About the Role

We are seeking a strategic and entrepreneurial HR leader to serve as the India HR Lead for our Global Capability Center (GCC). Reporting directly to the India Site Leader, with a dotted-line relationship to the Global HR leadership team, this role operates as the HR Leader for the India GCC.

This is a unique opportunity to build and scale a world-class people function from the ground up. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in shaping the culture, talent strategy, organizational design, and leadership capability of a rapidly growing GCC that is expected to scale from inception to approximately 1,000 employees over the next three years.

The GCC serves as a strategic capability hub focused on next-generation technology, data, digital, and AI-driven innovation, supporting globally recognized retail businesses. This role offers a unique opportunity to partner with two globally recognized retail brands, working closely with global HR leadership teams and senior business stakeholders across geographies.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic HR Leadership

• Develop and execute the India people strategy aligned with business objectives, growth plans, and global organizational priorities.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to the India Site Leader and senior leadership team on talent, culture, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness.
• Act as the primary HR leader for the India GCC, representing the voice of the organization in global people discussions.

Build & Scale the Organization

• Lead the creation of the HR function, frameworks, processes, and governance mechanisms required to support rapid organizational growth.
• Design scalable people practices that support the evolution from a greenfield setup to a mature, high-performing organization.
• Establish foundational HR programs across talent acquisition, onboarding, performance management, learning, succession planning, rewards, and employee engagement.

Organizational Design & Workforce Strategy

• Partner with business leaders to design organizational structures that enable agility, productivity, and sustainable growth.
• Define workforce planning approaches, spans and layers, leadership structures, and capability requirements.
• Drive succession planning and leadership pipeline development from the early stages of organizational growth.

Talent & Leadership Development

• Build a comprehensive talent strategy focused on attracting, developing, and retaining top talent across technology, AI, digital, analytics, and business functions.
• Create leadership development programs that support future organizational needs and strengthen management capability.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning, innovation, accountability, and high performance.

Culture, Engagement & Change Leadership

• Shape and embed a strong organizational culture aligned with company values and growth ambitions.
• Lead employee engagement, inclusion, and employee experience initiatives.
• Drive organizational change and transformation programs as the GCC evolves and scales.

HR Governance & Global Partnership

• Ensure compliance with local labour regulations, company policies, and governance requirements.
• Partner closely with global HR Centers of Excellence and business HR leaders to ensure alignment with enterprise-wide talent strategies.
• Influence and contribute to global people initiatives while adapting them to local business needs.

What We're Looking For:

Experience

• 18+ years of progressive HR experience, including significant leadership responsibility.
• Proven experience leading HR for a GCC, capability center, technology hub, shared services organization, or high-growth business environment.
• Demonstrated success in scaling organizations, building teams, and driving organizational transformation.
• Experience partnering directly with senior executives and influencing business strategy through people initiatives.
• Strong background across multiple HR disciplines, including talent management, organizational development, leadership development, performance management, employee engagement, and workforce planning.

Preferred Background

• Experience in greenfield setups, new-site creation, or rapid scale-up environments.
• Exposure to technology, digital, AI, analytics, product, engineering, or innovation-led organizations.
• Retail industry experience is advantageous but not essential.
• Experience working within global, matrixed organizations and collaborating with international leadership teams.