People and Culture Manager

About the Role:

The Manager – People and Culture serves as the operational engine of all core P&C systems. While the role requires a comprehensive/generalist understanding of the entire employee lifecycle, the primary mandates for this position are advanced, hands-on execution of Compensation & Benefits (including strategic benchmarking), and designing business-aligned onboarding frameworks.

This role is simultaneously a systems builder and an agile process executor. The Manager will report directly to the Director – People and Culture, work closely with program leadership across the organization, and lead a small, high-energy internal team. The ideal candidate brings exceptional numerical integrity, strong stamina to manage heavy workloads end-to-end, and the ability to partner directly with senior business leaders.

Key Responsibilities

1. Compensation, Benefits & Payroll Operations [Core Focus]

• Data-Backed Benchmarking: Conduct rigorous compensation benchmarking against relevant sector peers, bringing clear, advanced Excel-modeling and data-backed evidence to annual salary revision decisions.
• Payroll & Execution: Ensure monthly salary payouts, statutory compliance filings, and annual revisions are executed with 100% accuracy and strict timeliness.
• Equity & Fairness: Routinely analyze internal pay data to identify and systematically close structural inequities, improving fairness across roles and levels.
• Benefits Administration: Bring clear cost-benefit evidence into decisions on staff benefits (e.g., insurance cover, flexible benefit plans), carefully weighing value to staff against organizational budgets.
• HRMS Management: Maintain the HRM system, driving organization-wide trust and data adoption to ensure it remains audit-ready at any point.
• Statutory Compliance & Audits: Maintain full compliance with legal and regulatory requirements while staying ahead of changes in Indian labor law and non-profit frameworks (including PF, Professional Tax, and Gratuity)

2. Business Aligned Onboarding, Lifecycle & Separations [Core Focus]

• Holistic Onboarding Frameworks: Design and run a thorough onboarding experience that goes beyond standard HR compliance checklists, building a process that integrates new hires deeply into the specific operational realities of their respective teams.
• Stakeholder Integration: Partner closely with vertical program managers and business leaders to ensure the induction lifecycle reflects what leadership needs from a new hire from Day 1.
• Procedural Exit Management: Manage employee separations and the exit lifecycle with strict procedural accuracy. This includes managing exit sequences seamlessly, conducting structured exit interviews, and correctly leveraging Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) for developmental course correction, warnings, and documentation.
• Cross-Team Coordination: Collaborate seamlessly within the lean P&C team. While the Manager owns onboarding, operations, and exits, end-to-end recruitment and talent acquisition will be entirely driven and handled by another dedicated team member (Senior Associate).

3. Performance Management & Process Administration

• Cycle Management: Run annual goal-setting and review cycles precisely on time and to a consistent standard across all programs and levels.
• Appraisal Optimization: Partner with program leadership and the Director – P&C to manage, optimize, and successfully close the annual appraisal cycle.
• Leadership Pipeline: Assist in developing a robust leadership pipeline for senior organizational transitions.

4. Learning and Development:

• L&D Execution Support: While the overarching L&D strategy is led by the Director, the Manager will understand the architecture of the learning programs and provide strong backup execution support to keep the annual learning calendar running productively.
• Delivery & Evaluation: Choose delivery models sensibly (e.g., internal faculty, external partners, self-paced, or cohort-based) depending on the specific organizational need. Gather honest feedback on program efficacy and continuously refresh learning offerings accordingly.

5. Organizational Culture & Engagement

• Culture Codes: Build and maintain a cohesive culture across all organizational locations, anchored deeply in the core Culture Codes.
• DEI Agenda: Introduce and refresh policies and practices that make the organization a more inclusive, welcoming workplace, leading the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda through specific initiatives grounded in staff experience.
• Communication Forums: Design and lead organization-wide communication forums such as Town Halls and Open Houses to keep scattered teams connected to each other and the overarching mission.

Qualifications and Experience

• Education: MBA or equivalent Master's degree in Management with a specialization in Human Resources.
• Experience: 8–12 years of hands-on experience across core HR operations, performance management, and compensation frameworks.
• Prior experience in a fast-paced corporate environment, non-profit, or an agile, mission-driven organization is highly valued.

Non-Negotiable Competencies

• Advanced Numerical Sense & Integrity: High comfort level with data analytics, payroll architectures, financial structures, and spreadsheet-driven compliance.
• Operational Stamina & Agility: The physical and mental stamina to manage a heavy, end-to-end operational workload in an agile environment without dropping execution standards.
• Active Listening & Maturity: Exceptional ability to actively listen to business stakeholders and manage challenging conversations (disputes, grievances, performance separations) with emotional maturity and clarity.
• Systemic View: The ability to see how hiring, development, appraisal, compensation, and culture reinforce or undercut each other, designing policies accordingly.

What Success Looks Like (12 to 18-Month View)

• Goal-setting and appraisal cycles run seamlessly on time every year, backed by positive staff perception regarding fairness.
• A working learning calendar is fully operational across program and managerial skills, with clear evidence of its productivity.
• Pay structures are transparently benchmarked, reviewed, and explainable, with identified internal pay gaps being systematically closed.
• Monthly payroll, statutory filings, and legal audits run without errors or surprises.
• DEI showing up in specific interventions with measurable improvements in staff experience, alongside high attendance and engagement at Town Halls and Open Houses.