Senior Manager HR Operations

About the role

The Senior Manager HR Operations leads and oversees key HR operational activities across Bahrain, with primary accountability for Payroll, Employee Relations, Union Relations, Compensation & Benefits, Employee Engagement, HR Service Quality and HR Governance. The role leads the payroll team and acts as a key interface between HR, management, employees and employee representatives, including the Trade Union.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and govern the end-to-end payroll operation, manage and develop the payroll team, and ensure accurate, timely and compliant processing with proper controls, segregation of duties and audit support.
• Support compensation and benefits policies, participate in salary and benefits surveys, and provide compensation analysis to management.
• Manage day-to-day Employee Relations matters, including disciplinary and grievance cases, performance management, investigations and workplace concerns, and lead the ER side of organizational changes.
• Act as HR point of contact for the recognized Trade Union and employee representatives, and support consultation and dispute resolution.
• Capture the Voice of Employees, run the annual Employee Opinion Survey and the HR Quality Survey, and drive follow-up actions.
• Prepare HR reports, monitor HR and ER indicators, support budget-related HR activities and contribute to workforce planning and organizational structure reviews.
• Ensure HR operations comply with legal requirements and company policies, and maintain confidentiality of sensitive employee and payroll information.

Required profile

• Minimum 8-10 years' progressive HR experience, with strong exposure to HR Operations, Payroll and Employee Relations.
• Bachelor's degree in human resources, Business Administration, Management, Finance or a related discipline.
• Postgraduate or professional HR qualification such as CIPD, SHRM or equivalent is advantageous.
• Experience managing payroll operations and teams, and with trade unions or employee representatives.
• Experience in a large operational, logistics, aviation or transportation environment and the GCC/Middle East is advantageous.

Required skills

• Good knowledge of compensation and benefits, employee engagement, workforce planning, organizational change and HR governance.
• Sound understanding of Bahrain labour requirements and employment practices.
• Strong leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution and analytical skills.
• HR/payroll systems and Microsoft Office capability.

What we offer

• Strong career support in an international environment.
• A great culture and colleagues.
• A multifarious benefit program.