Location: Bangalore (Onsite)

Experience: 6-8 years

About OWLED Media

OWLED Media is a fast-growing creative technology company working across video production, digital content, influencer marketing, AR, and creative solutions.

As we continue to scale, we are looking for an experienced HR Manager with strong agency experience who can take ownership of the HR function, build strong people processes, partner closely with leadership, and bring structure and maturity to the organisation.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can independently manage HR across Talent Acquisition, People Operations, Employee Experience, Compliance, and People Strategy.

The person will work closely with the founders and leadership team and will be responsible for building a strong, accountable, and high-performing organisation.

Key responsibilities

HR leadership & team management

Own and lead the HR function across Talent Acquisition, People Operations, Employee Experience, and HR strategy.
Lead, mentor, and manage the existing HR team, ensuring clear ownership, accountability, and performance.
Partner with founders and senior leadership on organisational structure, people strategy, workforce planning, and key people decisions.
Act as a trusted HR advisor to managers and leadership on people challenges, team structures, performance, and employee matters.
Build scalable HR processes and systems aligned with the organisation’s growth.

Senior & leadership hiring

Lead hiring for senior, leadership, and business-critical roles across functions.
Partner directly with founders, CXOs, and functional heads to understand hiring requirements and define role expectations.
Help maintain strong pipelines for senior and niche talent.
Independently manage senior candidate evaluation, stakeholder coordination, compensation discussions, negotiations, and closure.
Strengthen hiring processes to improve quality of hire, turnaround time, and candidate experience.
Drive employer branding and proactive talent outreach for critical roles.

Employee relations, conflict management & policies

Act as the primary point of contact for employee grievances, conflict resolution, disciplinary matters, and sensitive people issues.
Handle employee relations with fairness, confidentiality, and sound judgement.
Develop, review, and implement HR policies and processes aligned with business requirements and applicable labour laws.
Ensure consistent implementation of policies across teams.

HR operations & compliance

Oversee day-to-day HR operations including attendance, leaves, documentation, onboarding, offboarding, payroll coordination, and employee records.
Ensure compliance with applicable labour laws, statutory requirements, and company policies.
Establish audit-ready HR documentation and processes.
Work closely with Finance and leadership on payroll, benefits, statutory requirements, and other HR-related matters.
Continuously identify operational gaps and improve HR systems and processes.

Talent acquisition & workforce planning

Build and execute hiring plans in line with business growth and workforce requirements.
Partner with hiring managers to establish clear role requirements, hiring timelines, and evaluation processes.
Monitor hiring metrics including TAT, source effectiveness, offer-to-join ratio, and quality of hire.
Develop talent pipelines for both immediate and future hiring requirements.
Improve the overall candidate experience and onboarding journey.

Employee engagement & culture

Design and drive initiatives that improve employee engagement, retention, collaboration, and workplace culture.
Champion recognition, learning, team-building, and employee experience initiatives.
Act as a culture custodian and ensure OWLED’s values are reflected in day-to-day employee experiences.
Identify employee sentiment and engagement gaps and recommend actionable improvements.

People analytics & insights

Track and analyse key people metrics including attrition, engagement, hiring efficiency, performance, attendance, and workforce trends.
Build and maintain HR dashboards and reports for leadership.
Use people data and insights to identify trends, risks, and opportunities.
Present actionable recommendations to leadership to improve people processes, team structure, and organisational effectiveness.

Performance & people development

Oversee performance management processes and ensure effective goal-setting, reviews, feedback, and development plans.
Partner with managers to address performance concerns and build stronger teams.
Identify capability gaps and recommend learning and development initiatives.
Support succession planning and development of high-potential employees.

What we're looking for

6-8 years of overall HR experience, with at least 2-4 years in an HR Manager, HR Lead, HRBP Manager, or similar leadership capacity.
Strong experience working in a startup, high-growth company, agency, or fast-paced environment.
Demonstrated experience managing and mentoring an HR/TA team.
Proven experience in senior and leadership hiring, including independently closing critical and niche positions.
Experience partnering directly with founders, CXOs, business heads, and senior leadership.
Strong understanding of HR operations, employee relations, performance management, policies, and labour law compliance.
Strong stakeholder management, communication, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
Ability to independently handle sensitive and complex people situations with maturity and sound judgement.
Experience working with HRIS, ATS, payroll, and people analytics/reporting systems such as Keka, Zoho or similar platforms.
Strong analytical and problem-solving ability with a data-driven approach to HR.
Ability to build processes from scratch and bring structure to a growing organisation.
A balance of people-first thinking, business understanding, and operational discipline.
Comfortable working in a hands-on environment where the role requires both strategic thinking and execution.