Ice Cream South Africa HR Lead

Life tastes better with ice cream

With 19.000 expert ice cream colleagues and iconic brands like Wall’s, Cornetto and Ben & Jerry’s, loved in 76 countries, we are the world’s largest Ice Cream company leading the industry.

We create iconic ice cream brands that are part of everyday life, bringing moments of joy to millions of people around the world. Everybody loves ice cream. And as the world’s biggest pure‑play ice cream company, we have the scale and ambition to make a real difference.

What truly sets us apart is how we work.

We move fast and keep things simple. We turn ideas into action, trust people to take ownership, and work as one team to win together with integrity. Our culture is high‑performance, collaborative and focused on getting things done.

We’re curious and ready for what’s next. We embrace digital, use data to make better decisions, and keep learning, including how AI can help us work smarter and serve consumers better.

Job Description

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Job Title

HR Lead – South Africa
 

Scope
South Africa

Location
61 Katherine St, Johannesburg; South Africa

Terms

Full Time / Permanent

The role

The HR Lead South Africa is the most senior HR leader in the South African market and is responsible for leading the end-to-end people agenda across the business. The role serves as a strategic partner to the General Manager and South Africa Leadership Team, ensuring the business is enabled through exceptional organizational capability, leadership, culture and talent.

The incumbent is accountable for the development and execution of the South Africa people strategy, organizational effectiveness, culture transformation, leadership development, talent management, employee and industrial relations, organizational change and workforce planning. The role also leads the South African HR team and ensures effective delivery of HR priorities across the business.

This role requires an experienced and commercially minded HR leader who can successfully operate within complex and evolving environments, influence at executive level and lead significant organizational transformation. Experience supporting business separations, demergers, carve-outs or standalone business transitions will be highly advantageous.
 

What you'll be responsible for

Strategic Business Partnership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the General Manager and South Africa Leadership Team on all people, leadership and organizational matters.

• Develop and implement a people strategy that enables the achievement of business objectives and growth ambitions.

• Provide strategic input into business decisions through robust people insights, workforce analytics and external market intelligence.

• Challenge and influence leaders to build a high-performance culture and drive accountability across the organization.

• Partner closely with regional and global HR teams to ensure alignment with broader business priorities.

Organization Effectiveness, Design and Change

• Lead organization design and organizational effectiveness initiatives to ensure the business remains fit for future growth.
• Drive organizational restructuring and transformation programmes aligned to strategic priorities.
• Lead significant change management initiatives, ensuring successful adoption and sustainable behavioral change.
• Develop leadership capability to lead through ambiguity, change and transformation.
• Ensure organizational structures, capabilities and ways of working support business strategy and performance objectives.
• Facilitate succession planning and organizational capability-building initiatives across critical business areas.

Talent, Leadership and Capability Development

• Lead the South Africa talent agenda, including talent reviews, succession planning and leadership pipeline development.
• Identify and build critical organizational capabilities required for future business success.
• Coach and develop leaders to strengthen organizational performance and leadership effectiveness.
• Drive robust performance management and talent development processes.
• Support diversity and inclusion objectives through targeted talent and leadership interventions.
• Ensure strong succession plans are in place for key and critical roles.

Culture and Employee Experience

• Champion TMICC's culture, values and leadership expectations across the organization.
• Lead culture transformation initiatives that strengthen employee engagement, belonging and organizational health.
• Drive employee listening strategies and translate insights into measurable actions.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture that encourages innovation, collaboration and accountability.
• Support the successful embedding of TMICC's identity and culture as a standalone organization.

Employment Relations and Industrial Relations

• Provide strategic leadership on employee relations and industrial relations matters across head office and factory populations.
• Maintain constructive relationships with employee representative bodies and recognised unions.
• Guide leaders on complex labour relations matters, disciplinary processes, disputes and organizational risk.
• Ensure compliance with all South African labour legislation and company policies.
• Lead proactive initiatives to maintain a positive employee relations climate and minimize organizational risk.

Employment Equity, Transformation and BBBEE

• Lead the organization’s Employment Equity strategy and ensure compliance with all statutory requirements.
• Chair or support Employment Equity governance processes and reporting obligations.
• Drive transformation objectives through talent, leadership, succession and capability-building strategies.
• Partner with business leaders to improve representation and strengthen diverse talent pipelines.
• Provide strategic leadership and oversight on people-related BBBEE priorities.
• Monitor transformation metrics and implement initiatives that support sustainable inclusion and equitable representation across the organization.

Workforce Planning, Reward and HR Operations

• Lead workforce planning initiatives to ensure the organization has the right capability, capacity and structure to deliver business objectives.
• Partner with regional and global teams on reward, recognition and performance initiatives.
• Oversee the successful delivery of all annual HR processes and people cycles.
• Leverage people analytics to inform decision-making and improve organizational performance.
• Ensure effective governance and management of people-related risks.
• HR Team Leadership.
• Lead, develop and inspire the South Africa HR team.
• Build a high-performing HR function that delivers strategic business value.
• Develop HR capability across business partnering, talent, employee relations, organizational development and change management.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and collaboration within the HR team.
• Build strong partnerships across the METSA and Global HR communities.

Key Internal Stakeholders

• VP HR, METSA
• General Manager, South Africa
• South Africa Leadership Team
• Factory Leadership Team
• Regional and Global HR Teams
• Centres of Expertise
• Employees across Head Office and Factory populations

Key External Stakeholders

• Trade Unions and Employee Representatives
• Labour Relations Bodies
• Recruitment and Talent Partners
• Learning and Development Providers
• Industry and Professional Networks

We're looking for someone who

• Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of progressive HR leadership experience within multinational organisations.
• Significant HR Business Partnering experience supporting executive leadership teams.
• Proven experience leading HR across both corporate and manufacturing environments.
• Strong expertise in organisation design, organisational effectiveness and organisational development.
• Demonstrated success leading complex organisation-wide transformation and change management programmes.
• Experience operating effectively within complex, matrixed and fast-paced organisations.
• Deep knowledge of South African labour legislation, Employment Equity requirements and employee relations practices.
• Strong understanding of transformation and BBBEE frameworks and their practical application within organisations.
• Extensive employee relations and industrial relations experience, including unionised environments.
• Proven track record of building, leading and developing high-performing HR teams.

Advantageous

• Postgraduate qualification in Human Resources, Organisational Psychology, Organisational Development or Business Administration.
• Change Management, Executive Coaching or Organisational Development certification.
• Experience supporting business separations, demergers, carve-outs, mergers, acquisitions or major integration initiatives.
• Experience within FMCG, consumer goods or manufacturing industries.
• Regional or global HR leadership experience.

Leadership Capabilities

• Strategic and commercial acumen.
• Strong business partnership and influencing capability.
• Ability to lead effectively through ambiguity, complexity and transformation.
• Exceptional change leadership capability.
• Strong organisational diagnosis and problem-solving skills.
• Courageous and authentic leadership.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
• Strong coaching and leadership development capability.
• High levels of resilience, adaptability and learning agility.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with operational excellence.
• Passion for people, culture and organisational performance.

Critical Success Measures

• Delivery of a people strategy aligned to business priorities and growth ambitions.
• Strong organisational health and employee engagement outcomes.
• Effective leadership and succession pipelines.
• Successful execution of organisational change and transformation programmes.
• Achievement of Employment Equity and transformation objectives.
• Positive employee and industrial relations climate.
• Strong governance, compliance and risk management outcomes.
• Development of a high-performing HR team and function.
• Sustainable organisational capability that enables long-term business performance.

What you'll get

Alongside meaningful work and strong development, we offer a reward package that typically includes

• Market-competitive pay and performance related rewards
• Flexible ways of working
• Support for health, wellbeing and life outside of work
• Time off to rest and recharge
• Ongoing learning and development opportunities

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#TMICC

Why join us?

This is a place for people who are passionate about ice cream and are growth obsessed - both for the business and for themselves. People who act like an owner and drive our business end-to-end. People who are driven by success to deliver more than we ever thought we could! 

You’ll thrive here if you value an inclusive culture, with low ego and hierarchy - and if you’re excited to continuously learn and challenge how we work, using digital, data, and new thinking to push us forward.

- Roles with real accountability and visible impact
- Free to move fast, experiment and challenge how things are done
- Continuous learning and development as the business grows
- Reward linked to performance and contribution.

Your career here is shaped by what you deliver, as you work across functions and markets and grow with the business.

Ready to build the future of Ice Cream?

If this sounds like the place where you'd thrive, we'd love to hear from you. Apply online and share your CV. We'll review your application and be in touch with the next steps. 

If you are an individual with a disability and require assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please let your Talent Acquisition Partner know.

Additional information

The Magnum Ice Cream Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can do their best work regardless of age, disability, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic. We encourage people with all backgrounds to apply including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and Māori and Pacific Peoples.