Country People Lead

Job description

Dreaming big is in our DNA. It’s who we are as a company. It’s our culture. It’s our heritage. And more than ever, it’s our future. A future where we’re always looking forward. Always serving up new ways to meet life’s moments. A future where we keep dreaming bigger. We look for people with passion, talent, and curiosity, and provide them with the teammates, resources and opportunities to unleash their full potential. The power we create together – when we combine your strengths with ours – is unstoppable. Are you ready to join a team that dreams as big as you do?

Dreaming big is in our DNA.

At Zambian Breweries, part of AB InBev, we’re driven by a shared purpose: creating a future with more cheers. We are building a high-performing culture where our people can unleash their full potential and drive meaningful business impact.

We are looking for a Country People Lead, Zambia to be the senior People (HR) Leader responsible for shaping, driving, and delivering the people agenda across the country. This role partners closely with the country leadership team and is accountable for translating business strategy into people strategies that accelerate growth, strengthen culture, build leadership capability, and ensure world-class employee experiences.

As a trusted advisor to business leaders, you will champion talent, culture, capability, engagement, and organizational effectiveness, ensuring our People agenda creates sustainable competitive advantage.

Key Purpose of the Role

The Country People Lead is responsible for leading the end-to-end People agenda for the country, driving strategic people (HR) priorities that enable business performance and long-term growth. This includes partnering with leaders to embed the People Cycle, build organizational capability, strengthen culture, develop talent pipelines, and ensure compliance with all people-related policies and legislation.

The role serves as the key connection point between business leadership and People teams, ensuring that all People (HR) strategies, programs, and initiatives deliver measurable business outcomes while creating an exceptional employee experience.

What You’ll Do

Strategic Business Partnership

• Partner with the Country Leadership Team to translate business strategy into people plans and priorities.
• Provide strategic counsel on organizational design, workforce planning, leadership effectiveness, and change management.
• Enable business performance through people-focused solutions and interventions.
• Drive a culture of accountability, high performance, and continuous improvement.

Talent & Leadership Development

• Lead the implementation of the People Cycle across the country.
• Drive talent management, succession planning, and leadership development initiatives.
• Consolidate and leverage talent insights to support workforce planning and future capability needs.
• Partner with business leaders to identify and develop critical talent pipelines.
• Build People (HR) capability and strengthen leadership effectiveness through coaching and development.

Culture & Employee Experience

• Champion AB InBev’s culture and People principles across the country.
• Leverage employee engagement survey results and people analytics to identify opportunities and implement action plans.
• Drive initiatives that strengthen employee engagement, inclusion, wellbeing, and retention.
• Ensure an exceptional employee experience across the full employee lifecycle.

Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning

• Partner with Head of Talent Acquisition to support recruitment activities, to ensure delivery of high-quality talent.
• Ensure effective onboarding and integration of new employees.
• Partner with leaders on workforce planning and capability-building strategies.

Learning & Capability Building

• Assess organizational capability requirements and future skill needs.
• Partner with Learning & Development teams to design and implement development solutions.
• Foster a culture of growth, learning, and continuous improvement across the country.

Employee Relations & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with labour legislation, company policies, and governance requirements.
• Provide leadership on employee relations matters and support complex case resolution.
• Guide leaders in applying fair, consistent, and legally compliant people practices.

Reward & Performance

• Support annual target-setting and performance management processes.
• Partner with Centres of Excellence to manage reward-related matters and ensure policy compliance.
• Contribute to a high-performance culture through effective People practices and performance enablement.

What You’ll Bring

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business, or a related field.
• 8-10 years of progressive Human Resources experience.
• Membership and good standing with the Zambia Institute of Human Resource Management (ZIHRM) is a minimum requirement.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience leading people teams or managing HR within a complex organization.
• Strong knowledge of labour legislation and employee relations practices.
• Experience managing the end-to-end employee lifecycle.

Preferred Experience

• FMCG or manufacturing experience.
• Experience partnering with senior business leaders and executive teams.
• Demonstrated success implementing strategic People (HR) initiatives that drive business performance.
• Experience leading organizational transformation, culture, and capability-building initiatives.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinking and business acumen
• Leadership and influencing skills
• Talent management and succession planning
• Employee relations expertise
• Change leadership
• Data-driven decision making
• Stakeholder management
• Coaching and leadership development
• Problem-solving and execution excellence

Why Join Us?

At Zambian Breweries (part of AB InBev), you’ll have the opportunity to shape the future of our people agenda while working alongside passionate leaders in a fast-paced, performance-driven environment. You’ll be empowered to make a meaningful impact on our culture, talent, and business success while developing your own leadership capability within the world’s leading brewer. #DreamBig