HR Generalist
Toronto East
$80,000-95,000
Our client is seeking an HR Generalist to help leaders connect business goals with practical people solutions. Working with office and production teams, you will combine day-to-day HR advice with workforce planning, organizational improvement and talent development.
The position supports a broad mix of technical, commercial, operational and corporate functions. You will work closely with managers and HR specialists to address current needs and prepare teams for future demands across a geographically dispersed business.
What you will do
Advise leaders and plan workforce needs
- Build effective relationships with senior leaders and managers, turning operating plans and growth priorities into clear HR actions.
- Use workforce data, financial context and professional judgment to guide decisions, challenge assumptions and identify risks involving talent, leadership and team effectiveness.
- Assess staffing levels, future skill requirements, hiring priorities and succession exposure; work with leaders on headcount plans and workforce budgets.
- Help shape team structures during reorganizations, role changes and business transformation. Review reporting relationships, management capacity, organizational layers, responsibilities and decision-making authority.
- Carry out or contribute to job analysis, role evaluation, position mapping and job-level alignment. Recommend structures that reduce overlapping work, improve productivity and accommodate growth.
- Adapt recommendations to the different needs of professional, technical and production employees.
Build talent pipelines and strengthen performance
- Coordinate talent discussions to identify essential positions, strong contributors, employees with advancement potential and gaps in leadership or specialist succession.
- Create practical succession and internal movement plans. Work with learning and development colleagues on development priorities for potential successors and emerging talent.
- Help establish career routes and internal opportunities across locations and functions, building pipelines for technical, operational, commercial and management positions.
- Guide managers through goal setting, regular feedback, performance reviews and calibration discussions. Coach them on recognizing different levels of contribution and addressing ongoing performance concerns.
- Identify patterns in team performance and skill gaps, and connect review outcomes with development, career progression and succession decisions.
- Assess management and technical learning needs with business leaders. Support leadership training, functional learning, technical development, knowledge transfer and graduate or early-career programs as applicable.
- Coach managers to improve their leadership approach, develop employees and build accountable, effective teams. Anticipate specialist skills needed for future business and product requirements.
Support employee matters and reward decisions
- Advise managers on workplace concerns, investigations, policy interpretation and individual performance matters, promoting consistent and fair treatment.
- Help resolve sensitive employee situations with consideration for employee experience, business needs and organizational risk. Involve senior HR colleagues and legal counsel when matters are complex or carry greater risk.
- Review recurring workplace issues and recommend steps to prevent similar concerns.
- Work with compensation and benefits specialists on pay recommendations, promotions, organizational changes and internal pay equity, providing relevant business context.
- Contribute to annual salary reviews, incentive cycles, promotion decisions and talent reviews. Identify retention concerns affecting essential expertise and support workforce cost decisions that preserve key capabilities.
Improve HR services and systems
- Collaborate with HR service teams, systems specialists and subject-matter experts to improve how HR work is delivered.
- Find ways to simplify processes, introduce consistent practices and make appropriate use of automation and digital tools.
- Help employees and managers use HR systems and processes effectively. Share feedback on their experience and contribute to broader HR change initiatives.
What you bring
- A bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, organizational psychology or a related field.
- At least four years of progressively responsible HR generalist experience, including support for leaders across multiple business functions in a complex organization.
- Experience in manufacturing, industrial operations or another technical business is strongly preferred, including engineering, technology or building-related equipment and systems.
- Practical experience with workforce planning, organizational design, talent and succession planning, performance management and employee relations.
- Experience helping implement restructurings, organizational transformation or other substantial changes.
- An understanding of both office-based and production workforces, together with strong commercial awareness and financial understanding.
- The ability to collaborate across locations and work effectively in an international organization.
- CHRP, SHRM or a comparable professional designation would be an asset.
