Country HR Director, Philippines - National Capital Region - The Ascott Limited

Paglalarawan

Director, Human Resources, Philippines

Reports to: Country General Manager (Philippines)

Location/Scope: Philippines; multi-property / multi-site support (as applicable), including pre-opening and project work.

Role Purpose:

Lead the country People & Culture agenda to enable business performance, service excellence and a safe, compliant workplace across the Philippines. Partner country leadership and property operations to shape workforce strategy, build leadership capability, strengthen employee relations and ensure robust HR governance, while delivering efficient end-to-end HR operations.

Key Accountabilities

Country people strategy and workforce planning

• Own and deliver the annual HR plan aligned to country business priorities (growth, service quality, productivity and retention).
• Lead manpower planning, organisation design inputs and workforce budgeting (headcount and people cost).
• Provide insights through dashboards and analytics (attrition, time-to-fill, engagement, discipline cases, manpower cost).

Talent acquisition and onboarding

• Set recruitment strategy and standards for hotels/residences (high-volume frontline and specialist roles) and corporate functions as relevant.
• Oversee sourcing channels, agency governance, selection quality and hiring manager capability; ensure strong candidate experience.
• Ensure onboarding, probation management and mobility/transfer processes are consistently executed.

Performance, talent and leadership development

• Drive performance management, calibration and succession planning with leaders; identify and develop HiPos and critical roles.
• Partner operations to build leadership pipeline for GMs/department heads and supervisory levels; ensure capability building plans are delivered.
• Oversee training needs analysis and learning roadmap; ensure compliance training and service culture programmes are implemented.
• Learning, Development & Culture building: Build a learning strategy that elevates service excellence, leadership capability, and operational performance.

Employee relations, labour compliance and risk management

• Lead employee relations strategy: investigations, disciplinary due process, grievances, appeals and critical incident response.
• Lead union/collective bargaining engagement (where applicable) in partnership with country leadership; manage negotiation preparation and documentation.
• Ensure compliance with Philippine labour regulations (e.g., DOLE requirements), company policies and audit standards; proactively manage labour risk and litigation exposure.

Compensation, benefits and people governance

• Provide country oversight of compensation and benefits governance: annual salary review/bonus cycle inputs, job architecture alignment and pay practices consistency.
• Oversee benefits administration and insurance claims governance; ensure accurate and timely delivery through clear SOPs and controls.
• Maintain strong HR controls and audit readiness (HR files, contracts, approvals, data privacy, segregation of duties).

HR operations, HRIS and service delivery excellence

• Ensure efficient HR operations across the employee lifecycle (contracts, HR documentation, leave and statutory processes, exit management).
• Maintain HRIS data integrity (e.g. Workday or equivalent); establish data quality checks and user training.
• Continuously improve HR processes and service levels; standardise templates and workflows to reduce operational friction.

Team leadership and stakeholder management

• Lead, coach and develop the country HR team; set clear objectives, build capability and succession, and drive a high-performance culture.
• Partner closely with GMs/operations leaders to balance business needs with fair, consistent people practices; act as trusted advisor on sensitive matters.
• Manage vendor relationships (recruitment agencies, training providers, medical/insurance partners) and ensure value for money. Talent acquisition & Employer branding: Strengthen employer brand positioning in local markets, partnering with schools, tourism bodies, and industry associations.
• Leadership & Stakeholder partnering: Lead and mentor a multi-property People & Culture team, ensuring strong capability and consistency.

Key Interfaces

• Country General Manager and Country Leadership Team
• Property General Managers and Department Heads
• Regional / Corporate HR (e.g., HRBP, Rewards, Talent Acquisition, L&D, HR Operations)
• Legal / Compliance / Risk; Finance; IT/HRIS
• External stakeholders: DOLE and relevant agencies, unions (where applicable), recruitment agencies, training and medical/insurance partners

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration or related discipline; Master's degree is an advantage.
• 10+ years of progressive HR experience, with at least 3–5 years leading a country team or multi-site HR function; hospitality / service industry experience strongly preferred.
• Proven hands-on employee relations capability including investigations, disciplinary due process and union/CB bargaining exposure (where applicable).
• Strong knowledge of Philippine labour regulations and HR compliance requirements; demonstrated audit readiness and governance mindset.
• Solid grounding in compensation & benefits practices and HR budgeting; comfortable using data to drive decisions.
• HRIS proficiency (Workday or equivalent) and strong MS Office skills (especially Excel/PowerPoint).
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills; able to influence and partner credibly with senior operations leaders.
• Agile, resilient and able to operate in a fast-paced environment; willing to travel across sites as required.

Note: This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work. It is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and may be adjusted based on business needs.