identify and address issues that affect the overall health of the organisation including morale, effectiveness, turnover, absenteeism and productivity and provide group-level insight, dashboards and recommendations across countries.
- Working with the Head of HR, define and maintain a Group HR service catalogue and operating model (Group vs Country), including clear escalation routes, turnaround expectations, and minimum standards for delivery.
Develop and Standardise Policies, Processes and HR Systems (Group Ownership)
- Develop policies in consultation with key stakeholders at Group level and ensure they are implemented consistently (with controlled local addenda where required by legislation).
- Own the group-wide HR policy suite: drafting, consultation, approvals, version control, communication and training roll-out.
- Design and standardise core HR processes and workflows (onboarding, employee changes, exits, ER case management, performance cycle, probation, leave and documentation standards) aligned to HRIS requirements.
- Drive the implementation and continuous improvement of HR data governance (data quality, reporting standards, and employee master data control).
Employee Relations (Group-Level Owner)
- Assist line managers and HR Officers to manage any internal labour relations issues i.e. internal grievances, misconduct issues (as escalation support, coach, and quality assurer across countries).
- Manage any external labour relations i.e. CCMA/labour court cases and equivalent forums in other jurisdictions (group-level owner, ensuring appropriate local representation and consistent approach).
- Own the Group ER framework (case classification, investigation standards, documentation, hearing templates, outcome guidance, and escalation thresholds).
- Lead and/or oversee complex, high-risk, senior or cross-border ER cases, ensuring alignment to legal advice and Group standards.
Onboarding (Group-Level Owner)
- Manage and refine the induction programme to assist new employees to familiarise to their roles and working environment and to integrate into the organisation (own the group-wide onboarding standard, toolkit and workflow).
- Set minimum onboarding standards across countries (pre-boarding, Day 1, 30/60/90-day check-ins), and ensure local teams execute onboarding logistics and compliance documentation.
- Compile offers in consultation with line manager and ensures reference and other pre-employment checks are completed (with governance over offer consistency and approval controls; country HR executes checks and admin).
Performance Management and Talent Enablement (Group Level Framework Owner)
- Project manage the bi-annual performance review process, ensuring that it is properly implemented and fair and that staff support the performance review process (group framework owner; countries implement locally with group coordination and reporting).
- Develop performance expectation baselines by updating job descriptions as appropriate or developing new job descriptions (standardised job profile templates and governance across countries).
- Working with the relevant line manager or HR Officer, assist with identifying and responding to performance issues and mismatch between role requirements and the individual’s abilities (escalation and coaching support, ensuring consistent approach).
Employee Wellness and Organisational Health (Group Level Owner)
- Engage with EAP provider, ICAS, to identify systemic issues/concerns and develop the organisational response to these (aggregating insights across countries and ensuring group actions are implemented locally).
- Set group-level wellness and organisational health principles and minimum standards, ensuring local teams drive participation and implementation.
Organisational Structure / Org Design (Group Level Owner)
- Own the Group-level organisational structure governance and design support, including reviewing and advising on org structures, spans and layers, role clarity, reporting lines and job families across the Group footprint.
- Maintain Group organisation design principles and minimum standards and support country teams and leaders with org restructure proposals, position justifications and alignment to approved headcount plans.
GSAMS and GDSA HR Support and Advisory
- Provide day-to-day HR advisory support to GDSA and GSAMS leadership and managers
- Together with the GM and GSAMS EXCO, consider capacity planning needs in the short, medium- and long-term and integrate into HR planning
- Manage the recruitment process across GSAMS, ensuring appropriately skilled individuals are hired in a timely manner
- Design or develop, in consultation with providers, interviewing and other techniques to assess candidate suitability, in line with HR best practice
- Assess candidates for suitability, in conjunction with the recruitment panel and the role.
- Manage and refine the Induction/Onboarding programme to assist new employees to acclimatise to their roles and working environment and to integrate into GQ
- Compile offers in consultation with the line manager and the Compensation & Benefits team and ensure reference and other pre-employment checks are completed.
South Africa Statutory Compliance and Risk
- Oversee the development of an Employment Equity Plan in consultation with an EE Forum (for South Africa) and ensure the Group has a compliance governance approach across all countries (with local statutory ownership retained by the respective country HR lead).
Skills and Competencies
- Able to think strategically, facilitating the long-term health of the organisation through managing and developing its human capital
- Very good team management skills, balancing task and relationship requirements
- Very good at building and maintaining relationships across the organisational hierarchy
- Project planning skills, including strong organising and time-management skills
- Excellent communication skills, both oral and written
- Meticulous, with high attention to detail
- Action-oriented: able to drive tasks to completion
- Able to maintain a very high degree of confidentiality
- Able to work well in a highly functional executive management team
- Very good knowledge of South African labour law and statutory compliance requirements
- Deep appreciation for, and skill in, ensuring diversity management
- Very high level of integrity and commitment to ethical behaviour
- Strong working knowledge of employee relations and HR governance across multiple jurisdictions (with deep capability in South African labour law and the ability to leverage in-country expertise / legal counsel where needed).
Experience, Knowledge & Qualifications
- Post-graduate degree in Human Resources or Organisational Psychology or similar (or NQF equivalent)
- Minimum of 10 years’ experience in HR, with at least 4 years’ experience at management level (managing a team)
- Demonstrated knowledge of HR process, policy and systems development; labour law; training and development and compensation management.
- Excellent communication skills in English. Communication skills in Afrikaans and/or isiXhosa would be an advantage
- Track record of mentoring and developing team members Previous experience of operating in an international organisation would be an advantageous experience working in a high-growth / early-stage organisation would be an advantage
- Demonstrated ability to build organisational capacity and systems in a multicultural and diverse working environment.
- Demonstrated experience in standardising HR policies and processes, and enabling in-country teams to execute through clear frameworks, toolkits and governance
About Globeleq
We develop, own and operate power plants utilising various technologies across the African continent. With many years of international industry experience, the support of committed shareholders, and long-standing project, technology, finance and government partnerships, we have the financial strength, management and operational expertise to power Africa to realise its potential.
Not quite right? Register your interest to be notified of any roles that come along that meet your criteria.
