Senior HR & Industrial Relations Manager (Global)

Job Reference: SHRIR1306

Reporting Line:Senior Leadership Team

Purpose of the Role

We are seeking a commercially minded, high-calibre Senior HR & Industrial Relations Manager to lead all HR and people-related activities across a unionized manufacturing site in Ireland (120+ employees) alongside a growing international workforce. This role requires a rare and impactful combination of deep Irish industrial relations expertise and robust international HR capability.

Acting as a strategic partner to the leadership team, the successful candidate will ensure strong trade union relationships, total legal compliance, and scalable HR operations, while simultaneously developing and driving a meaningful, business-aligned Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda.

Key Candidate Requirements

• Industrial Relations Leadership: Lead proactive engagement and collective negotiations with major trade unions (including SIPTU), effectively managing disputes and organizational change programs.

• Legal Representation: Act as the primary organizational representative at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and Labour Court.

• Employee Relations & Risk Mitigation: Own and deploy robust ER frameworks across all employee cohorts, ensuring fair, consistent, and legally sound decision-making to mitigate legal and reputational risks.

• Management Coaching: Train, support, and upskill line managers in ER best practices to strengthen overall management capability across the organization.

• Global HR Governance: Provide comprehensive oversight of employment law, international contracts, policies, and governance across multiple jurisdictions, balancing global consistency with local compliance.

• International Talent Acquisition: Lead end-to-end hiring across Ireland and international markets, supporting global market entry by advising on direct employment versus Employer of Record (EOR) models.

• HR Operational Excellence: Standardize and manage core HR operations, including employment contracts, policies, job descriptions, structured candidate profiling, and onboarding frameworks.

• Systems & Data Governance: Oversee HR Information Systems (HRIS), compliance reporting, and data governance to deliver scalable, well-structured HR practices.

• Organizational Development: Partner with business leaders on workforce planning, execute L&D gap analyses, and establish clear succession planning and leadership pipelines.

• CSR Strategy Execution: Develop and embed a practical Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy that champions employee wellbeing, environmental sustainability within a manufacturing context, and community social impact.

Essential:

• 8–12+ years of progressive, well-rounded HR experience, with substantial time spent in a senior generalist or head of function capacity.

• An essential, deep-rooted background operating within a unionized manufacturing environment.

• Direct, hands-on experience managing complex collective bargaining, union disputes, and internal investigations/grievances.

• Proven history of successfully representing employers directly before the WRC and Labour Court.

• Comprehensive working knowledge of Irish employment law alongside direct exposure to international workforces and multi-jurisdictional frameworks (UK/EU, with US exposure highly advantageous).

• Solid experience drafting international contracts, navigating cross-border compliance, and setting up workforce models in new global markets.