HR Business Partner (m/w/d)

About the role

Founded in Japan in 1887, Kao is passionate about making a difference in people's lives with our high quality products and services to create a Kirei Life for all - a beautiful life that respects the needs of our consumers and customers as well as the planet. We never compromise on quality and craft our products with care for the consumer and the environment. As a company driven by purpose and strong corporate values we pride ourselves to be listed among the World´s Most Ethical Companies since 16 consecutive years. Our corporate philosophy, the Kao Way, guides us in everything we do - acting with integrity, courageously driving innovation and treating each other with trust and respect. This role will be the primary HR contact and operational support for 160 employees in our Research & Development function based in Germany but also provide support for Function and Sector employees in other parts of the business. The role reports to the Associate Director Functions based in the Netherlands. You will: Build strong relationship with business leaders and team members and act as sounding board, coach and advisor on all people issues Drive operational excellence and execution Be an advocate for digitalizing, smart working, life/work balance and well-being Engage with your HR peers and our Centres of Excellence in a collaborative way to ensure holistic and timely results Manage headcount cost planning for your sector in partnership with the FP&A team Be a DE&I champion supporting the roll-out of our DE&I EMEA roadmap in your client group We are looking for an emerging HR Business Partner who is keen to progress but also still hands-on with strong operational execution skills. This is a full-time, fixed-term position (maternity cover until 31 December 2026) in our Darmstadt office. We are operating a hybrid working model with the opportunity to balance remote and in office work.

Responsibilities

• Pro-active, collaborative and pragmatic HR Business Partner: Responsible for the delivery of the wider HR strategy. Will be responsible for assisting in developing the strategy in close alignment with business leaders.
• Handling of all operational tasks concerning the full employee life cycle,eg advising employees on all matters around performance, training needs, key life events etc and processing relevant data in Workday and various employee databases.
• First point of contact for employees on all employee experience-related issues. Provide a professional, efficient and value adding HR service to internal customers in accordance with the Kao Way and legislation.

Requirements

• Degree in personnel management, employment law, psychology, business studies or similar qualification (ie "Personalfachwirt") and at least 3+ years work experience as an HR Business Partner in Germany
• Several Years acting as a commercial Business Partner in Human Resources
• Experience in partnering with leaders and advising on human resources issues
• Sound practical knowledge of labour law in Germany, ideally with some basic experience working with a Works Council
• A genuine passion to act as a business partner and a hands-on operational approach
• A good sense of humour
• Fluent spoken and written German with a good command of English which is our main business language. Other languages (eg Dutch) beneficial but not essential.
• Sound knowledge of German employment legislation in a company with Works Council represe

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