HR Business Partner Lead

About This Job

Are you an experienced HR professional who's ready to own a function end-to-end, helping set the direction, not just following it and who genuinely enjoys developing the people around you?

We are a growing and fast-paced food retail group seeking a reliable HR Business Partner Lead who can take full ownership of the HR function for one of our entities: implementing strategy and direction across recruitment, performance, wellbeing, reward & recognition, succession planning, while leading and mentoring a small on-site team.

You won't just be executing HR processes, you'll be designing them, owning the outcomes, and acting as the trusted people advisor to operational leadership.

We're looking for someone with real HR leadership experience, who can operate independently in a fast-paced environment, bring genuine structure and build credibility quickly with senior leaders.

🔍 Key Responsibilities

• Owning the full employee lifecycle strategy for your entity, recruitment, onboarding, performance, retention and offboarding.
• Owning the disciplinary process for your entity, ensuring fairness, consistency and compliance with Maltese employment law.
• Leading and mentoring a small on-site team.
• Owning succession planning for your entity, ensuring no single departure or absence disrupts operations.
• Running exit interviews and turnover diagnostics, and owning the response to what they reveal.
• Acting as the primary strategic advisor to operational leaders on all people-related matters.
• Designing & leading HR pillars, such as; wellbeing, reward & recognition, talent acquisition etc.
• Representing HR in group-wide initiatives and contributing to broader HR strategy as the function matures.

🎯 Candidate Profile

• Possess a relevant qualification in Human Resources, Business Administration or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Have at least 5+ years' in HR, including direct experience leading and managing a team.
• Be confident owning full-cycle recruitment, performance management, and succession planning at entity level.
• Knowledge of Maltese employment law and best practice.
• Be comfortable acting as a strategic, trusted advisor to senior operational leaders, not just an administrator of process.
• Possess strong people leadership skills, with genuine experience in developing and mentoring.
• Have strong organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage competing senior-level demands.
• Be discreet, trustworthy and confident handling sensitive and confidential matters at a senior level.

💡 What We’re Looking For

• Experience in a retail, wholesale, distribution or FMCG environment desirable.
• A track record of reducing turnover or improving retention at entity level.
• Experience designing HR policy, wellbeing programmes, or reward frameworks from scratch.
• Experience contributing to or owning talent acquisition initiatives.

🌱 What we offer

Joining our team means real ownership of a function from the ground up and a clear path to grow further as the structure matures.

Here's a glimpse of what we'll offer you:

• A senior, high-impact role with real authority over how HR is built and run for your entity.
• Direct exposure to senior leadership and genuine input into group-wide people strategy.
• The opportunity to lead, manage and develop a team.
• Real opportunities to learn, grow and take on more as the role evolves.