Africa CHRO — PE & VC (Regional Leadership)

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Private Equity & Venture Capital on a senior CHRO leadership mandate anchored in Africa. The remit explicitly spans Australia.

This is a P&L-owning regional leadership mandate with full accountability for revenue, margin, talent, and governance across the defined geography.

Expect a mandate where credibility is earned in rooms with customers and regulators, not only in headquarters workshops.

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Cross-border talent for global PE strategies — as Indian PE companies expand regionally, finding leaders who can manage South Asian or Southeast Asian multi-geography portfolios
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Africa with explicit corridor responsibility across Australia.
• Organisation stage: ESG and conduct expectations from owners and regulators are now hard constraints on how growth is pursued.
• Stakeholders: Owners may include PE operating partners, a promoter family office, or public-market investors — each with different tempo and KPIs.
• Secondary lens: CFO quality in PE-backed companies — building institutional finance leadership that can handle investor reporting, credit management, and potential IPO/M&A preparation

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Transformation people plan: Align organisation design to strategy — spans, layers, and decision rights.
2. Change leadership: Equip executives to lead through restructuring, automation, or geographic shifts without burning trust.
3. Diversity & inclusion: Move from programmes to measurable outcomes in hiring, promotion, and succession data.
4. Industrial relations / employee relations: Stabilise hotspots; ensure policies match local law and company values.
5. Learning: Invest in leadership curricula tied to business priorities — not generic catalogues.
6. HR analytics: Give the CEO and CFO a clear view of workforce cost, productivity, and risk signals.

Responsibilities (representative)

• Upgrade manager capability — especially feedback, coaching, and performance management at scale.
• Simplify rewards; reduce exception culture that undermines internal equity.
• Own employee listening and action planning tied to retention drivers.
• Partner with legal on investigations, policies, and regulatory people topics.
• Build HR analytics that support board and audit committee oversight.

Leadership profile

• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Business partnership: HR seen as a strategic function, not only policy and service delivery.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from Africa with regular engagement across Australia.

Team & culture

Expect some fatigue from prior change programmes. Your success depends on simpler priorities, fewer initiatives, and leaders who model accountability. Culture is how decisions get made when spreadsheets disagree — you set that tone.

Success measures (examples)

• Value creation: EBITDA / cash trajectory vs. owner or board case — especially under stress scenarios.
• Execution: On-time delivery of named transformation milestones; reduction in repeat incidents or audit findings.
• Leadership: External hires and internal promotions that stick; reduction in key-person concentration.
• Innovation: Launched offers or capabilities that move the needle on differentiation, not pilots that stall.

First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Map cash, covenant, and customer concentration risks before announcing initiatives.
• Days 30–60: Align owners and board on a 12-month value story — financial and non-financial.
• Days 60–90: Launch two quick operational fixes that build credibility with frontline managers.
• Deep-dive on talent — who is load-bearing, who is blocking, where external hire is mandatory.
• Socialise a simple KPI tree so every function sees how their metrics roll up.

Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Executive committee, functional peers, shared services leads, and programme PMOs.
• External: Key suppliers, technology partners, and joint-venture boards where applicable.
• Board / owners: Expect deep dives on risk, liquidity, talent, and transformation — slides light, substance heavy.

Travel & mobility

Travel weighted to priority markets and quarterly global or regional forums; flexibility for crisis windows.

Compensation

Package aligned to CHRO benchmarks in Private Equity & Venture Capital — typically fixed, variable, benefits, and mobility where applicable. Structure detailed at shortlist.

Application status

This mandate is no longer accepting new applications. The search progressed through Q4 2025 and closed for submissions in February 2026. We retain this posting for transparency on the type of leadership work we carry in Private Equity & Venture Capital and Africa. For similar active mandates, browse open roles or submit a general profile through executive search inquiry.

Reference: private-equity-venture-capital · CHRO · Africa · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors