HR Business Partner - Japan

About Interbrand

Interbrand understands what it takes today to build the world’s most iconic brands.

To support our clients in an ever more complex and fascinating world, we have renewed our commitment to both common global standards and greater empowerment, experimentation and entrepreneurialism.

Interbrand is its people. We are a global team of highly diverse thinkers, makers and collaborators. We are proud of our heritage and often regarded as the university of branding. Over the past four decades, we have pioneered iconic work and invented many of the brand building tools that are now commonplace.

In collaboration with many of the world’s leading brands, we are pioneering the future of brand building. In a world where people’s expectations are moving faster than businesses, we give our clients the confidence to make Iconic Moves that create desire and utility, reshape the competitive landscape and drive extraordinary results.

The Interbrand Best Global Brands study/rankings are resources to our clients and the industry, providing proprietary data and insight for our role as client partner and commentator. We have published 18 books on brands and are often the reference point for university curriculum and professional associations. Today, through our own Academy, we aim to be the most impactful learning environment in the marketing world.

Our Behaviours

Our culture is informed by a set of behaviours we co-created as a business. Our behaviours give us space to experiment, permission to speak out, and a model of leadership that anyone in the business can adopt. Our behaviours are Lead with love, Be Brave, Listen First and Make it happen. We are proud of our behaviours. They make us, us.  

The role

We are excited to be hiring for an experienced HR Business Partner to join our Global People team, with specific responsibility for our Tokyo office. This role will report to our Global Chief People Office and act as a key partner and advisor to the local leadership team in Tokyo.

As part of the Global People team, you’ll contribute to key global people initiatives and be tasked with successful implementation in Japan. We’re looking for someone who can think and execute strategically, but equally is willing to get hands on with the operational elements of HR.

It’s an exciting time to join the team at Interbrand and this role will play an important part in driving our business forward, whilst always facilitating best in class employee experience in support of our People Promise.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Work with Global Chief People Officer and Global People Team to ensure that our global strategy is implemented within the local market
• Working across all touch points of our employee experience ensure that our people’s experience is reflective of our People Promise
• Partner with and advise the leadership team in Japan
• Work with the leadership team to understand employee engagement; co-own survey rollouts and analysis; lead and manage action plans and key KPIs
• Work with and coach people managers, providing guidance and support as needed
• Work with local team to align HR activities, local cultural initiatives an internal communications
• Advise on and adopt DEI best practices, contribute to activity and implement locally
• Work with talent acquisition specialists to ensure there is effective, timely and high quality recruitment
• Manage and resolve complex employee relations issues, supported by Omnicom/local legal consultancy services
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of legal requirements related to day-to-day management of employees, reducing legal risks and ensuring regulatory compliance
• Provide day-to-day performance management guidance to line management (e.g. coaching, counselling, career development, disciplinary actions)
• Work with Global Director, Performance & Learning and other internal stakeholders to ensure effective performance management process, and support employee development plans and career development
• Work with local finance and Global Chief People Officer to manage approvals for hiring and salary changes
• Support succession planning in local markets
• Work with Global Chief People Officer and local finance team on reward strategy, benchmark salaries on an annual basis, advising on and maintaining local salary bands
• Identify training needs for office teams and share with Learning & Development (Academy) team to execute
• Responsible for key people data, KPIs and metrics
• Provide HR policy guidance and interpretation
• Advise on contract terms for new hires, promotions and transfers
• Assist international employees with expatriate assignments and related HR matters
• Provide guidance and leadership counsel on local business unit restructures
• Other ad hoc projects as required

ABOUT YOU:

• Minimum of 8 years’ experience as an HR generalist
• People management experience, ideally 2+ years
• Previous experience of working directly with a leadership team, building trusted relationships with a variety of senior stakeholders
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Astute business skills and commercial understanding
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong working proficiency of written and spoken English
• A desire to work within a global team, to contribute to people team discussions and bring a point of view
• Discretion and confidentiality
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite 
• Prior experience working within an international business environment is an added advantage.

This is a hybrid role based in Japan and requires 3 days a week in the Tokyo office.

We are working through access barriers across our job site, so if you run into any issues and would like this information in an alternative format, or would prefer to apply via email, please send us a message at careers@interbrand.com.