Head of HR Global Water

Join MANN+HUMMEL's Life Sciences & Environment (LS&E) division as Head of HR Global Water & Membrane Solutions (WMS) – a strategic and hands-on HR leadership role supporting one of the most dynamic growth segments in the company.

WMS operates across five key locations in Europe, Asia and the United States, with a global workforce of around 500 employees. As the HR lead for this business unit, you will partner closely with the SVP Global WMS and the LS&E HR leadership team to strengthen leadership capability, drive organisational clarity and support the development of a highly technical business with significant transformation needs. The environment is shaped by acquisition history, differing leadership maturity levels and ongoing structural development – making this a high-impact role for someone who enjoys building and improving HR foundations in a global matrix organisation.

• Strategic HR Leadership & Practical Execution: Act as a hands-on strategic HR partner to the SVP Global WMS and the global leadership team. Translate business priorities into pragmatic, executable people actions, balancing strategic direction with strong operational follow-through.
• Organizational Development & Structural Alignment: Support the development of a scalable organisational setup across Europe, Asia and the US. Strengthen clarity in roles, interfaces and leadership expectations. Guide regional teams – especially in markets with lower leadership maturity such as Italy – through ongoing change and transformation.
• Leadership Capability & Talent Development: Build leadership capability across all WMS locations by coaching leaders, improving performance dialogue quality and establishing effective succession planning. Strengthen technical and leadership pipelines in Engineering, R&D and Operations environments.
• Culture Integration & Cross-Regional Collaboration: Promote a culture of accountability, transparency and collaboration in a division shaped by acquisitions and varying maturity levels. Help leaders navigate cultural differences, build trust and improve alignment across regions and functions.
• Performance, Workforce Planning & People Processes: Lead workforce planning, performance management and people processes with a focus on clarity, fairness and continuous improvement. Ensure consistent process execution despite differing HR maturity levels across global sites.
• HR Governance & Global Collaboration: Safeguard HR compliance across multiple countries and work closely with Corporate HR, Regional HR and Centers of Expertise. Support the implementation of global HR standards while adapting solutions for regions with evolving structures.
• Team Leadership & Coaching: Lead and coach a small international HR team while influencing additional matrix HR resources. Foster a mindset of ownership, speed and pragmatic execution.
• Travel & Onsite Partnership: Ensure strong presence and support across key WMS locations – especially in Italy. Approx. 50-60% international travel required.

Education:
Master's degree or MBA in Human Resources, Business Administration or a related field. Experience in Life Sciences, Water, Specialty Chemicals, Filtration, or industrial manufacturing environments is highly advantageous.

Professional Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of HR experience, including several years in a global or regional HR leadership role
• Proven track record as a hands-on HR partner supporting technical or engineering-driven organisations
• Experience in organisational development, leadership capability building and navigating differing leadership maturity levels
• Background in multi-site, global or matrix organisations with varying process maturity
• Ability to execute quickly, pragmatically and with strong follow-through

Expertise:

• Strong analytical and structural thinker with a pragmatic, action-oriented mindset
• Experience in workforce planning, succession, talent development and leadership coaching
• Strong capability to work in environments with high transformation pressure, limited structural clarity and cultural diversity
• Skilled at influencing without authority within a global matrix environment

Language Skills:
Fluent in English; additional languages (especially German, Italian, or Chinese) are an advantage.

Personality:

• Hands-on, resilient, direct and culturally adaptable
• Confident communicator with the courage to challenge and guide leaders constructively
• Comfortable working in an environment with ambiguity, growth pressure and continuous change
• Willingness to travel internationally (approx. 50-60%).
• Strong onsite presence and full commitment to the MANN+HUMMEL executive onsite policy (5–0)

Please send us your application documents in english language.

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At MANN+HUMMEL, you will be part of the Life Sciences & Environment division — the smallest yet most agile within our group. Having grown through multiple acquisitions, LS&E is characterized by dynamic structures, strong entrepreneurial spirit, and ongoing transformation. This environment offers you the opportunity to shape, develop, and lead global people and organizational strategies with high visibility to the senior leadership team and global management board.