Regional Chief Human Resources Officer — Precision-Engineering Division

The mandate

A precision-engineering division has ordered automated machining, inspection and material-handling systems to support a demanding new product family. Equipment installation is on schedule, but the workforce plan is not. Technician roles were defined around existing assets, engineering and production disagree on future skill ownership and experienced machinists fear that training selections are a proxy for redundancy. The board has created an urgent Regional Chief Human Resources Officer appointment to prevent a technology investment becoming an employee-relations and capability failure.

The scope covers approximately 1,075 employees and material partners in Singapore across manufacturing, engineering, quality, supply chain, commercial and corporate teams. The CHRO owns people strategy, organisation design, workforce planning, talent, reward, employee relations, learning, HR operations and leadership succession. Operations retains production delivery and engineering retains technical standards; the people leader must translate the automation design into credible work and opportunity.

The starting point is task evidence. Automation changes some manual activities, creates diagnostic and data responsibilities and can concentrate risk in fewer highly skilled roles. Job titles alone will not reveal the change. The CHRO will bring engineers, supervisors and employees together to map task frequency, judgement, safety consequence and required proficiency. This will determine redeployment, training, recruitment and role evaluation.

Training must lead to demonstrated competence. Attendance at vendor courses is not enough for independent equipment intervention, parameter changes or automated inspection release. The learning system will include supervised practice, assessment, recertification and escalation limits. Shift coverage and production ramp must allow real learning time rather than expecting employees to qualify around overtime.

Employee trust depends on candour about displacement. Where roles genuinely reduce, the company will use fair selection, redeployment and responsible separation under Singapore requirements and any applicable representation. Promising that nobody will be affected would be as damaging as treating reduction as the sole automation objective. Managers need scripts, data and authority to handle individual questions consistently.

The reward model also requires attention. Scarce controls, robotics and metrology capability may command premiums, but isolated allowances can fracture internal equity and encourage credential accumulation without useful performance. The CHRO will evaluate roles against contribution, proficiency and market, preserving transparent progression for production specialists who do not seek management careers.

This appointment was not in the annual plan. The regional HR lead is managing routine operations but lacks the capacity and industrial transformation experience to sponsor the change. The new CHRO will work onsite with the division leader, participate in automation governance and have direct escalation to the executive sponsor.

What you will own

• Translate automation scope into task-level workforce demand, role architecture and shift coverage.
• Build selection, training, supervised practice and certification for new technical responsibilities.
• Lead consultation, redeployment and any necessary restructuring with procedural fairness.
• Redesign specialist careers, reward and succession for engineering and production capability.
• Strengthen frontline manager communication, coaching and change accountability.
• Plan external hiring and education partnerships where reskilling cannot meet timing.
• Maintain payroll, HR data, mobility, health, safety and employment compliance.
• Measure whether workforce readiness supports safe ramp and product qualification.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, map roles and critical tasks against the automation commissioning schedule, assess employee sentiment and identify scarce shift-level coverage. Stop unsupported role or redundancy assumptions and publish decision principles. Confirm immediate recruitment, retention and learning actions for the first production cell.

By month six, complete fair assessment for affected employees, launch role-based certification and establish specialist career levels. Managers should conduct individual workforce conversations using consistent facts, while operations receives weekly readiness data by asset and shift. Resolve representation issues before commissioning gates rather than after work changes.

At twelve months, fill or certify 95% of critical automation roles before independent operation, redeploy at least 70% of employees whose prior tasks materially reduce and retain 90% of identified scarce specialists. New equipment should reach planned labour and quality performance without a competence-related safety event, substantiated grievance or unlawful selection finding. Leadership succession must cover every critical technical team.

What the sponsor will measure

• Workforce decisions derived from actual tasks and commissioning milestones.
• Competence demonstrated at the equipment, not inferred from course attendance.
• Honest, lawful consultation and credible employee choices.
• Specialist careers and reward supporting useful capability rather than title inflation.
• Managers able to lead change without contradictory promises.
• Automation value realised with safety, quality and trust intact.

The person

You have 18–22 years in human resources, including senior responsibility in precision manufacturing, electronics, aerospace, medical devices or advanced industrial operations. You have led people strategy through automation or technology-led job redesign and can demonstrate both business results and fair workforce outcomes.

Your prior perimeter should include at least 800 employees and partners across technical and shift-based work. Evidence must include task-based organisation design, certified reskilling and a difficult redeployment or separation process. You understand Singapore employment practice and can work directly with engineers, employee representatives and senior directors. General corporate talent experience without plant exposure is insufficient.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is S$360,000–480,000 plus annual incentive linked to workforce readiness, ramp performance, retention, fair change and leadership depth. The permanent onsite Singapore role reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor. Start timing will reflect the commissioning urgency and may require an accelerated transition.

Confidentiality

The division, technology suppliers, workforce impact, employee data and product programmes are confidential. More detail follows credential verification, conflicts clearance and a signed undertaking. Applicants must not approach employees, unions, vendors or public agencies to determine the client’s identity.