Founded in Japan in 1887, Kao is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives with our high quality products and services to create a Kirei Life for all - a beautiful life that respects the needs of our consumers and customers as well as the planet. We never compromise on quality and craft our products with care for the consumer and the environment.
As a company driven by purpose and strong corporate values we pride ourselves to be listed among the World’s Most Ethical Companies since 16 consecutive years. Our corporate philosophy, the Kao Way, guides us in everything we do - acting with integrity, courageously driving innovation and treating each other with trust and respect.
Founded in Japan in 1887, Kao is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives with our high-quality products and services to create a Kirei Life for all – a beautiful life that respects the needs of our consumers and customers as well as the planet. We never compromise on quality and craft our products with care for the consumer and the environment. As a company driven by purpose and strong corporate values, we pride ourselves to be listed among the World´s Most Ethical Companies since 16 consecutive years. Our corporate philosophy, the Kao Way, guides us in everything we do – acting with integrity, courageously driving innovation, and treating each other with trust and respect.

EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Education
Degree in personnel Management, employment law, psychology, business studies or similar.

Professional Experience

• Several Years acting as a commercial Business Partner in Human Resources - A minimum of 3 years work experience as an HR Business Partner in Germany
• Experience in partnering with leaders and advising on human resources issues
• Sound practical knowledge of labour law in Germany, ideally with some basic experience working with a Works Council

Other Role requirements

• A genuine passion to act as a business partner and a hands-on operational approach
• A good sense of humour
• Fluent spoken and written German with a good command of English which is our main business language. Other languages (eg Dutch) beneficial but not essential.
• Sound knowledge of German employment legislation in a company with Works Council representation
• Curiosity and drive to challenge the status quo and help us simplify and digitalize processes
• Energy and patience to impact positive cultural change
• Ability to positively engage with stakeholders, peers and team members across multiple cultures and age groups
• A clear focus on meeting deadlines and driving objectives and key results
• Ability to influence, coach and mentor
• Strong organizational skills and high accuracy with numbers
• Sound digital skills (i.e. MS Teams, Microsoft Office 365, Workday)
• An interest in working in a friendly and supportive multi-national HR team partnering closely with local and international HR Business Partners and Centres of Excellence
• Self-motivation, a business and growth mind-set and influencing skills with an analytical and organized approach
• Ideally some experience working in an international environment
• Resilience and a hands-on approach
• Based within a reasonable commuting distance to our offices in Darmstadt. We are operating a hybrid working model with the opportunity to balance remote and in office work.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

This role will be the primary HR contact and operational support for 160 employees in our Research & Development function based in Germany but also provide support for Function and Sector employees in other parts of the business. The role reports to the Associate Director Functions based in the Netherlands.

You will:

• Build strong relationship with business leaders and team members and act as sounding board, coach and advisor on all people issues
• Drive operational excellence and execution
• Be an advocate for digitalizing, smart working, life/work balance and well-being
• Engage with your HR peers and our Centres of Excellence in a collaborative way to ensure holistic and timely results
• Manage headcount cost planning for your sector in partnership with the FP&A team
• Be a DE&I champion supporting the roll-out of our DE&I EMEA roadmap in your client group

We are looking for an emerging HR Business Partner who is keen to progress but also still hands-on with strong operational execution skills.

Other Role requirements

• A genuine passion to act as a business partner and a hands-on operational approach
• A good sense of humour
• Fluent spoken and written German with a good command of English which is our main business language. Other languages (eg Dutch) beneficial but not essential.
• Sound knowledge of German employment legislation in a company with Works Council representation
• Curiosity and drive to challenge the status quo and help us simplify and digitalize processes
• Energy and patience to impact positive cultural change
• Ability to positively engage with stakeholders, peers and team members across multiple cultures and age groups
• A clear focus on meeting deadlines and driving objectives and key results
• Ability to influence, coach and mentor
• Strong organizational skills and high accuracy with numbers
• Sound digital skills (i.e. MS Teams, Microsoft Office 365, Workday)
• An interest in working in a friendly and supportive multi-national HR team partnering closely with local and international HR Business Partners and Centres of Excellence
• Self-motivation, a business and growth mind-set and influencing skills with an analytical and organized approach
• Ideally some experience working in an international environment
• Resilience and a hands-on approach
• Based within a reasonable commuting distance to our offices in Darmstadt. We are operating a hybrid working model with the opportunity to balance remote and in office work