Senior HR Officer – Malawi

About BURN 

BURN Manufacturing designs, manufactures and distributes clean cookstoves, with operations in ten African markets. In Malawi our work runs through employees, short-term workers supplied by a labour-hire agency, and a network of commission-based sales agents engaged directly and through agencies. 

About the role 

You will be BURN's HR lead in Malawi. You will run the full employee lifecycle for our staff and keep us compliant with Malawian law. You will also own the people side of our agent network, making sure every agent is onboarded on the right terms, documents and systems before they start selling. 

Duties & Responsibilities:

Employee HR operations 

• Run in-country recruitment end to end, from approved hiring requests to adverts, shortlisting, interviews, references and offers. 

• Issue contracts and job descriptions from approved templates; track probation, fixed-term expiry and renewal dates, and send notices on time. 

• Prepare monthly payroll inputs (joiners, leavers, changes, leave, attendance) and check payroll with Group Payroll before sign-off. 

• Run induction, probation reviews and the performance cycle with line managers. 

• Handle grievances, disciplinary cases and exits fairly and on the record, working with Legal on complex cases. 

• Manage the labour-hire agency that supplies short-term workers: check its costing of statutory add-ons, its headcount and its invoices. 

• Keep personnel files complete and audit-ready, and employee data accurate in BURN's ERP and HR systems. 

Agent workstreams 

• Approve agent onboarding. Before any agent is activated, confirm verified identity, a signed contract on an approved template, the right engagement route (direct or agency) and verified mobile money details. Hold any onboarding that falls short. 

• Review new or changed commission schemes for HR and legal risk before launch, with Commercial. 

• Watch for employment-like terms in agent and team-leader arrangements, and escalate them. 

• Reconcile agency headcounts and invoices against BURN records every month, and keep agency agreements and reconciliations on file. 

• Support the in-country rollout of the agent onboarding platform: train sales teams and agencies, test it and report issues. 

• Handle agent offboarding, disputes and complaints in line with their contracts. 

Compliance in Malawi 

• Employment Act and Labour Relations Act (as amended in 2021): written particulars, working hours, leave, notice, termination and redundancy; conciliation with the Ministry of Labour and cases before the Industrial Relations Court, with counsel. 

• Minimum Wage Orders: pay at or above the gazetted minimum for each job category. 

• Pension Act 2023: enrol eligible employees and remit contributions to the pension administrator on time. 

• Malawi Revenue Authority: PAYE and fringe benefits tax. 

• TEVET Authority: skills levy and the annual Employer Data Form. 

• Workers' Compensation and Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare Acts: workplace registration, safety committee, accident reporting and claims. 

• Data Protection Act 2024: lawful handling of employee and agent personal data, and MACRA registration as the regime opens. 

• Keep a statutory compliance calendar and keep files ready for labour, pension, tax and safety inspections. 

Policy, culture and reporting 

• Roll out and localise BURN HR policies, including harassment, whistleblowing, grievance and gender, and track employee acknowledgements. 

• Report monthly on headcount, agents onboarded, turnover, open cases and compliance status. 

• Support engagement surveys, check-ins and training. 

What we're looking for:

Essential 

• Degree in human resource management, business, law, psychology or a related field. 

• At least 5 years of HR generalist experience, including 2 or more at senior officer level or above in Malawi. 

• Hands-on payroll and statutory compliance experience in Malawi. 

• Employee relations experience under Malawian law: disciplinary hearings, grievances and terminations. 

• Experience managing a large non-employee workforce (sales agents, casuals, contractors or outsourced staff) and its classification risks. 

• Strong data discipline: Excel, HR or ERP systems and accurate records. 

• Fluent written and spoken English. 

Desirable 

• Membership of the Institute of People Management Malawi (IPMM) or another recognised HR body. 

• Experience with digital onboarding, e-signature or mobile money payments. 

• Experience in manufacturing, distribution, FMCG, energy or field sales. 

• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Business Central. 

• Can speak / read Chichewa.