Plant People Director

Job Purpose

The People Plant Director is accountable for leading the full people agenda at Sokhna Plant ensuring a high-performance culture, strong employee engagement, effective talent development, and robust HR and administrative operations.

The role serves as a strategic business partner to the Plant Director and site leadership team, while ensuring alignment with Lafarge Egypt’s corporate HR strategy and governance.

This position oversees HR Business Partnering, HR Operations, Administration, and third-party workforce management within a complex industrial/manufacturing environment.

Key Responsibilities

Health & Safety:

Adhere to and enforce relevant legislation and policies and ensure that the highest degree of safety and safe working practices are maintained.

2- Functional:

1. People Strategy & Leadership

Define, deploy, and continuously refine the plant people strategy in line with Lafarge Egypt’s corporate People agenda, industrial priorities, and CPO direction.
Translate business and operational objectives into clear workforce and organizational plans that support safety, productivity, and sustainability.
Lead culture transformation initiatives that reinforce Lafarge values, accountability, performance, and engagement across all plant functions.
Act as a trusted advisor and coach to the Plant Director and the site leadership team on all people-related matters.
Ensure strong governance, ethical conduct, and consistency in people decisions across the plant.

2. Talent Management & Organizational Development

Lead strategic workforce planning to ensure optimal manpower levels, critical skills availability, and future capability readiness.
Drive talent identification, succession planning, and leadership pipeline development for critical and operational roles.
Oversee performance management cycles, ensuring objective goal setting, quality performance reviews, and effective development plans.
Design and deploy learning, upskilling, and reskilling programs for both white-collar and blue-collar employees, aligned with operational excellence needs.
Support organizational design, role clarity, and structure optimization to enhance efficiency and accountability.

3. Employee Relations, Labor Stability & Engagement

Ensure a stable, compliant, and constructive labor environment across all plant operations.
Lead collective and individual employee relations matters, including disciplinary actions, grievances, investigations, and conflict resolution.
Act as the final escalation point for complex employee relations and labor law cases at site level.
Drive employee engagement initiatives, engagement survey action plans, and continuous listening mechanisms.
Strengthen internal communication, ensuring transparency, alignment, and trust across all employee segments.

4. People Operations Excellence

Oversee all People operational activities, including personnel administration, employee lifecycle management, payroll coordination, HR systems, and data accuracy.
Ensure effective implementation of HR policies, procedures, and standards across the plant.
Maintain full compliance with Egyptian labor law, internal controls, audits, and corporate governance requirements.
Monitor HR KPIs, workforce analytics, and reporting to support data-driven decision-making.
Ensure service quality, responsiveness, and operational discipline within the HR Operations team.

5. Administration & Facilities Management

Lead the Administration function for the plant, covering facilities management, transportation, accommodation, catering, security, and general services.
Ensure safe, efficient, and cost-effective management of plant facilities and services in line with HSE and business standards.
Manage budgets related to administration and general services, ensuring cost control and value optimization.
Oversee contracts and service providers, ensuring service quality, compliance, and SLA performance.
Coordinate closely with HSE, Security, Procurement, and Finance to ensure seamless administrative operations.

6. Third-Party Workforce & Contractor Management

Oversee third-party labor providers, contractors, and outsourced services supporting plant operations.
Ensure compliance with labor law, HSE requirements, and Lafarge standards for all external workforce.
Monitor headcount, performance, costs, and risks related to outsourced labor.
Drive continuous improvement in contractor workforce productivity, discipline, and engagement.

7. Business Partnership & Change Leadership

Act as People Business Partner to the Industrial Director and functional leaders, aligning people solutions with operational priorities.
Provide regular insights to the CPO on workforce trends, talent risks, engagement levels, and organizational effectiveness.
Lead and support site-wide change initiatives including restructures, productivity programs, digital transformation, and cultural shifts.
Anticipate people-related risks and proactively propose mitigation actions.

8. Governance, Risk & Continuous Improvement

Ensure strong people governance, risk management, and compliance across the plant.
Lead internal and external audits related to HR and administration and ensure timely closure of findings.
Drive continuous improvement in HR and administrative processes, service delivery, and employee experience.
Ensure alignment with Lafarge Egypt, regional, and group HR standards and policies.

Education
Qualifications & Experience

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management, Business Administration, Industrial Relations, or a related discipline.

- Postgraduate qualification (MBA, Master’s in HR Management, Organizational Development, or Industrial Management) is preferred.

- Continuous professional development in labor law, leadership, change management, and industrial relations is expected.

Technical Skills:

-Strong knowledge of industrial/manufacturing HR and blue-collar workforce management.

-In-depth understanding of Egyptian Labor Law and industrial relations.

-Expertise in workforce planning, talent management, and performance systems.

-Proficient in HRIS systems (e.g., SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle) and HR operations.

-Experience managing facilities, transportation, and administrative services in industrial sites.

-Skilled in third-party workforce and contractor management with compliance focus.

-Solid background in governance, audit, and compliance related to HR and admin.

-Competent in leading change management and organizational effectiveness initiatives.

Experience:

- Minimum 13 - 15 years of progressive HR experience, preferably within multinational and industrial/manufacturing environments.

- Strong hands-on experience leading HR functions in factory or plant settings with large labor populations.

- Proven exposure to administration and facilities management as part of a senior HR role.

- Deep expertise in employee relations, engagement, talent management, and organizational development.

- Strong leadership, stakeholder management, communication, and analytical skills.