Country People Lead Belgium

The Country People Lead Belgium acts as the senior HR leader for strategic HR leadership in Belgium. The role ensures that Belgiums legal social labour and organisational specificities are strongly reflected in Group People Strategy while translating Group directions into compliant relevant and impactful local People Plans.
The role acts as the senior HR contributor in the country/region driving local people agenda workforce planning talent social relations and the consistent delivery of HR excellence across all divisions.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Local Adaptation

• Shape the Belgium People Strategy by integrating legal labour market cultural and organisational insights into Group HR design.
• Adapt cocreate and deploy Group HR solutions with Enterprise People Partners and Centres of Excellence (COEs) ensuring strong buyin in a multistakeholder environment.
• Act as a guardian of Belgian social legal and cultural specificities in global HR discussions.

Business Partnership & Leadership Support

• Serve as a strategic advisor and support all senior leaders across all Belgian business lines.
• Strengthen local HR leadership and ensure smooth collaboration between all HR teams.

People Operations & Governance

• Ensure consistent fair and compliant HR practices across all business lines operating in Belgium.
• Oversee and partner in supporting workforce planning organisational design mobility and talent management aligned with Belgian context and Group ambitions.
• Lead and continuously improve the core HR cycles (performance compensation talent succession) ensuring discipline and operational excellence.

Social Relations & Risk Management (Belgium Focus)

• Maintain and foster strong trust-based relationships with Belgian employee representatives and unions.
• Act as the senior lead in social dialogue including negotiations works council interactions and collective matters in close collaboration with HR Legal
• Provide expert guidance during re-organisations legal restructurings and transformation projects.
• Anticipate people risks and ensure early mitigation.

Board & Senior Governance Engagement

• Provide clear insights reporting and recommendations on people matters to the local Board.

Profile

Essential Experience

• Extensive HR leadership experience in Belgium ideally within an international or highly matrixed organisation.
• Proven track record working with social partners leading works councils/union negotiations and engaging in constructive social dialogue.
• Experience managing re-organisations or major transformation programmes in the Belgian labour context.
• Demonstrated ability to operate with influence across multiple reporting lines and diverse stakeholders.

Capabilities

• Strong knowledge of Belgian employment law labour market trends and socioeconomic context.
• Skilled influencer capable of driving alignment in a complex matrix with many senior stakeholders.
• Strategic thinker with operational discipline and strong resilience under ambiguity.
• Excellent communication relationship building and senior leadership engagement skills (including Board level).

Skills & Competencies

Strategic HR Leadership

• Anticipates future workforce needs in Belgium; adapts global strategy to local reality.

Organisational & Cultural Leadership

• Influences senior leaders drives cultural evolution and makes sound decisions on sensitive people matters.

Social Relations & Governance

• Manages union interactions conducts complex negotiations ensures compliance and upholds governance standards.

Stakeholder Influence (Matrix Mastery)

• Navigates complex structures aligns multiple senior leaders and builds trust across Group and local teams.

Business & Workforce Acumen

• Understands business strategy identifies organisational design risks and anticipates talent challenges.

Change Leadership

• Leads re-organisations and transformation with clarity empathy and resilience.

Execution Excellence

• Drives operational discipline sets high HR standards and monitors performance metrics.

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