HR Manager - Europe Region (Bad Homburg, Germany)

Join a fast-growing global food leader and play a pivotal role in shaping the people strategy across Europe. This role goes beyond administrative HR and acts as a hands‑on, business‑facing HR leader, partnering closely with Europe leadership to support manufacturing scale‑up in Hungary, cross‑border operations, and future M&A activities across Western and Eastern Europe. Working in close collaboration with HQ and regional HR teams, the HR Manager ensures alignment between global HR frameworks and local execution, while overseeing talent management, organizational effectiveness, reward system design, and labour compliance to enable sustainable business growth.

What you do

1. HR Strategy & Business Partnership

• Act as a strategic HR partner to Europe leadership, aligning people strategy with business expansion and manufacturing scale‑up plans.
• Support organizational design and role clarity across RHQ, Germany, Hungary, and other EU entities.
• Advise leadership on people implications related to cross‑border operations, M&A integration, and leadership transitions.
• Maintain high visibility and effective working relationships with HQ HR and regional stakeholders.

2. Organization & Talent Management

• Lead workforce planning aligned with business growth phases (manufacturing, commercial, R&D support).
• Support leadership succession planning and key talent development, including global assignment and mobility cases.
• Provide guidance on performance management standards, evaluation consistency, and leadership behaviour expectations.
• Partner with leaders to proactively address leadership effectiveness and team dynamics.

3. Recruitment & Capability Building

• Oversee recruitment strategy for Europe, including critical leadership and specialist roles.
• Act as interviewer and evaluator for key hires; build internal HR capability by mentoring junior HR members and strengthening local HR execution.
• Support onboarding and early‑stage stabilization for new leaders and teams.

4. Labour Law & Employee Relations

• Ensure compliance with European and local labour laws, with a strong focus on Germany and Eastern Europe.
• Apply labour law with sound business judgment, avoiding defensive or opportunistic misuse of labour protection mechanism that could undermine trust or execution.
• Manage employee relations issues, disciplinary cases, and sensitive HR matters with fairness and consistency.
• Advise management on appropriate resolution strategies for employee relations issues.
• Coordinate with external labour lawyers when necessary, while retaining internal ownership of decisions.

5. HR Operations & Governance

• Oversee core HR operations, including HR policies, contracts, and payroll coordination.
• Prepare and provide accurate regular reports on HR related activities on a timely basis.
• Support manpower planning, compensation budgeting, and HR‑related cost management.
• Ensure HR processes are consistent, transparent, and scalable across European entities.
• Coordinate training and development initiatives aligned with business and leadership needs.
• Support leadership and key talent development programs rather than broad, generic training.
• Oversee onboarding and orientation programs to ensure early effectiveness and cultural alignment.
• Support development of internal successors and long‑term HR capability building

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree or above, preferably in Human Resources, Business Administration.
• 8+ years of progressive HR experience, including regional or multi‑country exposure, with at least 4 years in a managerial or leadership role.
• Business‑level proficiency in German and English.
• Solid working knowledge of European labour law frameworks, with strong hands‑on experience in Germany; exposure to Eastern Europe manufacturing environments is a strong plus.
• Proven HR leadership capability with strong interpersonal and communication skills, able to engage effectively across levels and navigate ambiguity in growth and transformation phases.
• Experience in manufacturing or industrial environments is strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in standard office software and HR systems.
• Strong stakeholder management and clear, credible communication skills.
• High integrity with the ability to act as a trusted advisor and change enabler.
• Proactive, structured, and business‑oriented problem‑solving capability.
• Ability to develop and coach others, building sustainable HR capability.
• Long‑term orientation toward org. health, talent sustainability, and leadership effectiveness.