A strategic HR Business Partner seat inside a longstanding Australian business — partnering directly with the GM HR and the executive team, with genuine board-adjacent exposure from day one.

Melbourne CBD · up to $150k + super · high autonomy, high impact.

About the opportunity

HeXTalent is partnering with a well-established Australian business, currently in a period of significant organisational change, to appoint an HR Business Partner into their Melbourne CBD head office.

The organisation has a distributed workforce spanning corporate and operational teams across multiple Australian sites. It sits in a unique moment: a longstanding, well-established operation combined with a genuinely start-up mentality at head office as strategy, systems, and capability are built out for the next chapter.

The HR function is deliberately early in its maturity, and the seat sits alongside an existing Regional HR Advisor team and a newly established HR Analyst & Systems Administrator team. That means the HR Business Partner is freed to lead on the strategic, commercial, and board-facing dimensions of the role, rather than being pulled into every operational HR matter.

This is a build role for someone with strategic partnership polish who wants to make a mark.

About the role

Reporting to the General Manager Human Resources, the HR Business Partner acts as a strategic partner to leaders across the business, prepares board-quality reporting on people matters, and helps deliver the organisation's change and transformation agenda alongside the GM HR.

Strategic HR Partnership

- Supporting the GM HR with the execution of the HR strategy
- Building trusted relationships with leaders and providing commercially-focused HR advice
- Ensuring the organisation has the capability, leadership, and workforce required to achieve its strategic objectives

People & Change

- Partnering with the GM HR and business leaders on transformation initiatives
- Supporting organisational change through consultation, communication, and implementation
- Identifying people impacts and risks associated with business change and developing appropriate solutions

Board Reporting & HR Analytics

- Preparing accurate, timely HR reports, analysis and insights for the GM HR, Executive Leadership Team, and Board




- Assisting with the preparation of HR Board packs — workforce metrics, remuneration, employee engagement, turnover, talent, organisational change, and key people risks
- Analysing workforce data alongside the HR Analyst & Systems Administrator to identify trends, risks, and opportunities
- Supporting the preparation of remuneration and people-related papers for Board and Committee meetings

Talent, Capability & Leadership

- Supporting talent, succession, and capability strategies
- Coordinating leadership development and Learning & Development initiatives
- Promoting effective career development and succession planning practices

Employee Relations & Performance

- Providing advice and support to managers on complex performance, conduct, grievance, and disciplinary matters
- Supporting the Regional HR Advisors with coaching managers in effective performance and employee conversations
- Ensuring HR practices comply with employment legislation, awards, agreements, and organisational policies

Remuneration & Reward

- Supporting the implementation and administration of remuneration and reward programs
- Assisting with annual remuneration reviews, benchmarking, and salary analysis
- Supporting the administration of KPI and Short-Term Incentive (STI) frameworks

The role involves some travel to operational sites away from Melbourne. Openness to that rhythm matters more than the frequency.

About you

Essential

- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related discipline
- 4+ years' experience in an HR advisory role
- Proven experience providing strategic HR advice and partnering with leaders
- Breadth across employee relations, performance management, organisational development, and workforce planning
- Solid knowledge of Australian employment and workplace relations legislation
- Demonstrated experience supporting organisational change and transformation




- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills (a leading indicator for board pack drafting)
- Experience using HRIS, people analytics, and business intelligence systems

Highly regarded:
- Postgraduate qualification in HR, Business, or a related discipline
- Experience shaped by time in top-tier consulting or advisory firms (Big 4 — Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG — or the strategy houses like BCG, McKinsey, Bain, Accenture) in HR, People & Change, or Transformation practices
- Experience supporting senior executives and/or Board reporting
- Experience in complex, multi-site, or operational workforce environments
- Change management or transformation qualifications
- Workforce analytics and reporting depth

Cultural signals we're looking for:
- Strategic thinker who can also roll their sleeves up when it matters
- Comfortable with ambiguity and ready to build alongside a supportive GM HR
- Commercially-minded — comfortable framing HR work in terms of business outcomes
- Values impact and outcome over process
- Willing to give and receive trust for flexible working
- Long-term commitment mindset

What's on offer

- Base salary up to $150,000 + superannuation
- Hybrid working arrangement. Approx. 2–3 days in the office, flexed to what the week requires
- Direct exposure to the General Manager Human Resources and the executive team
- Genuine board-adjacent exposure from day one — board pack preparation and executive-committee interfacing are part of the role
- Significant autonomy and scope to shape how the strategic HR function operates for the business
- A supportive, trust-based leadership approach
- A meaningful build role in an environment that treats HR as a genuine strategic function

About HeXTalent HeXTalent is the parent company behind Careers in HR — Australia's specialist HR ecosystem. Our recruitment work draws directly on that infrastructure: HR-specific reach, HR-specific market intelligence, and a candidate community built entirely around the profession.

To apply

Apply directly through this ad with your CV, or contact us for a confidential conversation:

Jeff Teale · Founder & Director, HeXTalent

? [email protected] The Humanistic eXchange

📌 People & Change Partner (Melbourne)
🏢 Hex Talent
📍 Melbourne