Human Resources Lead

Job Description Company: The Happy Company Vertical: People Industry: Retail, Consumer Services Location: Chennai, TN Title: Lead, People CTC:24 LPA Company Overview: The Happy Company (THC) is a data and infrastructure platform for the consumer Internet, powered by intelligence and operating at the intersection of commerce, content, and community. THC wholly owns and operates Chaicup. Chaicup serves delicious, affordable, and sustainable foods and beverages. We leverage product and customer insights to combine an intelligent, world-class supply chain with a fast, friendly experience for both partners and consumers. Our mission is to become the world's most trusted food and beverage brand. At THC, interviews are intentionally rigorous. We evaluate not only skills and experience but also cultural alignment, problem-solving ability, and readiness to thrive in a high-performance environment. Compensation and growth are directly tied to performance and integrity. THC benchmarks competitively, ensuring those who meet our standards are recognised not just with titles but with meaningful rewards. We do not shy away from paying top-of-market for high-quality talent, and we do not negotiate. Our offers are transparent, carefully structured. Compensation discussions occur during the final stage of the interview process. Position Overview: This is THC's hub-level HR business partner for operations, reporting to the Managing Director. You will own the end-to-end people engine for the Chennai hub across all the business lines. Your mandate: build a reliable workforce supply chain, harden compliance, lift frontline performance, and translate policy into field-ready execution. You partner daily with Business Operations, Culture, Finance, and Administration to keep outlets staffed, compliant, productive, and proud. Key Responsibilities: 1. Recruitment: - Own leadership and critical role in recruitment, ensuring only the highest-calibre talent joins the organisation. - Implement a rigorous, multi-stage hiring process that includes psychometric evaluations, problem-solving simulations, culture-fit assessments, and structured case interviews. - Partner with function heads to define role benchmarks and hiring scorecards that maintain THC's performance standards. - Lead employer branding initiatives to position THC as a destination for top-tier talent. - Design and implement recruitment strategies to consistently hire frontline staff who can deliver results and embody THC's culture. - Source candidates through local markets, community networks, job fairs, referral programmes, and digital channels. - Drive the complete recruitment lifecycle: sourcing, screening, interviewing, and onboarding. - Build and maintain steady workforce pipelines to meet peak operational demands. 2. Onboarding & Training: - Build a fast-track onboarding process that ensures compliance with documents (Aadhar, PAN, bank details, photo). - Develop and deliver structured training modules to enhance hygiene, service quality, operational efficiency, and customer interaction skills. - Conduct sessions on company values, safety standards, and productivity best practices. - Ensure every new frontline staff member is job-ready. 3. Engagement, Retention & Workforce Management: - Act as the senior advisor on all policy-related matters across teams and functions. - Manage escalations and grievance redressals with fairness, confidentiality, and clarity. - Lead internal investigations into policy breaches and recommend structured resolutions. - Build a people-first culture by engaging directly with frontline staff on the ground. - Implement retention and engagement programs that reduce attrition and improve loyalty. - Monitor performance data (customer interaction, discipline, attendance) and conduct outlet visits to provide coaching and support as needed. - Address grievances and resolve conflicts promptly to maintain workforce morale. - Define and track key HR metrics related to policy performance, adoption, recruitment quality, and exceptions. - Prepare monthly compliance and recruitment dashboards for Founders and Business Heads. - Use analytics to identify patterns, inform decision-making, and drive improvement. - Conduct exit interviews to capture trends and recommend actionable improvements. 4. Performance & Risk Management: - Identify operational, legal, and cultural risks within HR processes. - Collaborate with THC's legal counsel to address risk proactively. - Lead THC's internal HR compliance audit programme. - Monitor performance metrics (attendance, hygiene, discipline, customer ratings). - Engage with frontline staff, motivate and support underperformers through improvement plans, and issue timely warnings where necessary. - Recognise and reward top performers to strengthen a high-performance culture. Education: MBA in Human Resource Management or HR - Armed Forces. Experience: - Over 15 years of experience in Human Resources management. - Demonstrated success in designing and executing workforce recruitment, retention, and engagement strategies. - Exposure to grievance handling, HR operations, and attrition management. - Candidates with teaching or academic backgrounds will also be considered. Skills: - High integrity, discretion, and the ability to manage sensitive situations. - Ability to communicate complex regulatory and recruitment concepts clearly and confidently. - Proven expertise in sourcing through grassroots networks, job fairs, and referrals. - Strong people connect and resolve conflicts with a people-first yet performance-driven mindset. - Analytical ability to track hiring funnels, attrition, and workforce performance against revenue goals. - Proficient in MS Office, Google Workspace, and ATS/HRIS tools. - Fluent [mandatory] in English, Hindi & Tamil. - Resilience, with the ability to work under pressure, meet hiring targets, and drive workforce engagement through regular outlet visits. You can write to us at [Confidential Information]