ABOUT ALUMINUM 3104
Our VISION is to be Canada’s most trusted beverage packaging partner. To get there, we’re building the first modern aluminum beverage can plant in Canada, and the first aluminum beverage can plant in more than 40 years. Our 200,000 sq. ft., highly automated facility in Belleville, Ontario opens in late 2027. We built it for Canadian beverage brands, and we’re partnering with the Canadian aluminum supply chain, and bringing technical and operational expertise back home to strengthen Canada’s food and beverage security.
We’ll make precision aluminum cans to the exact specifications brewers and drink makers need. We’ll earn our reputation one good can, one kept promise and one honest conversation at a time. Because our lines are highly automated, the work here is about running, maintaining and improving modern production equipment. That means skilled careers, strong Total Rewards and the chance to build deep expertise.
We’re a startup with big plans, guided by four VALUES: Safety First. Quality Obsessed. Excellence Driven. Stronger Together. Phase one will create more than 100 jobs, most of them filled by people from the communities around our plant. We’ll pair them with experienced industry experts from around the world to build a team that sets the standard and brings a fresh perspective. As a greenfield business, we get to do things differently. We have no legacy systems and no inherited bureaucracy. What we become will come from the people we hire.
Who we’re looking for. We want people who are hungry to grow, willing to spend the time in extensive training and development programs, up for a challenge and comfortable with the unknown. We hire for character, values and attitude, and we will train for skills. If you’re tired of hearing “that’s the way it’s always been done,” and you’d rather build systems than inherit someone else’s, you’ll find a rewarding career here.
POSITION OBJECTIVE & SUMMARY
The HR Manager is the senior people leader for a single-site, greenfield aluminum beverage can plant and carries enterprise accountability for the people function. The role builds HR from zero through start-up and commissioning, then designs the people model the business will replicate at future sites.
There is no corporate HR above this role, so the incumbent owns people strategy, policy, risk and execution end to end, and sits on the site leadership team as a business partner, not a service desk. The mandate has three parts:
• Build the plant's people foundation. Organizational design, hiring the start-up workforce, payroll and benefits, policies and HRIS, all live before first production.
• Set the culture while it is still forming. A greenfield site gets one chance to define how work gets done. This role builds and protects a culture of ownership, discipline and follow-through that keeps this plant safe, competitive and staffed as we grow, so every new line and growth opportunity starts on the same standard.
• Training for success. Partner and oversee the training and development system that qualifies every operator, trade and leader to a documented standard faster than any can plant, and grows our team from within.
HOW THIS MANAGER WORKS
• Safety above all. Everyone goes home daily, this is nonnegotiable. As part of the Management Team, always ensure all work in the business is completed in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, applicable regulations, and the company’s procedures.
• Present on the floor. Known and respected by operators on every shift.
• Holds the line. Sets clear expectations and follows through, including with senior leaders.
• Business first. Understands labour cost, uptime and output, and frames people decisions in those terms.
• Builder. Comfortable creating systems from nothing, then making them repeatable.
• Data-driven. Uses numbers to find problems early and to make the case for action.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
Workforce Planning and Design
- Build a HR playbook for org design, staffing curves and start-up hiring.
- Build and own the multi-year workforce plan tied to the production ramp, line additions and growth plans.
- Continuously refine the organization structure and span of control with operations.
- Create the job architecture: role families, levels, job descriptions and skill matrices for operators, technicians, maintenance trades, quality and salaried roles.
Labour and Employee Relations (Accountable Culture)
- Define the cultural standard with the leadership team: clear ownership, standard work, follow-through, and consequences that are consistent and fair.
- Equip front-line leaders to set expectations, coach, document and act on performance and conduct. Make supervisors and managers the first line of employee relations, not HR.
- Own progressive discipline, investigations (harassment, violence, misconduct) and terminations, with clean documentation and consistent outcomes.
- Build direct two-way communication and a visible response loop on issues raised.
- Partner with the Safety lead on the workplace harassment and violence program, and safety accountability.
Talent Management and Recruitment
- Staff the plant on schedule for commissioning and ramp: hourly, skilled trades and salaried roles.
- Build the employer brand and sourcing channels: colleges, trade schools, apprenticeship programs, community partners, and referral programs.
- Set selection standards: structured interviews, skills and aptitude testing, and hiring for behaviours and fit.
- Own on-boarding that gets a new operator safe and productive on a defined curve.
- Run the performance management cycle and create action on low performance where applicable.
Training, Development and Succession
- Build the training system with the Learning and Development Manager, and Operations: skills matrices, certification by role, on-the-job trainers, and qualification tracking linked to pay progression where appropriate.
- Partner with Learning & Development Manager to stand up apprenticeship and trades development to grow maintenance talent internally.
- Build a leadership pathway from the floor to the C-suite: a supervisor program on setting expectations, coaching, documentation and labour law basics, and a senior leader program on strategy, business acumen and leading through growth, with defined readiness criteria for each step up.
- Identify critical roles, assess bench strength, and maintain succession plans with development actions for every level of the organization; ultimately ensuring continuity of operations and leadership.
SECONDARY RESPONSIBILITIES
Legislative and Employment Compliance
- Own compliance with the Employment Standards Act, 2000, Human Rights Code, Pay Equity Act, AODA, WSIB and the HR obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- Maintain the policy manual, employment contracts and offer templates, and ensure enforceable clauses.
- Run an annual compliance audit and track legislative changes.
Compensation, Benefits and Payroll
- Manage the total rewards strategy: pay structures, market positioning, shift premiums, overtime rules and incentive plans linked to safety, quality and output.
- Run annual market benchmarking and merit, and keep internal equity and pay equity compliant.
- Oversee benefits, group RRSP, and EAP providers, and own renewals and cost control.
- Own accurate, on-time payroll for a 24/7 operation, including time and attendance integration, statutory remittances (CPP, EI, income tax, EHT) and year-end.
- Implement the HRIS, payroll and time-and-attendance systems with IT, integrated with the ERP.
HR analytics and proactive people management
- Build the people dashboard from day one: headcount versus plan, time-to-fill, turnover (voluntary, first-year), absenteeism, overtime hours, training completion, discipline and grievance trends.
- Use the data to get ahead of problems: flight risk on critical roles, overtime-driven fatigue, crews with high absenteeism, supervisors with outlier turnover.
- Report routinely to the leadership team with what changed, why, and what HR is doing about it.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
· 10+ years of progressive HR experience, at least 5 in manufacturing or transferable equivalent.
· Has led the HR function at a site or business unit, with full ownership of policy, employee relations and compliance.
· 5+ years administering Ontario employment, human rights, pay equity and labour relations law.
· Degree or Diploma in Human Resources, Business, Labour Relations, or a related field.
· Proof of success in recruitment execution and talent development program development for 50+ people at once.
ASSET QUALIFICATIONS (valued though not required)
· CHRP or CHRL designation.
· Aluminum beverage can or metal packaging experience.
· Experience in 24/7 continuous shift manufacturing.
· Has built something: a greenfield plant, a major new line, a carve-out or a turnaround where HR and talent development was created rather than inherited.
· Experience implementing HRIS and payroll systems.
