Strategic HR Business Partner - International

Role overview

This is a senior HR leadership opportunity based in Dublin, sitting at director level within a regulated financial services business operating across several European markets. The organisation is part of a larger international group with a long-standing presence in Europe and is investing heavily in its future growth, including the expansion of its HR capability.

The position reports to the CPO and holds the most senior HR business partnering remit in the company. You will own the people strategy for a multi-country population, guide a small team, and act as a key deputy to the CPO on the wider people agenda. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on delivery, making it well suited to someone who can both shape direction and drive execution.

What you'll do

• Act as a credible strategic partner to the executive team and senior leaders across multiple countries, helping shape business decisions, operating models, and leadership thinking.
• Lead organisation design initiatives in a complex regulated environment, including structural assessment, capability planning, implementation, and embedding change.
• Convert business strategy into practical people plans that support performance while staying aligned with employment law requirements across multiple European jurisdictions.
• Drive major cross-border change programmes such as target operating model redesigns, cultural change, and new ways of working across a workforce of more than 1,000 employees.
• Set the direction for the talent agenda, covering succession planning, leadership development, performance management, and pipeline building for growth across Europe.
• Help move the HR function from a delivery-led model to a truly strategic partnership approach by coaching and influencing a dispersed international HR team.
• Develop strong working relationships with employee representatives and works councils, handling co-determination responsibilities on structural and change topics with a practical and commercial approach.
• Serve as the top HR business partner in the organisation, supporting the HR Director on function-wide strategy and contributing to the HR leadership team.
• Use people data and analytics to generate insight that informs leadership decisions rather than simply producing reports.
• Work with Group HR centres of excellence to ensure enterprise people initiatives are adapted effectively for local markets across a complex, multi-jurisdiction business.

What we're looking for

• Extensive senior HR leadership experience with a clear history of acting as a genuine strategic partner at C-suite and executive level.
• Strong background in international, matrixed organisations where multiple priorities, reporting lines, and jurisdictions must be managed simultaneously.
• Proven ability to deliver organisation design work from diagnosis through implementation and measurable results.
• Significant change leadership experience, having directly led large-scale transformation across multi-site or multi-country environments.
• Experience supporting a business through growth, structural change, or strategic transformation.
• Commercial awareness and the ability to connect people decisions to business performance and outcomes.
• Confidence operating in a matrix structure and influencing stakeholders without direct authority.
• Experience working with works councils or employee representative bodies and handling co-determination matters.
• Working knowledge of employment law in at least one European jurisdiction.
• Comfort with ambiguity, changing priorities, and evolving organisational structures.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management capabilities, with the flexibility to adapt to different leadership styles.
• A degree in HR, Business, Organisational Psychology, or a related discipline; postgraduate study or professional membership would be an advantage.

Reward and benefits

• Base salary in the range of €125,000 to €150,000.
• Annual bonus of up to 20%.
• Annual leave starting at 27 days, with additional days added according to length of service.
• Health insurance allowance.
• Pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 15%.
• Death in service cover, income protection, and sick pay arrangements.

Application note

Applications should be submitted directly through the posting so the hiring team does not miss them. For fairness and manageability, applications sent by direct message will not be tracked or considered for response.