HR Manager, appro Venture – SC Ventures

About appro

Appro is an exciting fintech start-up disrupting the banking onboarding journey for retail clients. At Appro we pride ourselves on our transparency, and our ability to quickly provide our clients with the best loan and credit card options that they can seamlessly review and compare in order to select the offer that helps them set their money goals on the path to success.

This is an opportunity to join appro as a HR Manager. The role will be based in the UAE.

About the role

HR Manager is reporting to the CEO and working closely with Business Development Head.

The HR Lead supports the full spectrum of HR functions including, but not limited to, handling talent acquisition, HR operations, performance management and rewards; HR policies as well as advising the Management Team on relevant HR matters.

Key Responsibilities

•    Recruitment & Hiring Process Management: Oversee the entire recruitment and hiring process, from job posting to candidate selection and offer finalization. Collaborate with department heads to ensure hiring aligns with organizational goals and talent requirements.
•    Cost Analysis for Employee Onboarding/Offboarding: Conduct comprehensive cost analysis for employee onboarding and offboarding, ensuring accurate budgeting and expense tracking. Evaluate the financial impact of recruitment, training, and termination processes to optimize resource allocation.
•    Onboarding & Offboarding Process: Manage the onboarding process to ensure new hires are smoothly integrated into the organization. Ensure offboarding processes are conducted in a compliant, efficient manner, including exit interviews and post-departure administrative tasks.
•    Regulatory Compliance & Legal Expertise: Provide expert guidance on HR-related legal matters, including intensive knowledge of HR ministry regulations. Ensure all employment policies and procedures comply with current labour laws and industry standards.
•    Training & Development: Design and implement training programs to enhance staff skills and professional growth. Monitor the effectiveness of training initiatives and continuously improve programs to meet evolving organizational needs.

•    Quality Control for Sales Team : Conduct regular quality checks for the sales team to ensure adherence to company standards and policies. Work closely with the sales department to support performance improvement initiatives and maintain high service quality.
•    Performance Management: Develop and manage performance review systems to ensure regular feedback and evaluation of employee performance. Work with managers to implement improvement plans and track progress against performance goals.
•    HR Data Management & Reporting: Maintain accurate and confidential HR records, including employee files, payroll data, and performance reviews. Generate and analyze HR reports to provide insights into workforce trends, turnover, and cost analysis.
•    HR Policy Development & Implementation: Develop, implement, and regularly update HR policies and procedures. Ensure these policies are communicated clearly to all staff and aligned with organizational goals and legal requirement

Business Partnering
•    Work with Appro Leadership team to support the business achieve its objectives through the design and delivery of a people plan to build a strong culture
•    Provide advice and guidance on all People related matters
•    Provide independent advice to colleagues on HR related matters

Recruitment
•    Responsible for developing resource acquisition strategies and managing the end-to-end resourcing process for full time and flexible resources to deliver agreed targets, ensuring the right candidates are recruited, at the right time, at the right price
•    Build an employer branding strategy to attract diverse potential candidates whose knowledge and skills are needed to meet the company’s goals and objectives
•    Conduct preliminary and behavioural interviews, as required, assessing candidates to ensure cultural fit, values alignment, long term potential, and technical fit for roles (via telephone or face to face where possible), setting realistic role expectations
•    Ensure timely contract issuance following verbal offer
•    Manage work permit applications and extensions for new hires and in-country transfers, where required.
•    Ensure all staff screening is complete and aligned with the Staff Screening Policy

Talent & Performance Management
•    Lead the connectivity of feedback from hiring, through to expectation and goal setting, to ongoing performance management through the people leaders of the business
•    Lead the continuous performance management approach, ensuring effective goal setting, feedback, and regular reviews
•    Implement a robust approach to succession planning with the Leadership team

Reward 
•    Manage the year end pay and bonus review, linked to performance outcomes, including adhering to the Venture Remuneration Policy and Regulatory Requirements
•    Assist in market benchmarking of salary and benefits, to match internal jobs and job descriptions to similar jobs and descriptions in a salary survey or other source of market salary data, to identify the market salary for each position
•    Ensure the SCV Approvals Matrix is followed

Employee Engagement & Culture
•    Engage and build great relationships with employees to cultivate a positive work environment and develop greater value from the contributions of our employees.
•    Encourage employees to express what they think, feel and experience. Gain feedback from employees via formal / informal communication channels: Townhalls, 1 on 1, skip levels etc.
•    Plan, conduct and administer employee engagement survey

Learning & Development
•    Review training needs analysis, goals and people priorities with the Leadership team
•    Improve employee performance, building competencies and confidence at work by exploring various ways of training through internal / external workshops, seminars, projects, on the job training etc.
•    Develop company-wide Mentoring and Coaching programmes

Employee Relations
•    Handle employee relations, proactively helping in resolving workplace conflict and creating team effectiveness
•    Ensure all employee relations standards and processes are followed including grievances, disciplinaries, performance improvement plans
•    Coach and provide feedback to people leaders on people and team matters to proactively reach resolution before conflict exists

People Risk Management & Controls
•    Develop, review, and implement HR policies, standards & processes
•    Maintain the HR Risk Register, including completion of the control tests
•    Ensure HR regulatory requirements are met in a timely manner
•    Ensure audit readiness of the unit and assist in tracking progress on action items.
•    Assist with data, MI preparation for both internal and external audits.

Service Delivery & HR Operations

Manage / Oversee Payroll
•    Ensure 100% accuracy check in monthly payroll and manually paid employee benefits are processed.
•    Ensure strict compliance with local employee regulatory requirements pertaining to compensation and benefits, including statutory contributions and tax compliance.
•    Validating and processing final settlement entries for exited staff members.
•    Review and co-ordination with stakeholders on ageing items escalated through the reconciliation process.

Benefits Administration
•    Administration of staff Provident Fund and Pensions Funds.
•    Perform activities as on the ground liaison for the Equity Share Plan
•    Management of Staff Medical Schemes, processing new applications, renewing medical contracts, Managing the service providers.

HR Systems & Reporting
•    Administer and maintain accurately all employee data in the HR Systems
•    Complete timely and accurate HR metrics and reports, including headcount, attrition, etc. to the Leadership Team & SCV HR
•    Maintain accurate personnel files
•    Design & deliver the People & Culture Board paper on a 6mthly basis, including people related data and metrics and any people related approvals
•    Ensure mandatory training is accessible and being tracked/completed in support of Compliance policy through the Saba microsite

Onboarding & Offboarding
•    Conduct HR orientation programme for new employees, including maintaining the Employee Handbook
•    Administer the offboarding process for departing employees including but not limited to conducting exit interview, ensure proper exit clearance etc.

Skills and Experience

•    8+ years of relevant generalist Human Resources experience
•    In-depth knowledge of all HR functional areas of talent, recruiting, employee relations, rewards & learning and HR related policies, processes, and best practices
•    Strong knowledge of employment law & have a clear understanding of legal matters with Ministry of human resources.
•    Strong organisational skills and ability to multi-task and prioritize competing requests from different stakeholders
•    Outstanding communication & interpersonal skills, both oral and written
•    Excellent understanding of costing & onboarding costs.
•    Solutions focused, with good judgement when it comes to problem-solving
•    Experience of working in a fast-paced environment, often with a high level of ambiguity and change
•    Prior experience gained both in an established as well as high growth/startup companies would be advantageous