Senior HR Manager (Manufacturing Exp. only )

About The Role
We are looking for a seasoned Human Resources leader with 15–20 years of progressive experience across manufacturing and sales HR to drive the complete HR value chain for the organisation. This role blends strategic HR business partnering with hands-on ownership of statutory compliance, industrial relations, talent acquisition, compensation, learning, and organisational transformation across blue-collar and white-collar workforces. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable on the shop floor negotiating with workmen unions and in the boardroom presenting HR analytics and change strategy to leadership.
Key Responsibilities
Statutory & Legal Compliance
Ensure full compliance with the Factories Act and applicable factory rules across all manufacturing units, including licenses, registers, returns, and inspections.
Drive end-to-end labour law compliance — Industrial Disputes Act, Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, Shops & Establishment Act, ESI, PF, Payment of Wages, Minimum Wages, POSH, and other central/state labour legislation.
Manage legal matters pertaining to HR/IR, including coordination with legal counsel, labour courts, and conciliation officers.
Act as the key liaison with government authorities, labour departments, factory inspectors, unions, and other external statutory/regulatory bodies.
Industrial Relations & Workplace Safety
Maintain harmonious industrial relations; manage union negotiations, wage settlements, grievance handling, and disciplinary processes.
Champion workplace safety culture in partnership with EHS teams — safety audits, incident investigation, and compliance with occupational health & safety norms.
Develop and audit SOPs across HR and plant HR processes; lead periodic internal/external HR and compliance audits and ensure closure of audit observations.
Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning
Own end-to-end recruitment and hiring strategy for both white-collar (corporate, sales, management) and blue-collar (shop floor, contract workforce) roles.
Build manpower planning frameworks aligned to production and sales targets; manage contract labour sourcing and vendor management.
Strengthen employer branding and recruitment channels to reduce time-to-hire and improve quality of hire.
Compensation, Benefits & Payroll
Own payroll processing accuracy and timeliness across plant and sales locations, ensuring statutory deduction compliance.
Design and administer compensation & benefits structures, salary benchmarking, incentive/variable pay plans (especially for sales teams), and annual compensation review cycles.
Drive cost optimisation initiatives across manpower cost, contract labour, overtime, and HR operating expenses without compromising compliance or engagement.
Learning, Development & Performance
Design and roll out learning & development calendars, technical and behavioural training programs for plant and sales teams.
Build capability-building frameworks, leadership development pipelines, and functional/behavioural competency models.
Drive the performance management cycle — goal setting, mid-year/annual appraisals, calibration, and linkage to rewards and career progression.
Employee Engagement, Culture & Change
Design and execute employee engagement and employee success programs to improve retention, morale, and productivity across locations.
Lead organisational change management initiatives — restructuring, M&A integration, plant expansions, and role transitions.
Build and reinforce a strong performance-driven, safety-first organisational culture aligned with company values.
Drive digital transformation of HR processes — HRMS implementation, self-service portals, MIS automation, and analytics-driven decision-making.
Policies, MIS & Analytics
Design, review, and implement HR policies and procedures, ensuring consistency, legal soundness, and alignment with business needs.
Own HR MIS and analytics — headcount, attrition, cost per hire, training effectiveness, compliance dashboards — for leadership decision-making.
Key Skills & Competencies
Strong working knowledge of the Factories Act, labour law compliances, and statutory liaisoning
Proven track record of managing plant HR and IR, along with sales-force HR
Expertise in payroll, compensation & benefits design, and manpower cost optimisation
Strong recruitment acumen across white-collar and blue-collar hiring
Experience in SOP design, audits, and workplace safety compliance
Skilled in learning & development, behavioural training design and delivery
Change management and organisational transformation experience
Proficiency in HR MIS, analytics, and HRMS/digital HR tools
Excellent stakeholder management, negotiation, and communication skills
Qualifications
MBA/PGDM in Human Resources or equivalent postgraduate qualification
15–20 years of progressive HR experience, with a significant portion in a manufacturing/plant environment combined with sales HR exposure
Prior experience handling unionised workforce and statutory audits is essential
Experience in Food or FMCG organisations preferred
Skills: recruitment,compliance,leadership,manufacturing,ir,payroll

Work arrangement
No