Deputy Unit Manager - IA HR

Location Name: Pune Corporate Office - Mantri

Job Purpose

To design and drive contemporary people and engagement interventions that build a future ready workforce, working as an individual contributor who conceptualises, curates and delivers initiatives end to end for the assigned business.

To continuously map industry wide best practices in talent management and employee engagement, adapt them to the organisation's context and culture, and implement them seamlessly through platforms such as townhalls, summits, people connects, career workshops, hackathons and other new age interventions.

To strengthen employee experience, pride, capability and connect so that talent stays engaged, future skilled and aligned to the organisation's growth agenda.

Duties And Responsibilities

Designing and Driving People Initiatives for a Future Ready Workforce

Act as an individual contributor Engagement Partner who conceptualises, designs and drives the annual people engagement and talent management calendar for the assigned business. Build a deep understanding of the business agenda, workforce profile, capability gaps, culture priorities and employee sentiment to shape interventions that create a future ready workforce. Own the initiative lifecycle end to end – idea, design, stakeholder alignment, budget, communication, rollout, participation and post event impact measurement. Translate business and HR priorities into simple, scalable and repeatable people programs that can be run across locations and employee segments.

Industry Best Practice Mapping and Adaptation

Continuously scan and benchmark industry wide best practices in engagement, talent management, employee experience, learning and future skilling across peer organisations, technology firms and start ups. Adapt and contextualise external best practices to the organisation's culture, employee demographics, business rhythm and cost discipline rather than adopting them as is. Pilot new ideas with defined success criteria, gather feedback, refine and scale the ones that work, while retiring interventions that do not add value. Ensure seamless implementation by building clear process documents, toolkits, communication assets and manager enablement material for every intervention.

Flagship Engagement Platforms – Townhalls, Summits and People Connects

Plan and execute leadership townhalls including theme, content flow, leadership messaging, employee Q&A, logistics, attendance and post event feedback. Design and anchor summits and forums that showcase business achievements, innovation stories, customer impact and future roadmap for the workforce. Drive structured people connects such as skip level connects, new joiner connects, women connects, high potential connects, focus groups and pulse conversations to capture employee voice. Convert insights from connects, pulse surveys and culture surveys into clear action plans and follow through to closure with business and HR stakeholders.

Career, Capability and Innovation Interventions

Design and run career workshops, career conversation frameworks, role based growth paths, internal mobility drives and mentoring circles that help employees see and build their future in the organisation. Conceptualise and deliver hackathons, ideathons, innovation challenges and learning sprints that build new age skills, encourage original thinking and create visible ownership. Partner with L&D and business experts to curate future skilling journeys, certification drives, tech talks, knowledge sharing sessions and communities of practice. Strengthen rewards and recognition, onboarding and buddy programs, milestone celebrations and other employee experience moments that matter.|Communication, Measurement and Governance Build the internal communication narrative for people initiatives through bulletins, mailers, digital channels, leadership messages and campaign creatives. Define and track measurable outcomes for every intervention – participation, reach, feedback scores, engagement and culture survey movement, capability build and retention impact. Publish dashboards and review decks for leadership covering engagement calendar progress, action closures, employee sentiment themes and best practice adoption. Manage budgets, vendors and event partners with cost discipline, timelines and quality standards.

The principal accountabilities of the role holder are expected to impact the organization from two perspectives:

Business Indicators Timely and seamless execution of the annual engagement and talent management calendar Improvement in engagement, ESAT and culture survey scores for the assigned business Number of industry best practices mapped, piloted and successfully scaled within the organisation Participation, reach and feedback scores across townhalls, summits, people connects, career workshops and hackathons Reduction in regrettable attrition and improvement in internal mobility and future skill readiness Adherence to budget, timelines and closure of actions arising from employee feedback Employees and Stakeholders Stronger employee connect, voice and sense of belonging across levels and locations Greater clarity on career paths, growth opportunities and skills required for the future Visible platforms for innovation, original thinking and recognition of contribution Higher pride in the organisation, the work and the leadership connect Enabled managers who can carry engagement and career conversations forward with their teams

Key Decisions / Dimensions

Design, theme, format and calendar of engagement and talent management interventions for the assigned business. Selection of industry best practices to be benchmarked, piloted, scaled or discontinued basis relevance and impact. Content flow, agenda and employee communication approach for townhalls, summits, people connects, career workshops and hackathons. Recommendation on vendors, event partners, platforms and budget utilisation within approved limits. Identification of engagement hotspots, employee sentiment themes and the corrective action priorities to be taken up with business leaders. Metrics, feedback mechanisms and closure timelines to be used for measuring the success of each intervention.

Major Challenges

Establishing credibility as an individual contributor who designs and delivers large scale people initiatives without a direct team, relying purely on influence and stakeholder partnership. Adapting industry best practices to the organisation's context, culture and cost structure so that they land meaningfully instead of being seen as borrowed ideas. Keeping interventions fresh and relevant for a diverse and multi generational workforce spread across levels, locations and work models. Securing leadership time, manager participation and employee bandwidth for townhalls, summits, workshops and hackathons amidst demanding business timelines. Demonstrating measurable business and people impact of engagement interventions rather than event level participation alone. Balancing multiple concurrent initiatives, vendors and budgets while maintaining quality, timelines and a seamless employee experience.

Required Qualifications And Experience

Qualifications

MBA / Post Graduate qualification in HR or related discipline preferred

Work Experience

3 – 6 years of experience in employee engagement, talent management, employee experience, internal communication or HR partnering roles, preferably with exposure to technology or digital workforces.

Demonstrated track record of independently designing and executing people initiatives such as townhalls, summits, people connects, career workshops, hackathons, recognition programs and culture campaigns.

Ability to benchmark industry best practices, contextualise them to the organisation and implement them seamlessly end to end.

Strong conceptual thinking, storytelling and communication skills with the ability to craft content for leadership and large employee audiences.

Project and event management skills covering planning, budgeting, vendor management, logistics and timelines.

Comfort with people analytics, survey data, dashboards and digital engagement platforms to measure impact and drive decisions.

High ownership, creativity, stakeholder management and the ability to deliver as an individual contributor through influence.