The primary purpose and function of the Human Resources Director is to serve as a strategic HR Business Partner for Brenntag Essentials West in North America. This includes supporting the President Brenntag Essentials Pacific and President Brenntag Essentials Southwest and their leadership teams.

Primary responsibility includes being an HR Business Partner to the business, being an employee advocate for all Brenntag associates and leading the Human Resources function and HR generalist teams for these businesses. This will be delivered through the contribution of their expert people knowledge, the development and implementation of business strategy, directing the successful management of change initiatives, leading their respective HR generalist teams and creating a culture aligned with Brenntag’s Core Values.

Tactically, this includes managing employee relations, performance management, labor and union relations and the execution of all organizational development & change, talent acquisition and demand planning, talent management (including performance management, succession planning, development planning, etc.), and learning & development initiatives within the business units, in partnership with our global HR Centers of Excellence (COE’s).

Responsibilities:

• Direct the HR function for the respective business areas.
• Communicate and role model the importance of employee engagement in a way that influences our line managers and employees to incorporate the mindset into daily business decisions and conversations.
• Educate, advise and challenge line management on the importance of our culture and how contributes to Brenntag’s Core Values.
• Advise on how to deal with new, complex business tasks, issues and problems by using The Core Values.
• Guide, train and direct business partners on the execution of HR policies and processes to ensure appropriate legal and corporate compliance.
• Training and development of HR generalist team.
• Apply the basic theories of behavioral sciences as well as change management, teambuilding, effective communication, feedback, coaching, mentoring, leadership development and facilitation.
• Lead and support the execution of annual HR processes such as talent and compensation reviews, People Performance Management (PPM), People Reviews (succession planning), engagement survey, etc.
• Ensure leaders understand and are fully engaged with talent identification and succession activities, processes and systems.
• Partner with President’s and leadership teams to create a performance culture (e.g. aligned business objectives, high quality development plans, regular and candid feedback, line manager coaching, etc).
• Train managers to effectively understand and use our performance and team development philosophy, tools and systems.
• Apply employment law for standard cases appropriately and determine when to seek legal advice.
• Provide direct coaching and consultation to the field organization to build and develop greater organizational capability.
• Analyze, benchmark and react, where applicable, to financial, operational and HR metrics to drive results.
• Advise line managers how to build quality development plans according to associate needs.
• Partner and advise on regional people initiatives in support of the talent pipeline, including workforce planning, attraction, development, engagement.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required with MBA or advanced degree in related field preferred, or the equivalent combination of education, training and experience that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Minimum 6-8 years of experience as a strategic HR Generalist / HR Manager or related function with four years business experience showing increasing responsibility.
• Knowledge of Talent & Performance Management, Engagement, Team Effectiveness, Organizational Design & Development, Change Management, Facilitation Skills and Coaching.
• HR training or certification preferred.
• Diverse career experiences (both within and outside of HR) preferred.
• Wholesale/Distribution/Chemical industry is preferred

Hiring Qualifications/Competencies:

Leadership

• Dealing with Ambiguity - Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably.
• Approachability - Is easy to approach and talk to; spends the extra effort to put others at ease.
• Directing Others – Is good at establishing clear directions.
• Motivating Others – Creates a climate in which people want to do their best.
• Negotiating – Can negotiate skillfully in tough situations with both internal and external groups.
• Strategic Agility - Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately.
• Managing Vision and Purpose - Communicates a compelling and inspired vision or sense of core purpose.

Functional

• Culture Champion - The ability to appreciate and articulate the nature and purpose of our Brenntag culture with the Core Values and to intervene effectively to shape the culture in a holistic way.
• Business Philosophy – The ability to build alignment of the business strategy, processes and decisions with our unique culture and The Core Values.
• Employee Engagement – The ability to provide expertise to our business on how to embed engagement into our thinking and behavior, all processes, policies and initiatives, to ensure better business performance through the highest levels of associate engagement.
• Performance Management – The ability to develop and implement policies and processes that evaluate individual and team performance and motivate associates and teams to perform.
• Succession Management – The ability to identify the best right talent with the potential to fill key leadership positions, and ensure they are exposed to the right developmental opportunities to maximize their success when appointed.