Head of People & Culture: Retail Segment at Robert Walters

What you’ll do:

• As Head of People and Culture: Retail Segment, you will play a central role in shaping the employee journey from recruitment through induction to ongoing development.
• Your day-to-day responsibilities will involve collaborating closely with executive leaders to align people priorities with business objectives while fostering an inclusive culture that supports transformation.
• You will oversee a large team dedicated to delivering consistent People and Culture services across hundreds of stores nationwide. By leveraging data analytics for workforce planning and resourcing decisions, you will anticipate challenges related to expansion or seasonal trading periods.
• Your commitment to continuous learning will ensure all employees meet required certifications while supporting succession planning for key roles. Through proactive engagement strategies with Employee Relations departments, you will reinforce fairness and accountability throughout the organisation.
• Ultimately, your efforts will contribute directly to operational agility by streamlining processes that enhance accuracy across the employee lifecycle.
• Design and deliver tactical objectives for People and Culture across the national retail footprint, including pharmacies, clinics, frontshop operations, and category teams.
• Lead, develop, and manage a team of field professionals who support various segments within the retail network to ensure seamless service delivery.
• Partner with executive management to build alignment between divisional operational teams and support structures for responsive solutions that add value.
• Drive cross-functional synergy among pharmacy, clinic, frontshop, and category teams to enable integrated People and Culture service delivery.
• Oversee operational readiness for new store openings, acquisitions, and clinic integrations by managing talent acquisition processes as well as change management initiatives.
• Ensure smooth transitions during periods of organisational change such as new store launches or reconfigurations by facilitating cultural integration and systems enablement.
• Act as the People and Culture lead in store closure or reconfiguration projects with sensitivity to employee impact while maintaining business continuity.
• Develop strategic workforce plans in partnership with Talent Acquisition to maintain an adequate pipeline of employees for current and future needs.
• Implement targeted sourcing, onboarding, and retention initiatives aligned with property expansion models to address workforce challenges in high-demand regions.
• Collaborate with Learning & Development teams to drive training interventions specific to pharmacy compliance, customer service excellence in frontshop areas, and clinical protocols.

What you bring:

• To excel as Head of People and Culture: Retail Segment you will bring extensive experience leading human resources functions within complex retail or healthcare organisation.
• Your background should include deep familiarity with South African labour laws alongside hands-on exposure managing distributed workforces across multiple locations.
• You are adept at navigating transformation agendas—championing diversity initiatives while embedding inclusive practices throughout every level of the organisation.
• Your proven ability to design strategic workforce plans ensures readiness for rapid expansion or seasonal fluctuations without compromising quality standards.
• Collaboration comes naturally: you thrive when partnering with Learning & Development specialists on tailored training interventions that uplift capability across pharmacy dispensaries as well as frontshop customer service teams.
• Commercially astute yet empathetic by nature—you balance cost optimisation imperatives against employee wellbeing considerations at every turn.
• Your interpersonal strengths shine through when motivating high-performing teams or influencing senior executives toward shared goals.
• Above all else your commitment to continuous improvement drives measurable impact on both operational efficiency and employee engagement.
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or Industrial/Organisational Psychology is essential for success in this role.
• Minimum eight years’ experience in Human Resources with at least five years spent in senior HR operations or HR Business Partner leadership roles within retail or healthcare environments.
• In-depth understanding of South African labour legislation (BCEA, LRA) as well as sectoral regulations governing pharmacies and clinics (SAPC, NDoH, HPCSA compliance).
• Demonstrated success managing large-scale distributed workforces across high-volume retail settings is highly advantageous.
• Proven track record driving transformation initiatives including Employment Equity (EE), BBBEE compliance, skills development programmes (SD), and equity legislation implementation.
• Experience designing strategic workforce plans that anticipate staffing needs during expansion phases or seasonal peaks while addressing skills scarcity in rural regions.
• Ability to implement targeted sourcing strategies alongside effective onboarding processes that support retention goals aligned with property expansion models.
• Expertise collaborating with Learning & Development teams on pharmacy-specific training interventions as well as customer service excellence programmes for frontshop staff.
• Strong commercial acumen enabling alignment between People & Culture practices and cost-sensitive business outcomes within margin-focused environments.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills including resilience under pressure; ability to motivate teams; build trust; develop future leaders; influence senior stakeholders; engage cross-functional groups; shape organisational decisions.