HR Director

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Who You’ll Work With

As the Director of HR and Professional Development (PD), you’ll join our Talent department, reporting to the chief of Staff and you will have a team of 3 PD advisors reporting to you, as well as the payroll manager (Brussels), plus 2 HR administrators (SSC).

What You Will Do

This role is instrumental in leading our talent management efforts across the organisation and enabling our ambitious, multi-year growth agenda. You will help deliver value to Bain clients by contributing to the optimal overall staffing of projects, while managing the required trade-offs between business need and professional development needs of the Brussels consulting group. You will also oversee the HR scope, providing professional HR advice and support to all areas of the business.  

Working closely with leadership, the Director will manage the overall PD programme for consulting, along with ownership of the professional development programme for our Senior Managers and Associate Partners. Working in collaboration and teaming with the wider talent team and Partners your main responsibilities will include:

Program class management for Senior Manager/Associate Partners

• Ownership of the development programme for Senior Managers and Associate Partners  
• Develop one-one- one relationships with individuals in each program to provide guidance and mentoring on career management. Become a confidant always keeping finger on the pulse. Understand their PD needs and preferences. Makes trade-offs between client needs, office utilization, and individual’s needs. Monitor case team assignments to ensure individuals have a variety of consulting projects/diverse experiences.
• Follow up and advise on individual skills progression, ownership for detailed tracking of performance. 
• Identify individual’s training needs and adapt local training plan where needed.
• Manage Associate Partners path to partner [or out of the business]

• Ensure associate partners get the at-bats they need for us to evaluate them; strike right balance between client, partner, and development needs.
• Ensure associate partners receive frequent and accurate feedback, coordinate with supervisors, PD reviewers, promotion guardians.
• Review all case end and PD reviews to ensure quality feedback and clear messages.  Determine appropriate ratings for individuals or help reviewers settle on appropriate ratings for individuals in assigned cohort.
• Own class meetings, e.g.
  • Path to Partner
  • Value Proposition
  • Review-writing training
  • Managing underperformers
• Run New Senior Manager Orientation every 6 months.
• Key point of contact for HR and PD related queries                  
• Creating materials for key updates
• Oversee strategy and program design for professional development program.

Program class management for Managers, Consultants, Associate Consultants and Expert Client Delivery

End-to end management of class process:

• Oversees the professional development programme for Managers, Consultants and Associate Consultants with a dedicated team driving day to day efforts (3 PD advisors and an HR administrator)
• Oversees and ensures strong individual follow-ups in individuals across classes, drive trade-offs and decisions, …
• Oversees and provides guidance on organization of class meeting, orientations, … of the managers, consultants, and associate consultants classes, strengthening the team’s capabilities in this field.

Drive (annual) PD calendar, initiatives, and processes

• Induction of newcomers with specific attention for Experienced Hires
• Bi-annual PD and promotion committees
• Training & meeting/event calendar of the different classes

• Drive additional PD projects as they are identified, global, EMEA, local.

People Management

• Manage and develop PD team. 
• Manager the HR administrator in the shared service centre

Specific HR responsibilities will include ensuring the consistent application of HR policies and procedures throughout the business, managing employment issues, providing employee relations and employment law advice and guidance to the Leadership Team, and managing the HR department to high standards. 

• Manage HR programmes and activities including induction, HRIS, inter-office transfers, support staff recruitment and compensation, and exit procedures.  Implement global/EMEA Bain HR programmes/projects, and design additional local ones as necessary.
• Take leadership role in minimizing employment law risk.        Keep abreast of changing employment law, re-drafting and implementing policies, and advising management accordingly.  Act as one of the individuals to whom employees can raise related concerns.        
• Act as main point of contact for all employee relations issues, specifically, grievance, discipline, and performance related issues.  Provide counselling, guidance and coaching for employees, helping them handle difficulties and diffusing situations.  
• Manage the HR Department to high standards.  Keep HR systems and activities under constant review to ensure high levels of customer service, efficiency, and accuracy.  Manage and develop HR team members.  Develop and manage departmental budget.
• Support to the Talent LT on HR strategy in line with business needs

About You

• Master’s degree and ideally 10 years’ professional experience
• You have experience in Talent Management & HR and demonstrated experience acting as a trusted advisor to senior level management.
• You thrive in a fast-paced and sometimes demanding environment and have an innate ability to manage competing tasks.
• You’re a strong communicant and able to establish credibility with senior leaders, with strong stakeholder management abilities.
• You’re able to exercise effective judgment, sensitivity, discretion, and utilize bold creativity to apply to changing needs and situations.
• You have comprehensive knowledge of, and experience with Microsoft Word / Excel / PowerPoint

About Us

 Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future. Across 63 offices in 38 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a gold rating from Eco Vadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 2% of all companies. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry.