HR Lead, Southern Africa

What you would be expected to do

• Lead, coach, and develop the in-country HR team across the five markets, setting a consistent standard of delivery and building regional HR capability, bench strength, and succession.
• Own talent acquisition for the region end-to-end on Pinpoint — holding the 30-day turnaround for roles at or below manager grade and 60 days above, closing at least 90% of positions through direct sourcing, and running documented intake discussions, structured panels, and competency-based assessment on every role.
• Drive inclusive hiring: gender-decoded, template-compliant job descriptions, gender blinding on Pinpoint, diversified interview panels, reference and background checks completed before offer, and timely, respectful feedback to every applicant — while lifting gender representation across the region's teams, particularly in Pay-as-you-go sales.
• Deliver an onboarding experience that shortens the learning curve — pre-planned inductions, an onboarding buddy for every joiner, complete joining documentation on HiBob, goals set within 45 days, 30-day and 60-to-90-day pulse checks, and probation evaluations completed within defined timelines.
• Foster inclusion, belonging, and engagement — quarterly story circles and Culture Champion sessions in each country, HR-led skip-level dialogues that convert employee feedback into tracked action plans, Gallup survey action planning with managers, a monthly engagement calendar, and quarterly well-being sessions with our Employee Assistance Programme partners.
• Build a culture of learning: identify capability needs, run skill-share sessions in every market, drive awareness and adoption of Sun King Center for Leadership programmes, and hold completion of mandatory e-learning — particularly the Sexual Harassment and Personal Safety modules — above 90%.
• Raise the quality of performance management — 100% completion of review cycles within timelines, quarterly manager capability sessions on feedback, coaching, and difficult conversations, PIPs that are timely, well documented, and genuinely supportive, and performance outcomes that flow through to pay, promotion, succession, and mobility.
• Act as the senior employee relations authority for the region: Ensure thorough fact-finding and investigations alongside a designated second, chair disciplinary and appeal hearings, drive cases to closure within 30 days, consult the Head of Employee Relations from the outset on gross misconduct and potential terminations, and secure the required approvals before any termination. 
• Safeguard health, safety, and statutory compliance across five jurisdictions — accurate recording of occupational incidents and illnesses on HiBob, work injury benefit claims progressed for every eligible case, serious workplace incidents escalated within 24 hours, and full compliance with local employment legislation and statutory reporting, including South African employment equity.
• Own the region's talent agenda — maintain a current view of top talent and high-potential employees by function, hold career conversations with key talent, build succession for critical roles, identify retention risks early, and report progress through a quarterly talent dashboard.
• Strengthen HR operations, payroll, and analytics — accurate and compliant payroll in every market including those managed directly by HR, optimisation and automation of employee lifecycle workflows on HiBob, standardised dashboards covering headcount, attrition, hiring, performance, and engagement, and the use of AI tools to surface insight faster and lift the team's productivity.
• Make offboarding a priority rather than an afterthought — exit interviews for every voluntary leaver with insights fed back to managers and acted on, clean handovers and clearance, full and final settlements within 30 days, and attrition reviews that lead to targeted retention action.
• Collaborate with sales, operations, finance, logistics, and other teams so that people decisions support commercial delivery, and travel regularly across the region to spend time with field, warehouse, and retail teams.

You might be a strong candidate if you

• At least 8 years of progressive HR experience, including 3 or more years supporting multiple countries, and a track record of leading and developing an HR team.
• A degree in human resources, business, psychology, law, or a related field; CIPD, SHRM, ZIHRM, or an equivalent professional qualification is an advantage.
• Working knowledge of employment law and statutory practice in Southern Africa — familiarity with the Zambian Employment Code and South African labour legislation is a strong plus, alongside the confidence to get up to speed quickly on new jurisdictions.
• Deep employee relations experience — fact-finding and investigations, disciplinary and appeal hearings, terminations, and exposure to labour tribunals or the CCMA — with the judgment to know when to escalate and the discipline to document properly.
• Hands-on experience with an HRIS and an applicant tracking system (HiBob and Pinpoint, or comparable platforms), the ability to build and act on people dashboards rather than relying on assumption, and comfort using AI tools to work faster and better.
• Experience supporting large, distributed, field-based workforces in sales, logistics, retail, or a similar
• high-volume environment — not head-office populations alone.
• Experience overseeing multi-country payroll and HR operations, including the selection and management of outsourced providers and statutory compliance.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders across cultures, languages, and seniority levels; working Portuguese or French is an advantage.
• A genuine commitment to fairness — the instinct to evaluate every case on its merits, advocate for what is right, and hold the line even when it is uncomfortable.
• Willingness to travel across the region and to be based in Lusaka, Zambia.

What Sun King offer

• Professional growth in a dynamic, rapidly expanding, high-social-impact industry
• An open-minded, collaborative culture with enthusiastic colleagues driven by the challenge of innovation and making a profound impact on people and the planet.
•  A truly multicultural experience: you will have the chance to work with and learn from people from different geographies, nationalities, and backgrounds.
•  Structured, tailored learning and development programs that help you become a better leader, manager, and professional through the Sun King Center for Leadership.