Head- HR

About SleepyCat
SleepyCat is one of India's leading D2C sleep brands, now combined with Springwel, a legacy mattress and foam manufacturer. Our ~200-person organisation spans corporate teams (marketing, e-commerce, tech, finance), retail stores, factories and warehouses across Mumbai and NCR.
Role Details
Designation: Head – HR
Location: Mumbai (covers HR for all offices including NCR, plants at Dharuhera, and warehouses)
Reporting to: Founder & CEO
Job Purpose
We are hiring our first Head of HR with full people ownership across both entities — corporate and plant. Today, parts of HR run through a group shared-services setup. Your mandate is to build an in-house people function that earns the organisation's trust: honest communication, fair performance management, a hiring engine that raises the talent bar, and people operations that never embarrass the brand.
This is a culture-building role first and a process role second.
What You Will Own:
Culture, Communication & Trust
Direct communication rhythms: all-hands, leadership updates and change communication, so the team hears news from leadership rather than through the grapevine
Leadership coaching: work with founders and function heads on feedback culture — private correction, public appreciation, and psychological safety
Policy reset: review attendance, flexibility and workplace policies so they build trust rather than signal control
Retention & Talent Health
Retention risk management: know the top 20 critical people, their risks and their growth plans, and act before the resignation letter
Exit intelligence: structured exit interviews with honest findings reported to leadership, plus offer-drop and renege analysis feeding back into hiring
Burnout and workload signals: quarterly 1:1 dipsticks across departments, including ops and factory teams, with visible follow-through
Hiring Engine
Own the hiring funnel end-to-end: role scoping and JDs, budget alignment before interviews, structured evaluation, and offer-to-join management
Raise the talent bar: replace pressure-driven hiring with planned hiring tied to the AOP, and refresh salary benchmarks against current market
Leadership hiring: run searches for critical leadership roles hand-in-hand with founders
People Operations (In-Housing)
Transition HR operations in-house from group shared services: payroll accuracy, PF and statutory hygiene, HRMS ownership, letters and documentation
Full-and-final settlements: a defined SLA for exits, honoured every time — exiting employees are brand ambassadors
Appraisal cycles on calendar: transparent structures, on-time increments, and incentives paid when promised
Org Design & Integration
SleepyCat–Springwel people integration: one org structure, common grading and KRAs, clean inter-entity movement with due process
Org effectiveness: spans of control, role clarity, and restructuring support as the business evolves
Factory & Frontline HR
Blue-collar and plant HR: compliance, contractor management, discipline processes, and engagement for factory and warehouse teams
What Success Looks Like (Year 1)
Regrettable attrition visibly down, with a critical-role bench identified and engaged
Offer-drop rate reduced, with an offer-to-join process the business trusts
FnF and payroll issues at zero, and appraisals delivered on published dates
Team survey and pulse showing rising trust in leadership communication and fairness
Hiring tied to the AOP, with refreshed compensation benchmarks in use
Must-Haves
4–10 years in HR, with at least 3 years leading an HR function (Head of HR or HRBP lead with full-stack ownership) in a 300+ person organisation
Consumer and manufacturing exposure: has owned HR for both corporate/digital teams and plant/frontline workforces
Has built or in-housed an HR function, whether from shared services, group HR or scratch — payroll, HRMS, policies and processes
Culture and retention track record: can show a measurable turnaround in attrition, engagement or employer trust
Personal credibility: a high-empathy, direct communicator who is comfortable challenging founders and function heads
Good to Have
D2C, retail or e-commerce industry experience
Experience through a merger or multi-entity people integration
Exposure to compensation benchmarking studies and incentive design
What's In It for You
You will define the people function of a category-leading consumer group from near-scratch, with a direct line to the CEO and COO, and a mandate that has board-level backing.
To apply, share your CV at careers@sleepycat.in along with the following details-
Current CTC
Expected CTC
Current Location
Willingness to work from office (Prabhadevi, Mumbai)

Work arrangement
No