REGIONAL HUMAN RESOURCES BUSINESS PARTNER - WCA

JOB SUMMARY:

This is a locally recruited position and may be based in any of the following country(ies): Western and Central Africa: Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo. Candidates must currently have and maintain the legal authorization to work in the country in which they will be based. International relocation or expatriate terms are not available for this role. This position is not visa sponsorship eligible.

As a trusted advisor, the Regional HR Business Partner (HRBP) serves as a strategic member of the Regional Leadership Team (RLT) while maintaining a dotted-line relationship with the Director, HR Business Partnerships. The role ensures that People & Culture priorities are embedded in regional agendas, decision-making, and strategic planning. This includes oversight and support in workforce planning, performance management, and senior-level recruitment, ensuring alignment between people strategies and organizational goals. By advancing total rewards, succession planning, and leadership pipelines, the HRBP contributes to building a high-performing and resilient workforce across the region.

The Regional HRBP leads organizational design and change management by advising leadership on restructuring, role alignment, and new operating models while ensuring smooth transitions for staff and leadership teams. The role partners with country offices to strengthen talent management, learning and development, and change capabilities, enabling HR teams to act as strategic partners to their senior management teams. Leveraging HR data and analytics, the HRBP provides evidence-based insights on people trends and ensures that regional and global strategies are grounded in the realities of country operations.

At the core of the role is fostering an engaged, safe, and inclusive workplace culture. The HRBP supports employee engagement surveys and wellness initiatives, paying particular attention to staff in high-stress and humanitarian contexts, and upholding CARE’s duty of care during crises. The role provides guidance on employee relations, coordinates with PHSEA to ensure timely and appropriate resolution of sensitive cases, and strengthens compliance through HR audits and risk reviews. By coaching managers and building the capacity of country HR teams, the HRBP advances organizational values, consistency, and excellence across the full employee life cycle.

This role has a dotted-line reporting relationship to the Country Office HR Lead.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Regional HR Leadership & Advisory

• Serve as a key HR advisor and ensuring close alignment between regional leadership and People & Culture priorities. Through this partnership, ensure that HR priorities are consistently embedded in regional agendas, decision-making, and strategic planning.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to the Regional Leadership Team RLT, embedding HR strategy into business planning and organizational performance.
• Take the lead in rolling out global P&C initiatives within the Region, ensuring alignment with regional priorities and country-level execution. Identify and surface key people and culture needs, challenges, and emerging trends from country offices, and ensure these are reflected in regional and global P&C roadmaps.
• Act as a conduit so that high-level P&C strategies and discussions are grounded in the realities and feedback from country offices. 
• Leverage HR data and analytics to provide actionable insights ensuring evidence-based decision-making across Country offices and the region. 
• Provide strategic oversight to ensure country offices align people priorities with operational and strategic goals across the entire employee life cycle. 
• Work closely with the Regional Director to provide oversight and support in the recruitment of senior positions within the Region.

Organizational Design & Change Management

• Support restructuring, realignment, and implementation of new operating models by advising leadership on organizational design, role alignment, and workforce impacts. Ensure smooth transitions for leadership teams and staff by providing guidance on change implications and supporting continuity of operations in country offices.
• Lead and guide change management efforts by developing communication plans, facilitating staff engagement, and equipping leaders to foster alignment and confidence during transitions. Partner with country teams to strengthen their capacity in managing organizational change, ensuring restructuring processes are carried out fairly, transparently, and in alignment with organizational values and compliance requirements.
• Partner with regional and country leaders to foster organizational effectiveness and culture shifts by helping teams adapt to new ways of working, embedding CARE's values, and strengthening resilience and performance in the face of evolving humanitarian and development challenges.
  Support digital HR transformation and adoption of technology to strengthen efficiency, consistency, and staff experience across country offices

Building HR Capability, Ensuring Standards & Compliance

• Build the capability of Country Office HR teams through structured peer-learning, mentoring, and coaching.
• Partner with HR Leads and CDs to cultivate CO ownership of key HR processes and practices.
• Facilitate knowledge-sharing across the HR network, positioning CO HR teams as strategic partners to their SMTs.
• Set and maintain standards for the HR function across COs, covering the entire employee life cycle ensuring alignment with global standards and consistency in practice.
• Partner with CO HR teams to strengthen talent management processes, ensuring succession planning and leadership pipelines are developed and sustained.
• Advance regional diversity priorities, including leadership pipelines for national staff, and support localization goals.
• Ensure CO HR policies and practices comply with local labor laws, global standards, and CARE policies.
• Conduct regular HR audits and risk reviews to strengthen compliance and mitigate risks.
• Oversee consistent implementation of HR systems and policies across COs.
• Provide guidance on employee relations matters, ensuring fairness, compliance, and alignment with CARE's values.
• Partner with the PHSEA team to coordinate investigations, ensuring timely updates to Regional Directors and appropriate case resolution.
• Advise leadership on complex people decisions to balance compliance, risk, and organizational goals.

Employee Engagement, Culture & Well-Being

• Support Country Directors and CO HR teams to foster a positive, welcoming, and safe workplace culture where all staff feel valued and engaged.
• Guide and enable CO HR teams in the implementation and follow-up of employee engagement surveys, ensuring results are translated into actionable plans that are monitored and tracked.
• Partner with CO leadership to champion well-being initiatives that address mental, physical, financial, and social health, with particular attention to high-stress and humanitarian contexts.
• Coach and build the capacity of managers and CO HR teams to strengthen people leadership skills and enhance the employee experience across the employee life cycle.
• Collaborate with Country Office leadership and crisis management teams during humanitarian emergencies to provide HR guidance, support staff well-being, and ensure CARE’s duty of care obligations are met.
• Work with Country Directors and CO HR teams to implement timely measures that safeguard staff welfare, sustain engagement, and maintain a safe, supportive work environment under challenging conditions.

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