Regional Chief Human Resources Officer — Passenger-Vehicle Business

The mandate

A listed passenger-vehicle business in South Korea is reshaping sourcing after accelerated localisation demands. The proposed model changes work between product groups, procurement, plants and resident supplier teams. Current structures reward functional delivery but leave no one accountable for end-to-end supplier coordination or the movement of critical skills. A new Regional CHRO will turn the operating design into a credible workforce and leadership system.

The business perimeter is approximately ₩10,150 billion across programmes and regional activity, affecting 800 employees and material partners. The CHRO owns organisation design, executive succession, workforce planning, rewards, labour relations, capability, culture and people governance. Business leaders remain accountable for performance; procurement owns commercial supplier terms. The people function must ensure roles, skills and employee processes make the resilience plan executable.

Supplier resilience has human dependencies often hidden by contract maps. Tooling engineers, bilingual quality specialists, embedded software integrators and launch leaders may sit with a supplier, agency or single internal site. The CHRO will create a capability map that identifies who can diagnose and recover a failure, how long replacement proficiency takes, and which knowledge cannot ethically or legally be transferred. This becomes an input to sourcing and investment decisions.

The operating-model shift will change authority. Category procurement cannot alone direct plant quality; programme leaders need clearer escalation without undermining functional standards. The CHRO will facilitate role design using real incidents, then align performance measures and rewards to the agreed decisions. Layers and spans will be reviewed where they slow recovery, but headcount reduction is not the default purpose.

Why this seat is open

This planned new position was authorised for the forthcoming operating model and has no predecessor. The board is allowing four to six months so the appointee can join before organisation and talent decisions are final. Current HR leaders retain their accountabilities during selection.

What you will own

• Translate supplier-resilience choices into roles, decision rights, skills and workforce locations.
• Map scarce capability across employees, contractors and strategically important partner teams.
• Build succession for programme, procurement, plant and quality leadership.
• Lead consultation, labour relations and responsible workforce transitions.
• Align performance and reward to enterprise recovery rather than functional optimisation.
• Strengthen people data, case governance and leadership accountability.

Employee relations will be treated as operating infrastructure. The CHRO will engage representative bodies early enough to influence sequence, provide evidence on work and skill changes, and keep management commitments trackable. Where vendor insourcing, transfer or redeployment is proposed, the plan must address employment status, training time, location, safety and manager capacity. Speed obtained through avoidable legal or trust damage will not count as successful transformation.

Leadership assessment will use observable decisions during supplier incidents and programme trade-offs. The CHRO will distinguish executives who escalate facts early from those who protect local metrics, then combine development, role change and succession accordingly. External hiring will target genuine gaps; internal mobility should preserve product knowledge and signal that difficult transformation work builds careers.

People analytics will connect vacancy, overtime, contractor reliance, learning lead time and quality escalation by capability cohort. Privacy controls and employee purpose will be agreed before combining records. The resulting insight should guide workforce choices without turning individual monitoring into a substitute for accountable management judgement.

The first 12 months

In 90 days, the CHRO will present an organisation-risk baseline, map the 20 most critical capabilities and agree the future decision architecture with regional leadership. Immediate retention and interim-cover actions will protect upcoming launches and supplier recoveries.

By month eight, the new model should operate across two programme or plant pathways, with revised roles, measures and escalation. At least 60% of priority skill gaps should have named build, buy, borrow or partner actions, and succession reviews will include tested readiness rather than manager opinion.

At twelve months, regretted attrition in critical cohorts should remain below 8%, ready-now cover should exist for 70% of pivotal leadership roles, and 80% of identified mobility moves should be completed or contractually scheduled. Employee cases and consultation milestones must meet agreed service levels, with no severe labour commitment overdue without executive action.

What the board will measure

• Supplier resilience supported by verified human capability.
• Clearer authority during programme and quality disruption.
• Affordable workforce change with lawful, credible consultation.
• Internal mobility and stronger leadership cover.
• People evidence influencing sourcing and operating decisions.

The person

You are a Regional CHRO, people director or business HR vice-president with 18–22 years in automotive, manufacturing, technology or supply-intensive industry. You have supported a perimeter above ₩5,900 billion and at least 550 people. The board will examine an operating-model change, a supplier-linked capability intervention and a labour decision where your sequencing preserved delivery.

This is an onsite Seoul appointment with plant and supplier travel. Candidates need credibility with technical leaders and employee representatives, not only programme-management experience.

Compensation and terms

Base salary is ₩420–560 million plus annual incentive. Outcomes include critical capability coverage, leadership depth, workforce affordability, employee relations and implementation quality. Terms reflect the final remit; notice up to six months can be accommodated.

Confidentiality

The company, suppliers, workforce plans, employee bodies and leadership assessments are confidential. Additional information follows qualification and an undertaking. Seoul and the rounded operating scale do not identify the organisation.