Assistant Manager - Human Capital

Job description / Role

Objective:

- This position is responsible for high volume recruitment in a fast-paced environment. The position also has to find and source candidates by conducting college visits, attending career fairs, attending network events, and by leveraging social media.
- Ensure smooth onboarding process of the new employees and assist with the day-to-day operations of the human resources functions.

Key responsibility:

HR partnering & operational execution

- Act as the HR point of contact for assigned functions or brands, supporting line managers on day-to-day HR matters including staffing, employee movements, and workforce planning.
- Assist in the implementation of manpower planning, job changes, transfers, and internal mobility processes.
- Coordinate with the manager - human capital to support performance and behavioral interventions, employee development, and culture-building efforts.
- Ensure smooth delivery of employee lifecycle events including onboarding, confirmation, engagement, and exit, while aligning with organizational values.

Employee engagement & relations

- Support the execution of employee engagement activities such as town halls, surveys, wellness initiatives, and recognition programs.
- Conduct basic employee relations activities including informal conflict resolution, issuing disciplinary letters, and coordinating grievance handling in collaboration with the manager or senior manager.
- Facilitate communication between HR and employees to foster transparency, feedback, and trust.

Talent & capability support

- Coordinate learning and development nominations, track participation, and evaluate training feedback in alignment with functional needs.
- Support the execution of performance review cycles by sharing guidelines, collating ratings, and following up with line managers and employees.
- Assist in identifying training or coaching needs through manager feedback and support follow-through actions.

HR operations & compliance

- Work closely with the HC operations team to ensure accurate documentation, HRMS updates, and timely transaction processing across the employee lifecycle.
- Conduct checks on contract issuance, policy adherence, and leave records, ensuring compliance with legal and internal guidelines.
- Maintain up-to-date trackers for joiners, leavers, and probation status, and share reports with the manager - human capital.

Data management & reporting

- Prepare periodic reports and dashboards for assigned functions including attrition, headcount, employee movements, and performance trends.
- Ensure data accuracy and flag discrepancies to the manager - human capital for further action.
- Support internal and external audit requests by providing necessary HR documentation and evidence.

Collaboration & support

- Liaise with recruitment, L&D, payroll, and admin teams to ensure smooth HR service delivery for assigned teams or brands.
- Assist the manager in workforce cost tracking, organizational structure updates, and annual HR planning.
- Participate in special projects or HR process improvement initiatives as assigned by senior HR leadership.

Desired experience:

The ideal assistant manager - human capital in a retail company should have 5+ years of progressive experience in human resource/HRMS/administration. Proven success in driving high level cross functional collaboration, enhancing customer engagement, and achieving & exceeding sales KPI targets for stores.

About the Company

The Apparel Group is a global fashion and lifestyle brand conglomerate residing on the crossroads of a modern economy - Dubai, UAE. The mercurial growth in the last 17 years has been by acquiring a host of world class fashion labels from around the world - Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Aldo & Tim Hortons just to name a few.

Today the group caters to thousands of eager shoppers through its over 1530 stores, 75 International brands and employing 12,000 multi cultural staff in over 4 continents. Apparel believes in turning dreams in to reality and we give everyone - our customers, our stakeholders, our employees - an equal opportunity to do so.

Apparel group has carved its strong presence not only in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia but opened thriving gateways to market in India, South Africa, Poland, Singapore, Jordan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Additionally, clear strategies are in place to enter emerging markets such as Hungary, Pakistan, Egypt and Philippines.