Regional HR Business Partner, Manager (26-08-N-KEN)

The International Potato Center (CIP) is looking for a Regional HR Business Partner who will provide strategic and operational HR leadership across CIP's Africa region, partnering with senior leaders and country offices to deliver people solutions aligned with organizational objectives and local context.

About the position: The Regional HR Business Partner will act as a trusted strategic advisor to the Regional Director, country managers, and staff across CIP's Africa region — including countries where CIP operates through direct presence or hosting agreements with other CGIAR centers. This position combines strategic HR leadership with hands-on operational delivery, ensuring alignment between CIP's global P&C standards and regional needs. The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and reports to the Head of People & Culture, with a co-reporting line to the Regional Director, Africa.

Key responsibilities:

• Partner with senior business leaders as a strategic advisor on organizational design, talent strategy and workforce planning.
• Diagnose organizational effectiveness problems (e.g. leadership gaps, team dysfunction) and develop targeted intervention plans.
• Ensure that any people-related business decision or implementation is compliant with applicable local labor laws, CIP institutional policies, and donor requirements, escalating complex legal matters as required.
• Use workforce data and analytics to surface trends; prepare analyses, indicators, metrics and reports to support P&C related projects and to make data-informed recommendations.
• Lead talent reviews and succession planning processes, facilitating calibration conversations with senior leaders.
• Lead staff recruitment in the region and onboarding of new employees; provide advice on policies and procedures and good recruitment practices; build pipelines for critical roles.
• Collaborate on significant workforce events including restructurings, early retirement plans and leadership transitions as required.
• Contribute to the development of a regional learning and staff development plan and lead the regional implementation to support staff career growth and organizational effectiveness.
• Contribute to the continual improvement of P&C processes, procedures and practices.
• Collaborate with other members of the People & Culture team on implementing the HR Strategy.
• Inform and lead the implementation of CIP's staff wellbeing framework and contribute to its ongoing design. Act as a first point of contact for staff pastoral matters, equip managers to recognize and respond to well-being concerns, and ensure support is consistently available across duty stations.
• Work with senior leaders and staff to resolve workplace grievances and support a positive employee experience.
• Maintain compliance to CIPs global HR policies, hosting agreements and alignment with labor laws across countries in the Region.
• Ensure the effective and efficient delivery of payroll services by collaborating closely with Compensation & Benefits to maintain accuracy, compliance, and employee satisfaction.
• Undertake process improvement and other related P&C projects assigned.
• Supervise, coach, and develop direct reports, setting clear performance expectations, providing regular feedback, and ensuring the delivery of the team's operational commitments as applicable.
• Comply with applicable health and safety CIP policies and procedures.

Requirements

What are we looking for?

• Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or Organizational Psychology.
• At least 8 years of experience in a similar HR Business Partner or HR generalist role, ideally in an international or multicultural organization.
• Demonstrated experience in talent management, workforce planning, employee relations, and HR compliance across multiple countries.
• Knowledge of labor laws and employment regulations, with the ability to identify legal risk and advise business leaders accordingly — particularly across African country contexts.
• Experience designing and delivering learning and development programs is desirable.
• Strong analytical skills — ability to extract data, identify trends, and present data-informed recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated people management experience — ability to set clear expectations, develop direct reports, and build team capability in a remote or distributed environment.
• Ability to balance a strategic approach with hands-on operational HR delivery.
• Advanced knowledge of HR software and cloud solutions is desirable.
• SHRM-SCP, GPHR, ICF coaching, or Organizational Development certification is desirable.
• Advanced written and oral communication skills in English. Knowledge in French is an advantage given the regional scope.
• Core Competencies: Innovation, results orientation, collaboration, flexibility, emotional intelligence, and cross-cultural sensitivity.

Benefits

What are we offering?

• Compensation package commensurate with experience.
• Excellent working environment.
• Work in an equal and diverse workplace.
• Fixed-term renewable contract.