Country Head, HRLO, WSA

Country Head, HRLO, WSA

Wärtsilä is an innovative technology company known for being a forerunner in the Marine and Energy markets. Every day, we – Wärtsilians - put our hearts and minds into turning Wärtsilä's purpose of enabling sustainable societies through innovation in technology and services into reality. Our ultimate aim is to provide increased value to both our customers and society. New, game-changing ideas and continuous improvement have been part of our DNA since 1834. Together, we can create new business opportunities and more sustainable future that we can all be proud of.

We want to transition the world towards a decarbonised and sustainable future. By pushing the boundaries of engineering and technology, we can make it work. We are always on the lookout for future-oriented talent – want to join the ride?
As HR Advisor, your work will focus on these responsibilities:

• Nurture and develop the HR team to continue to deliver excellent people-focused support.
• Drive the HR transformation from an employee relations perspective.
• Provide a country overview and alignment of local policies/processes/handbooks, balancing between standardization and local variation & fluctuation, striving for employee engagement and focused on local compliance.
• Actively drive operational excellence in all activities to continuously improve performance.
• Advising/partnering/coaching managers in all people matters.
• Stimulate the exchange of local wellbeing practices and ensure a minimum level of local facilities and benefits.
• Proactively support organizational changes together with your team, from a legal as well as a communication and change management perspective.
• Enforce local policies and processes (where local differentiation from global policies or processes is required due to legal or significant cultural reasons) that are fair and consistent and aligned to our global framework.
• Accountability for effective working relationships between the company, the employee, and stakeholders such as local authorities and legally mandated service providers.
• Proactive communication and change management efforts towards your own team and the Wärtsilä organization in initiatives with limited or wider scope.
• Drive collaboration with other HR functions to ensure smooth running of the overall HR offering and delivery.
• Support local management, if not supported by a dedicated Business HR.

Professional attributes:

• Experience in process standardization and continuous service improvement.
• Extensive working knowledge of employment law issues and best practices in Saudi Arabia.
• Awareness of key employee relations requirements in a complex multi-business and multi-cultural environment.
• Caring, empathetic, and personable approach to dealing with others.
• 'Can do attitude' when working under pressure.
• High attention to detail.
• Hands-on approach to dealing with issues, confident acting quickly when needed.
• Multi-tasker, comfortable juggling multiple projects and maintaining momentum.
• High integrity, with an aptitude for building trustful, effective, and collaborative relationships at all levels across the HR functions, businesses, and external stakeholders.
• Excellent influencing, negotiation, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrable ability to advise team members on performance improvement to create high-performing teams.
• Track record of empowering, motivating, and creating a positive and inclusive team ethos.
• Team player who engages and collaborates with others to deliver results.
• A proactive, development-minded, and goal-focused attitude to work.
• An understanding of the Wärtsilä organization is considered an advantage.
• A strong track record of working in HRLO and leading teams.

Minimum Requirements for this position:

• Bachelor’s degree in HR/management/industrial engineering, or any other related degree.
• Strong communication skills.
• Able to work under pressure and commit to several projects/assignments' deadlines.
• Strong presentation skills and able to handle multi-country scopes with teams in different countries and multi-cultures.
• Proven years of experience (7-10 years) in HR operations such as, but not limited to, the following activities:
• Strong practice in running payroll and familiarity with HR software.
• Recruiting and selection.
• Training and development, succession planning.
• Compensation and benefits, rewarding strategy.
• Wellbeing and employee engagement.
• Knowledge of the local country labor law and ability to align it with Wärtsilä policy.
• Countries responsible for: Saudi Arabia.
• Flexible with frequent travel to countries in the region.

Last application date: 03/12/2025
At Wärtsilä we value, respect and embrace all our differences, and are committed to diversity, inclusion and equal employment opportunities; everyone can be their true self and succeed based on their job-relevant merits and abilities.

Please note that according to Wärtsilä policy, voluntary consent for a security check may be required from candidates being considered for this position, depending on the applicable country.