Chief Human Resources Officer — Tower And Infrastructure Portfolio

The mandate

The portfolio serves mobile operators and connectivity providers through towers, power systems, site access and related infrastructure services. The operating response crosses field teams, energy management, security, property, network operations and account leadership. Each function has targets, but no leader consistently owns the complete tenant experience when a site fails or access is delayed.

The Chief Human Resources Officer will lead the organisation and workforce reset behind customer-churn recovery. The remit includes organisation design, workforce strategy, leadership, reward, labour and employee relations, field capability, succession, culture, safety partnership and people operations. Commercial and operating executives own tenant outcomes; risk and safety specialists maintain their authority. The CHRO must ensure roles, incentives and management practice support reliable infrastructure service rather than local metric achievement.

This planned new position is not a request for an engagement programme. The board wants clear accountability, capable site leadership, responsible labour and contractor governance and consequences when recurring service failure is normalised. The CHRO must work directly with the operating system and avoid explaining every problem as culture before examining work, authority and resources.

Scope and operating context

Based onsite in Johannesburg, the role influences approximately 2,525 employees and material partners across South Africa and a wider international region. The workforce includes field technicians, network operations, energy specialists, site-access and property teams, security, project delivery, commercial accounts and corporate functions. Contractors provide material maintenance, guarding, fuel, construction and specialist services.

Work occurs across dispersed sites, often under difficult access, weather, security and power conditions. Rosters, travel, fatigue, equipment, escalation and local supervision directly affect safety and restoration. Workforce policy designed for office settings cannot simply be applied to these operations. The CHRO will work with safety and operational leaders to create standards that are usable in the field.

Tenant churn has organisational roots. Account leaders may promise restoration or expansion without operational authority; field teams may prioritise tickets by internal severity rather than tenant consequence; and recurring power or access problems can remain between functions. Role design and performance must follow service ownership from signal to stable restoration and prevention.

First-year agenda

The first one hundred days will establish a workforce and decision baseline around priority tenant journeys. The CHRO will visit field operations and network centres, review escalation and on-call practice, and examine attrition, vacancies, overtime, safety, contractor performance, grievance and leadership spans. Recent service failures will be reconstructed to identify where capability, authority or incentive affected outcome.

The executive will then lead an operating-model reset. Critical decisions—incident command, dispatch, site access, energy response, tenant communication, repeat-fault closure and investment escalation—will have named authority and handoffs. Organisational layers or forums that delay action will be removed or redesigned. Account and operations leadership will share service outcomes while retaining distinct ownership.

Workforce planning will focus on qualified capacity by geography and skill, not aggregate headcount. The CHRO will identify scarce electrical, radio, energy, property and safety capabilities, assess contractor dependence and build training, certification and succession. Roster design must consider demand, travel, fatigue, recovery and lawful terms. Critical coverage cannot rely indefinitely on the same individuals.

Reward will be aligned with stable service. Restoration time needs balance with safety, first-time quality, repeat faults, preventive work and tenant communication. Project incentives should not reward new tenancy while unresolved operating debt weakens existing customers. The CHRO will test measures for gaming and ensure people are not penalised for escalating a genuine constraint.

Front-line leadership will receive practical development in incident command, contractor management, performance, investigation, coaching and customer consequence. The CHRO will assess regional and functional leaders against the future model and create credible successors. By year-end, the board should see reduced critical vacancies, stronger field coverage and clearer leadership accountability for tenant retention.

Leadership responsibilities

The CHRO will advise the chief executive and board on organisation, leadership, workforce and conduct risks linked to service. Reporting will connect people evidence to tenant and safety outcomes without claiming simple causation. Material fatigue, competence, contractor or retaliation concerns must reach proper oversight.

The people function will become more operational. Business partners should spend time with field and network teams, while centres of expertise simplify policies for shift, remote and contractor contexts. People operations must resolve pay, roster and case issues quickly enough to maintain trust and coverage.

Contractor governance requires precision. The portfolio will set competence, safety, conduct and evidence standards through contracts without blurring lawful employment accountability. Known unsafe or abusive practice cannot be ignored because a worker is supplied by another entity. Roles for supervision, investigation and remedy must be explicit.

Measures of success

The board will review critical vacancies, qualified field coverage, restoration and repeat-fault patterns, tenant escalations, safety, fatigue indicators, overtime, attrition, absence and contractor compliance. Leadership measures include succession, span, decision speed and closure of recurring organisation gaps.

Customer outcomes include tenancy renewal, service-credit movement, communication and complaint by account, alongside operational reliability. Reward changes will be tested for safety and repeat effects. Improved engagement scores without stronger field capability and tenant evidence will not be treated as completion.

Candidate profile

Candidates should bring 22–28 years of people leadership in telecommunications, infrastructure, utilities, energy, mining, logistics or another distributed field-service business. They must have led complex labour and contractor models across regions and advised boards through organisation, safety and customer-performance change.

The board will seek examples of redesigning accountability across commercial and field teams, building scarce technical capacity and changing incentives after repeat service or safety evidence. Candidates should understand rosters, fatigue, certification, contractor governance and labour relations in demanding operating environments.

The successful CHRO will be present in the field, commercially rigorous and credible with technical leaders. They must make difficult talent decisions fairly, challenge unsupported savings and connect workforce action to tenant outcomes without oversimplifying. African and international infrastructure experience is strongly preferred.

Compensation and appointment terms

The anticipated base range is ZAR 6,800,000–9,200,000, with annual incentive and long-term participation linked to workforce, service and enterprise outcomes. Final terms will reflect relevant operating complexity, regional experience and current arrangements. Relocation or responsible treatment of forfeited awards will be considered individually.

Confidentiality

The portfolio is unnamed because tenant concerns, workforce gaps and the new leadership seat are sensitive. Detailed site, account and people information will be released only after identity, conflict and confidentiality checks. Applications must not contain employee records, tenant names, network weaknesses or identifiable safety cases from other organisations.