Head of Human Resources - Global Innovation Center

Title: Head of Human Resources – Global Innovation Center

We are looking for a Head of HR for our newly established Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Pune, India. You will be responsible for building, scaling, and running the full people strategy for the Jefferies GIC. In this role, you will play an important part in developing the talent, helping create the culture, and be deeply involved in governance, and the people operations framework needed to operate a high performing, innovation-driven global center.

Key Responsibilities

HR Strategy & Organizational Build-Out

• Establish the HR operating model for the GIC, aligned with Jefferies’ global people strategy, and localized for the Pune labor market.


• Partner with the GIC leadership team to align HR priorities with delivery demands.


• Build and lead the end-to-end people lifecycle for the GIC including workforce planning, onboarding, performance management, compensation including benchmarking to local market, and management of employee relations in partnership with employment legal.


• Establish and continuously refine organization structures, role architecture, and capability frameworks that support scaled growth.

Stakeholder Management & Leadership

• Serve as the primary HR business advisor to the GIC Head and global technology leaders.


• Partner closely with global HR leadership including Global Head of HR, Asia Head of HR, Corporate Head of HR and Global Head of Recruiting to ensure the GIC develops as a seamless extension of Jefferies’ global organizational model.


• Represent the GIC HR function in global forums, governance committees, and transformation programs.


• Provide development, training, guidance, and leadership to new GIC HR team members.


• Help identify and successfully hire the GIC HR team.

Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning

• Partner with recruiting leadership and global stakeholders to support the development and execution of a comprehensive hiring strategy. This will include contributing to superday hiring initiatives, advancing workforce diversity goals, and helping to define the technical requirements that enable the recruiting team to build a strong candidate pipeline aligned to the GIC’s strategic objectives.


• Ensure all hiring processes are consistent with Jefferies’ global standards and local regulatory requirements.


• In partnership with Head of Recruiting for GIC, drive leadership hiring and oversee recruitment governance, vendor management, and capacity planning.

Culture, Engagement & Local HR Policy

• In partnership with Technology leaders, define the Jefferies culture of the GIC.


• Advise and partner closely with the India HR team across the two established Jefferies entities, and employment legal in establishing regulatory requirements such as India Labor codes and ensuring ongoing compliance.


• Localize global people policies, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and alignment to GIC local culture.


• Design and deliver employee engagement strategies, leadership development, inclusion initiatives, and communication programs to foster a cohesive, high performance GIC culture.

Compensation, Performance & Development

• Establish performance management frameworks optimized for GIC talent.


• Lead compensation and benefits strategy for the GIC in partnership with Compensation & Benefits team, driving alignment with the GIC market.


• Partner with the global Training & Development and Community & Engagement teams to design capability building programs.

HR Governance & Compliance

• Ensure the GIC is audit ready across all HR processes, partnering with Global HR, Compliance, and Legal.


• Operationalize local employment requirements relevant to Pune. 


• Lead engagement with external audits for items related to Pune and the GIC.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 15+ years of experience in financial services business advisory HR leadership, with experience leading HR for GICs, shared services, or global operations businesses.


• Proven experience in growth environments and building HR functions from the ground up. 


• Extensive knowledge of the Pune talent market with strong local labor law and regulatory experience.


• Strong stakeholder management and matrix organization influencing skills; experience partnering with global functional heads.


• Proven track record in leadership and management of employment relations matters.


• Ability to thrive in an entrepreneurial, fast scaling, environment.


• Experience managing HR transformation and change-management initiatives.