About the role

Manager – HR Business Partner

AXA Business Services | Pune / Bangalore | Individual Contributor

Role Overview

AXA Business Services is looking for an experienced HR Business Partner at Manager level to partner closely with business leaders and support a large employee population of approximately 500 FTEs. The role will operate as an individual contributor and will require a strong combination of strategic HR partnering, employee engagement, people advisory, organizational effectiveness, and execution excellence. The successful candidate will be expected to understand business priorities, translate them into effective people strategies, and provide proactive HR guidance across the employee lifecycle. Given the organization's evolving environment, experience with AI-enabled HR initiatives, digital transformation, automation, or broader HR transformation projects will be an important differentiator.

Key Responsibilities

Act as a trusted HR Business Partner to business leaders, providing end-to-end HR advisory and people solutions for an employee population of approximately 500 FTEs.
Partner with leadership teams to understand business priorities, workforce requirements, organizational challenges, and talent needs, translating them into actionable HR plans.
Provide strategic and hands-on support across employee engagement, talent management, performance management, succession planning, career development, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness.
Drive people-related initiatives aligned with business strategy and ensure effective implementation across the supported population.
Work closely with managers and senior stakeholders on employee relations, performance concerns, organizational changes, and people-related decision making.
Support annual HR cycles including performance management, talent reviews, compensation processes, engagement initiatives, succession planning, and workforce planning.
Use HR data, workforce insights, and business metrics to identify trends, diagnose people challenges, and recommend practical interventions.
Lead or contribute to AI, HR technology, automation, digital HR, and transformation initiatives that improve employee experience, HR effectiveness, and business outcomes.
Support organizational transformation and change management initiatives, ensuring effective communication, stakeholder alignment, and employee adoption.
Collaborate with COEs and HR functional teams to deliver integrated HR solutions and ensure consistent implementation of policies and processes.
Build strong relationships with stakeholders across Pune and Bangalore and be comfortable travelling between the two locations periodically based on business requirements.
Maintain a high level of professionalism, confidentiality, responsiveness, and ownership while handling sensitive people matters.

Required Experience & Qualifications

9–12 years of overall HR experience, with substantial experience in an HR Business Partnering role.
Current or recent experience at Manager level in a large-scale corporate, shared services, business services, BPO/ITES, or similar service-based organization.
Experience partnering with a sizeable employee population, ideally around 500 FTEs.
Strong understanding of core HRBP responsibilities including talent management, performance management, employee engagement, workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, and employee relations.
Mandatory experience within the service-based industry; candidates whose experience is exclusively from product-based organizations are not the target profile.
Demonstrated exposure to AI, HR transformation, digital HR, automation, analytics-led HR, or technology-enabled people initiatives.
Strong stakeholder management capability with the confidence to partner with senior business leaders and managers.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex or sensitive people matters clearly and effectively.
A stable career history with consistent tenure and demonstrated progression is strongly preferred.
Strong academic and professional pedigree will be highly preferred.

Important Role Context

This is an individual contributor HRBP role at Manager level.
The role is designed around a meaningful but focused business span. Candidates whose recent experience has been exclusively at substantially larger employee populations may not be the ideal fit if they are no longer comfortable operating at a more hands-on scale.
AI and transformation experience is an important requirement and should be demonstrated through actual HR, people, process, technology, or organizational transformation initiatives.
The position follows a general shift schedule.
The business operates across Pune and Bangalore; candidates should therefore be comfortable travelling between the two locations periodically.

Preferred Candidate Profile

HRBP experience within a reputed global services, shared services, BPO/ITES, consulting, or other service-based organization.
Experience supporting business leaders in a complex, matrixed, and geographically distributed environment.
Strong balance of strategic HR partnering and hands-on execution.
Proven ability to lead or influence AI, digital, automation, or HR transformation initiatives.
Strong business acumen and the ability to connect people strategy with business outcomes.
High ownership, maturity, discretion, and sound judgement when handling people matters.
Strong career stability and evidence of sustained contribution within previous organizations.

Location & Work Model

The role will be based in either Pune or Bangalore. Candidates should be comfortable travelling between Pune and Bangalore periodically, as the business is distributed across both locations. The role follows a general shift schedule.

What Success Looks Like

Trusted HR partner to business leaders and managers.
Effective management of the supported employee population and people agenda.
Strong execution of core HR and talent processes.
Measurable contribution to AI, digital, and HR transformation initiatives.
Improved employee engagement, organizational effectiveness, and stakeholder experience.
Consistent, high-quality HR support delivered with strong judgement and communication.

The role is best suited to an experienced HRBP who is comfortable being hands-on, understands the pace and complexity of a service-based organization, and can combine strong business partnering with a forward-looking transformation mindset.