People Partner

Partner with managers and employees across assigned business areas to provide practical, consistent and commercially sound people guidance, strengthen manager capability, support effective employee relations and performance practices, and improve engagement, retention and organisational effectiveness.
Position in the organisation
The People Partner reports directly to the Head of People and forms part of the People Operations team.
Principal responsibilities:
People partnering and manager support
Build credible and trusted relationships with managers and employees in assigned business areas.
Conduct regular manager alignment meetings covering team priorities, people risks, performance, development, engagement and employee experience.
Provide practical guidance on policies, procedures and employee lifecycle matters.
Support fair, consistent and well-informed people decisions.
Escalate high-risk, legally complex or precedent-setting matters while retaining responsibility for coordination and follow-through.
Employee relations, performance and manager capability
Support and progressively lead disciplinary, grievance, incapacity, investigation and performance processes, gathering and reviewing relevant facts before recommending action.
Prepare and review warnings, notices, minutes, outcome letters and performance documentation, while maintaining accurate, confidential case records and action trackers.
Identify legal, employee relations, reputational and cultural risks, escalate appropriately, and help managers distinguish between performance, misconduct, capability, conduct and wellbeing concerns.
Coach managers on clear expectations, timely feedback and evidence-based performance conversations, including probation reviews, quarterly reviews, performance improvement plans and documented follow-up.
Support IDP follow-up with managers and Learning and Development, identify recurring manager capability gaps, and recommend practical interventions.
Engagement, retention and employee experience
Conduct stay interviews and support agreed retention actions for priority talent and critical roles.
Identify retention risks and employee-experience themes.
Support onboarding, probation check-ins and respectful offboarding.
Translate engagement feedback into practical team actions and track completion.
Contribute to wellness, recognition, culture and employee-experience initiatives.
Culture, organisational effectiveness and continuous improvement
Reinforce SolarAfrica’s values through consistent advice and decision-making.
Support managers in building accountable and high-performing teams.
Identify unclear roles, ineffective practices, capability gaps and relationship concerns.
Support organisational and team changes by preparing, communicating, and implementing them.
Provide practical People input into workforce and team-structure discussions
People data, systems and continuous improvement
Maintain accurate employee, case, performance, and engagement records.
Use People data and portfolio insights to identify trends and support decisions.
Prepare concise portfolio updates on themes, risks, and required actions.
Identify opportunities to simplify, standardise or automate People processes.
Use AI and digital tools responsibly, with appropriate confidentiality, access controls and verification.
Experience and skills
At least five years’ experience in a broad HR, People Operations, HR generalist or People Partnering role.
Practical experience advising and coaching managers on employee relations and performance matters.
Working knowledge of South African employment legislation and fair employment procedures.
Experience supporting disciplinary, grievance, incapacity, investigation and performance processes.
Strong written and verbal communication, judgement, confidentiality, organisation and follow-through.
Experience using HR information and performance-management systems and interpreting people information.
Strong digital capability, including Microsoft 365; ERP or Microsoft Dynamics exposure is advantageous.
Valid South African working rights and willingness to travel when required.
Qualifications
Relevant diploma or bachelor's degree in human resources, Industrial Psychology, Labour Relations, Business Management or a related field.
Advantageous experience
Renewable energy, infrastructure, engineering, technical services or another high-growth environment.
Multi-site or multi-function partnering experience.
Organisational change, workforce planning or team-effectiveness exposure.
BambooHR, Lattice, PaySpace or comparable HR platforms.
Learning and development, succession, career development or IDP exposure
Specific attributes
Approachable and able to build trust across organisational levels.
Confident to challenge constructively and communicate candidly.
Fair, consistent and aware of precedent.
Calm and objective in sensitive matters.
Commercially aware and able to balance employee and business needs.
Discreet, proactive, accountable and adaptable.
Strong attention to detail, with a focus on accuracy and high-quality documentation.
Able to work independently and recognise when escalation is required.
What does success look like?
By month 3
Understands the business struc

Employment type
Full-Time

Work arrangement
No