People & Culture Manager

Job Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa - Hybrid

Job Category: Human Resouces & Recruitment

The People & Culture (P&C) Manager - PSSA leads the People & Culture function for PetSure's South African shared service operation (PSSA). This role owns the strategic direction, governance and day-to-day management of people-related matters for the PSSA workforce, translating people strategy into practical, locally compliant outcomes for the South African operation. As a one-person People & Culture function in a growing business, this role will be both strategic and hands-on, with active ownership of execution and delivery expected.

As the senior People & Culture leader within PSSA and a member of the PSSA Leadership Team, this role partners closely with the Head of Operations: PSSA, the PSSA Leadership Team, PSSA employees and the Chief People Officer through a functional reporting line. The role operates with a high degree of autonomy and accountability, with responsibility for local employee relations, policy, workforce planning, engagement, organisational development, work health, safety and wellbeing, and South African labour law and payroll compliance outcomes.

A key driver of success in this role will be the ability to combine commercial judgment, strong employee relations capability, practical delivery discipline and deep knowledge of South African employment obligations to deliver trusted, locally fit-for-purpose People & Culture outcomes in a growing operation.

Your day-to-day duties will include:

• Owning and leading the People & Culture strategy, plans and priorities for the PSSA operation.
• Taking direct responsibility for execution and follow-through, recognising that this is currently a lean, one-person function supporting a growing business.
• Operating as the accountable People & Culture leader for PSSA across workforce planning, performance management, employee relations, policy and people programs.
• Partnering with South African leaders to design and implement people solutions aligned to the PSSA business strategy and annual workforce plan.
• Leading end-to-end change management initiatives, continual improvement activity and cultural alignment across the South African operation.
• Leading culture and engagement initiatives informed by PetSure engagement survey outcomes.
• Representing People & Culture as a member of the PSSA Leadership Team, including ownership of the local People & Culture budget and workforce plan.
• Coaching and mentoring leaders at all levels on performance, conduct, employee relations and organisational effectiveness matters.
• Owning complex and escalated employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance and CCMA processes.
• Operating as a one-person People & Culture department, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on delivery across core P&C activity.
• Owning the development, implementation and review of PSSA People & Culture policies and procedures, ensuring alignment with South African legislative requirements and PetSure's global policy framework.
• Leading workforce planning, organisational development and recruitment activity for PSSA-based roles in partnership with relevant leaders and budget owners.
• Managing employment-related administration coordination between PSSA and PSA, including wages, bonuses, accruals and entitlements.
• Owning annual legislative reporting for PSSA, including Employment Equity and Skills Development submissions to the Department of Labour.
• Owning workplace reporting and analytics for PSSA, using insights to guide people priorities and support regular reporting to the PSSA Leadership Team.
• Supporting the preparation of Board papers and governance reporting consistent with PetSure's governance structures.
• Living our values of Pets, People and Passion.

What you'll bring:

• First and foremost - your curiosity, sound judgment and passion for creating great people outcomes.
• A recognised degree, or equivalent postgraduate qualification, in Human Resources Management, Industrial Psychology or a related field.
• At least 8-10 years of progressive HR generalist experience, including 3-5 years in a senior People & Culture management, leadership or business partnering role with accountability for delivering people outcomes in a growing business.
• Current working knowledge of South African labour laws and reporting obligations, including the LRA, BCEA, Employment Equity Act and Skills Development Act. Including experience in preparing Board papers
• Proven experience managing complex employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance and CCMA processes.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently and resourcefully, with maturity to lead the function while actively doing the work required to deliver outcomes.
• Confidence making autonomous, high-stakes decisions and handling confidential and sensitive information.
• Comfort working in a lean environment where active doing, prioritisation and practical delivery are essential to success.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to coach, influence and build trusted partnerships with leaders and employees.
• Experience with workforce planning, recruitment, performance management, engagement initiatives, policy development and HR reporting.
• Experience managing Employment Equity and Skills Development reporting submissions, and experience in a shared services HR operation, would be highly regarded.
• Confidence using Microsoft Office and HR systems to manage information, analyse data and prepare reporting.

We have amazing people, a great culture... and support pet parents across Australia and New Zealand. Together, they make this a really great place to be. Here are some of the awesome benefits you may get to enjoy as part of the PetSure team:

• A place of choice for pet lovers: includes pet loving benefits like pet compassionate leave and Pawternity leave.
• Discounted on-site gym access.
• Great people and great culture: including various leave and wellbeing perks such as Spiritual Leave.
• Opportunities unleashed: reward, recognition and professional development opportunities that set you up for success.

About PetSure PetSure is helping to create a better world for pets and their people, with a mission to remove the worries that come with being a pet owner.

We are a pet health tech business providing a sense of security to almost half a million people in Australia and New Zealand. We are the first general insurer in Australia solely dedicated to pet insurance and with our partners, everything we do champions the rights of pets, pet parents and vets.

We are a pet insurance underwriting agency and insurer. At our core, are a team of passionate pet lovers committed to working with veterinary teams to help provide the best possible health outcomes for pets. The underwriting component of our business powers the pet insurance propositions of more than 25 companies, including some of Australia’s household names, such as IAG, Woolworths, RSPCA, Petbarn, Guide Dogs, Medibank, Bupa, HCF and AA in New Zealand.

PetSure is also an administrator and leader in pet insurance claims processing. Assessing over a million claims from across Australia and New Zealand each year, PetSure’s authority in this area has resulted in us being retained by leading pet insurers in the United States to provide claims processing services.

Our innovative payment solution GapOnly™ is a paperless claims service whereby a customer can obtain claims approval within minutes and simply pay the gap, while still at the vet clinic. GapOnly™ is transforming the claims experience with less upfront out of pocket expenses for the pet parent, now available in 1000+ participating vet clinics and specialist hospitals Australia-wide.