Head of People & Culture - APAC

Work Type:

Location:

Melbourne - VIC 

  • Shape Culture
  • Influence Leaders
  • Drive Growth
A rare opportunity exists for an experienced and commercially minded People leader to join a rapidly growing global technology organisation as it continues to expand across the APAC region.

This is a unique opportunity to lead the People function across a portfolio of software businesses, partnering directly with senior executives, business leaders and portfolio leadership teams to drive organisational performance, leadership capability, employee engagement and sustainable growth.

Operating within a decentralised business model, you will play a critical role in balancing strategic leadership with hands-on execution, providing expert guidance across a broad range of people-related matters while helping scale the People function for future expansion.

The Opportunity

Reporting into the Global Head of HR, you will lead the People function across Australia and New Zealand, supporting both the regional headquarters and a portfolio of operating businesses, while helping shape the people agenda for future expansion into Southeast Asia.

You will act as a trusted advisor to executives, business leaders and portfolio leadership teams, supporting a diverse group of businesses through growth, organisational change and leadership challenges. Working closely with global colleagues, you will deliver pragmatic people solutions that enable business performance while fostering strong cultures and high-performing teams.

This role also has oversight of Talent Acquisition, focused on strategic and executive-level hiring rather than high-volume recruitment.

Key Responsibilities
  • Lead the People strategy and function across the APAC region.
  • Partner with senior executives, business leaders and portfolio leadership teams to drive organisational effectiveness, leadership capability and business performance.
  • Provide expert advice on employee relations, performance management, organisational design and change.
  • Lead talent reviews, succession planning and leadership development initiatives.
  • Drive employee engagement, culture and organisational effectiveness programs.
  • Support leaders through restructures, workforce planning, executive transitions and complex people matters.
  • Develop scalable HR frameworks, playbooks and self-service resources to support operating businesses.
  • Oversee strategic talent acquisition activities for key leadership and specialist positions.
  • Partner with global stakeholders to adapt and implement people initiatives across the region.
  • Rebuild and strengthen the foundations of the regional shared-services People model.
About you

You are an experienced People leader who thrives in dynamic, growth-oriented environments and brings the commercial acumen and credibility to influence senior stakeholders.

You are equally comfortable discussing long-term organisational strategy with executives as you are rolling up your sleeves to support leaders through day-to-day people matters. You bring a practical, commercially focused approach and enjoy partnering with senior executives, business leaders and portfolio leadership teams to navigate performance, employee relations, organisational change and leadership challenges, while also driving broader People initiatives across talent, culture, capability and organisational effectiveness.
To be successful, you will bring:
  • Significant experience in a senior HR leadership role with a global organisation
  • Experience within a scale-up technology company, software business, consulting environment, private equity-backed organisation or professional services firm.
  • Proven success partnering with senior executives and leadership teams to deliver business outcomes.
  • Experience supporting multiple business units, entities or geographically dispersed teams.
  • Strong commercial acumen and the ability to align people strategy with business performance.
  • Demonstrated capability leading organisational change, transformation and organisational effectiveness initiatives.
  • Strong employee relations expertise and confidence managing complex and sensitive people matters.
  • Exceptional stakeholder management, coaching and influencing skills.
  • The ability to operate autonomously and make sound decisions in a fast-paced, decentralised environment.
This is an opportunity to join a high-growth global technology organisation at an exciting stage of its journey across the APAC region.

With established operations across Australia and New Zealand and a clear appetite for further growth into Southeast Asia, this role offers the chance to influence both current operations and future expansion. You'll work closely with accomplished leaders, shape the employee experience across multiple businesses and play a pivotal role in building the people foundations that support long-term growth and success.

If you're looking for a role where you can genuinely influence business outcomes while partnering with senior leaders on some of their most important people and organisational challenges, we'd love to hear from you.

Reference Number:

4086471

Date Published:

23-Oct-2026

Contact Name:

Janet Muncherji

Contact Email:

jmuncherji@thenextstep.com.au


By applying for this role, you consent to your personal information being collected, stored, and shared in accordance with applicable privacy legislation.


Your details may be provided to our clients for potential opportunities; however, this will only occur after a discussion with one of our consultants and with your consent. We are committed to handling your information securely and confidentially in line with national privacy requirements.

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The Next Step embraces individuality and differences in gender, age, ethnicity, race, cultural background, disability, faith and sexual orientation. We strive to provide a recruitment experience that’s fair, inclusive and accessible. We encourage all suitable applicants to apply for roles. Please speak to our consultants about any accessibility needs to be considered during the recruitment process.