Want an HR role where you can roll up your sleeves, shape people’s careers and see your ideas come to life?

This is your opportunity to take the lead in a sole-charge HR role, working directly with decision-makers and supporting more than 85 people across the South Island. From developing our future leaders and creating career pathways for apprentices to tackling the everyday people challenges that keep a business moving, you will have the autonomy to make the role your own and create a genuine impact.

About the Role

This is a hands-on, sole-charge HR role where you will take ownership of the full HR function across the business. You will work directly with our apprentices, tradespeople, Site Foremen, Project Managers and senior leaders, providing support across the entire employee lifecycle.

While you will have the autonomy to manage your own workload and make day-to-day HR decisions, you will work closely with the Director and leadership team on wider people initiatives and key employment matters.

Why this is an exciting opportunity:

• Develop a structured career pathway programme that supports our apprentices from their first day through to qualification and future leadership opportunities
• Create practical leadership development programmes for our Leading Hands, Site Foremen and Site Supervisors
• Take ownership of employee engagement, retention and enhance the company EVP
• Be visible across the business and build genuine relationships with our operational teams
• Make the HR function your own within a growing and successful South Island business

What You Will Own

• Managing the full employee lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding through to offboarding
• Leading recruitment across trade, operational and professional roles throughout the South Island, including managing relationships with recruitment agencies and labour hire providers
• Providing practical advice and support across employee relations, performance, conduct and other people matters
• Coaching managers to build their confidence and capability when leading their teams
• Conduct payroll processing weekly and respond to employee pay and leave queries
• Managing employment agreements, employee records and general HR administration
• Developing and maintaining practical HR policies, procedures and employment documentation
• Coordinating training, competency and certification requirements
• Supporting workforce planning, succession and talent retention initiatives
• Leading employee engagement, wellbeing and employer brand initiatives
• Manage key health and safety processes, including incident reporting and training compliance
• Improving HR systems and processes to make them simpler and more effective
• Travelling to our Queenstown and Cromwell when required

About You

You will be an experienced HR generalist who enjoys working autonomously and taking ownership. As this is a standalone role, you will need to be a motivated self-starter who can organise your own workload, identify what needs attention and confidently move work forward without requiring close supervision.

You will be comfortable making sound day-to-day decisions independently, while also recognising when a matter requires additional advice or alignment with the Director and leadership team.

Ideally, you will bring:

• At least three years’ experience in an HR generalist or HR leadership role
• A thorough and practical understanding of New Zealand employment legislation and HR best practice
• Experience independently managing employee relations and performance processes
• Confidence providing practical advice and coaching to managers
• Experience processing payroll and working with HRIS systems
• Strong organisational skills for those days when five “quick questions” arrive at once
• The confidence to follow up and hold people accountable while maintaining positive working relationships
• The ability to build trusted relationships across every level of the business
• Experience within construction, trades, manufacturing or another operational workforce would be an advantage, but is not essential

About Hanlon

Hanlon Plumbing & Pipe Services is one of the South Island’s leading commercial building services contractors. If you have spent time around Christchurch or Queenstown, there is a good chance you have walked through a building we have helped bring to life, from Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre and Christchurch Hospital to Skyline Queenstown.

We deliver commercial plumbing, mechanical, maintenance and specialist services across most of the South Island's most complex construction projects.

Our team has built a strong reputation for technical expertise, quality workmanship and long-standing client relationships. We work across healthcare, hospitality, education, defence and commercial projects, supported by a skilled team of more than 85 tradespeople throughout the South Island.

If you are looking for a varied HR role where you can take genuine ownership, remain close to the people and create meaningful change, we would love to hear from you.

Employer questions

Your application will include the following questions:

• Which of the following statements best describes your right to work in New Zealand?
• What's your expected annual base salary?
• How many years' experience do you have as a human resources manager?
• How much notice are you required to give your current employer?

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