HR Director (12 Month FTC), Strategic Communications – Europe, Middle East and Africa

Who We Are

FTI Consulting is the leading global expert firm for organizations facing crisis and transformation. We work with many of the world’s top multinational corporations, law firms, banks and private equity firms on their most important issues to deliver impact that makes a difference. From resolving disputes, navigating crises, managing risk and optimizing performance, our teams respond rapidly to dynamic and complex situations.

At FTI Consulting, you’ll work side-by side with leaders who have shaped history, helping solve the biggest challenges making headlines today. From day one, you’ll be an integral part of a focused team where you can make a real impact. You’ll be surrounded by an open, collaborative culture that embraces diversity, recognition, professional development and, most importantly, you.

Are you ready to make your impact?

About The Role

The role of the HR Director for Strategic Communications EMEA plays a critical role in shaping and delivering the people strategy across a dynamic, fast-growing business of 600 employees across the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Reporting to the Global Segment HR Leader, the HR Director is a member of the Strategic Communications EMEA Leadership Team, partnering with senior leaders to drive business performance through talent, leadership, organisational effectiveness and culture. The HR Director leads the regional HR agenda, ensuring people priorities align with business strategy, growth ambitions and workforce plans.

The role provides strategic HR leadership across the region, working closely with business leaders, HR colleagues and Centres of Excellence to strengthen leadership capability, build talent pipelines, support organisational change and create a high-performance culture. The role also provides leadership to the HR Business Partners across Strategic Communications EMEA, ensuring a consistent and high-quality HR service across the region.

Our Strategic Communications segment designs and executes communications strategies for management teams and boards of directors to help them seize opportunities, manage financial, regulatory and reputational challenges, navigate market disruptions, articulate their brand, stake a competitive position, and preserve and grow operations. We believe our integrated offerings, which include a broad scope of services, deep industry expertise and global reach, are unique and distinguish us from other strategic communications consultancies.

What You’ll Do

Strategic Business Partnership

• Partner with the Strategic Communications EMEA Leadership Team to align people strategy with business priorities, growth objectives and workforce plans.

• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, providing guidance and challenge on organisational effectiveness, leadership, talent, culture and workforce matters.

• Contribute to regional business planning, ensuring people considerations are embedded in strategic decision-making.

• Build strong relationships across the leadership population to influence business outcomes and organisational effectiveness.

• Translate business strategy into practical people priorities and action plans.

Workforce Planning and Organisational Effectiveness

• Lead workforce planning and headcount strategy across EMEA, ensuring talent investment aligns with business priorities and growth objectives.

• Partner with Finance and business leaders on annual budgeting, headcount forecasting and resource planning.

• Own regional talent and headcount planning, ensuring robust plans support current and future business needs.

• Support organisational design and structural change, ensuring people, culture and leadership considerations are effectively managed.

• Use workforce, talent and engagement data to identify trends, risks and opportunities and inform business decisions.

• Provide analysis and reporting on key people metrics to support leadership decision-making.

Leadership, Talent and Succession

• Lead the regional talent, succession and leadership pipeline agenda, ensuring robust plans are in place for critical roles and future leadership needs.

• Partner with leaders to identify, assess and develop high-potential talent and facilitate talent and succession reviews.

• Support senior hiring decisions, ensuring appointments align with business strategy, leadership capability and succession plans.

• Partner with Talent Acquisition and business leaders on strategic hiring priorities and leadership appointments.

• Coach and advise leaders on talent development, performance and leadership effectiveness.

• Support talent and leadership development initiatives in partnership with Talent Development colleagues.

Performance, Reward and Culture

• Lead annual performance management and talent review processes, driving consistency, accountability and a high-performance culture.

• Partner with leaders to strengthen performance management and continuous feedback and development.

• Oversee the annual compensation process, including calibration, reward decisions, market competitiveness and alignment with business priorities.

• Provide guidance and challenge on performance, reward and promotion decisions.

• Lead regional employee engagement initiatives and action planning to enhance culture, retention and employee experience.

• Champion diversity, equity and inclusion across people initiatives and the employee lifecycle.

Regional HR Leadership

• Coach and support the EMEA HR Business Partner population, building capability and fostering collaboration and continuous improvement.

• Lead and continuously improve HR activities across retention, employee relations, performance, succession, talent planning and people processes.

• Drive improvements to HR policies, processes and ways of working to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and employee experience.

• Partner with HR Centres of Excellence, including Talent Acquisition, Compensation, Talent Development and HR Operations, to deliver an integrated people agenda.

• Lead complex employee relations matters, balancing commercial objectives with legal, regulatory and reputational risk.

• Ensure appropriate governance, compliance and employment law practices across multiple jurisdictions.

• Contribute to global HR initiatives and projects, ensuring regional priorities and perspectives are represented.

• Support the implementation and adoption of HR systems, processes and change initiatives across the region.

• Enhance HR team capability through coaching, knowledge sharing and development.

How You’ll Grow

We are committed to investing and supporting you in your professional development and we have developed a range of programs focused on fostering leadership, growth and development opportunities. We aim to promote continuous learning and individual skills development through on-the-job learning, self-guided professional development courses and certifications. You’ll be assigned a dedicated coach to mentor, guide and support you through regular coaching sessions and serve as an advocate for your professional growth.

As you progress through your career at FTI Consulting, we offer tailored programs for critical professional milestones to ensure you are prepared and empowered to take on your next role.

What You Will Need to Succeed

• Strong commercial acumen and ability to translate business strategy into people priorities and action.

• Proven ability to influence and partner with senior leaders on strategic business and people priorities.

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.

• Ability to influence, challenge and coach leaders at all levels.

• Demonstrated ability to lead teams, build capability and drive continuous improvement.

• Ability to balance strategic thinking with pragmatic execution in a fast-paced environment.

• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret data and translate insights into action.

Basic Qualifications

• HR leadership experience within a complex, fast-paced and matrixed organisation.

• HR leadership experience spanning multiple geographies, with sole ownership and accountability for a group and regional HR function.

• Strong experience in workforce planning, talent management and succession planning.

• Proven track record in senior hiring, leadership development and talent management.

• Extensive experience managing complex employee relations and employment risk across multiple jurisdictions.

• Strong understanding of employment law and HR governance, ideally across EMEA.

• Experience leading and overseeing the annual compensation review cycle.

• CIPD qualified or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional Services experience.

• Workday system experience.

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FTI Consulting is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, protected veteran status, religion, physical or mental disability, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, or any other basis protected by law, ordinance, or regulation.