Head of People & Culture (HR)

About us:

At PadCare, we're on a mission to make hygiene sustainable. Founded in 2018, we have developed India's first patented sanitary napkin recycling technologyPadCareX.

But we're not just solving a waste problem, we're building a circular economy that champions environmental resilience and social equity. Our service model closes the loop starting from collection, recycling, and transforming single-use sanitary napkins into sustainable materials, while also creating dignified jobs for marginalized waste workers, especially women, across the country.

With 100+ changemakers across 25+ cities, PadCare is driving real impactfor people and the planet. Recognized by Forbes, the World Economic Forum, and more, we believe business can be a force for good. If you do too, PadCare is where your purpose finds a home.

Oh, and you must have seen us on an episode of Shark Tank India, Season 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watchv=7q0cmPtpJRo

To learn more about the work that PadCare is doing, check out the website: www.padcarelabs.com

Role overview & Key responsibilities:

The Head of People & Culture will architect a future-ready HR function, aligning culture, talent, and systems with PadCare's business objectives. This is a dual role of strategic HR leadership and hands-on implementation, ensuring that PadCare's people strategy becomes a competitive advantage.

1. HR Strategy & Leadership

• Co-create a future-ready HR vision aligned with PadCare's business goals and founder's mentality.
• Define and track KPIs for HR effectiveness, talent health, and culture alignment across plants, field operations, and corporate teams.
• Advise CXOs and functional heads on org-wide people decisions, compensation structures, and capability building.
• Establish HR governance mechanisms (policies, committees, audits) for compliance and scale readiness.

2. Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding:

• Build a recruitment engine to scale from 100 to 500+ employees across plant/shop-floor, field, and corporate roles.
• Develop differentiated sourcing strategies: ITI/polytechnic campuses, gig/contractor networks, and leadership pipeline
• Strengthen PadCare's employer brand and storytelling across channels (LinkedIn, Naukri, social media, industry platforms).
• Integrate AI-driven sourcing and screening tools to reduce time-to-hire.

3. HR Operations, Compliance & HRIS

• Strengthen systems for payroll, attendance, overtime, contractor management, and grievance redressal.
• Ensure PF, ESIC, labor law, and health & safety compliance across plants, warehouses, and offices
• Build HR SOPs with audit-ready documentation.
• Digitize onboarding and offboarding for both blue- and white-collar employees through HRMS.
• Maintain audit-ready HR SOPs and documentation across all geographies.
• Provide HR insights, dashboards, and workforce analytics to leadership.
• Develop innovative employee benefits and retention programs.

4. Learning, Development & Capability Building

• Launch role-based L&D framework (30-60-90, functional, leadership).
• Drive culture and compliance training.
• Build partnerships/internal trainers for delivery.
• Design skill frameworks for plant workforce (technical, quality, safety), supply chain/field (process, service excellence), and office teams (sales, R&D, leadership).
• Launch structured onboarding (30-60-90), role-specific capability journeys, and leadership development (first-time managers to CXOs).
• Build career mobility paths including shop-floor supervisor manager transitions.
• Use digital/AI-powered L&D platforms for scalable delivery.

5. Performance Management & Career Pathways

• Link PMS with rewards, recognition, ESOPs, and growth conversations.
• Design career pathways and mobility frameworks.
• Implement a scalable PMS with measurable plant KPIs (output, quality, safety, efficiency) and OKRs for managerial/functional roles.
• Design transparent career pathways for both plant/field and office employees.
• Define and communicate a total rewards strategy (cash, benefits, recognition, ESOPs).

6. Culture, Engagement & Org Development

• Drive Founder Mentality culture of ownership, agility, collaboration.
• Foster a unifying culture that bridges shop-floor discipline with startup agility.
• Create differentiated engagement models for plant, on-ground, and corporate teams (e.g., safety weeks, family days, townhalls, recognition loops).
• Institutionalize rituals: townhalls, feedback forums, 1:1s, recognition systems.
• Build leadership succession and organizational health diagnostics.
• Design wellbeing, safety, and inclusion programs tailored to diverse workforce needs.

7. HR Tech, Data & AI Integration

• Select and implement HR Tech/AI tools for recruitment, HR operations, and engagement.
• Build real-time people analytics dashboards (attrition, engagement, productivity, compliance).
• Ensure compliance, data privacy, and ethical use of AI in people processes.
• Drive adoption of HR systems through structured change management.

8. HR Business Partnering (Future Scale)

• Design the HRBP model to serve as the connective tissue between business units and HR.
• Build and coach an HRBP layer once the employee base exceeds 200+.

What we're looking for:

• 5-8 years in HR leadership, preferably in manufacturing, hardware, or high-growth startups
• Strategic HR leadership with hands-on execution ability.
• Experience in scaling HR systems for multi-location teams (blue/white collar).
• Strong knowledge of Indian labor laws, compliance, and HR tech.
• Culture architect: proven ability to build engaged, high-performance teams.
• Business acumen to align HR decisions with growth and P&L.
• Culture Fit: Must align with PadCare's values Integrity, Entrepreneurship, Collaboration, Customer-First, Innovation.

Work Mode: Full-time; based in Pune

Why join us

• Compensation: Competitive salary in line with industry standards; ESOP opportunities for exceptional performers
• Growth Path: Opportunity to scale into CHRO as PadCare expands globally.
• Purpose With Impact: Join a mission-driven team transforming menstrual hygiene through sustainable solutions that uplift womens health, the environment, and sanitation workers dignity.
• Eco-Warrior in Action: Help recycle millions of sanitary pads and actively reduce landfill waste and carbon emissionsreal impact, not just buzzwords.
• Innovation Meets Heart: Be part of a team that blends empathy with patented 5D recycling tech to build the future of circular economy.
• Grow With Us: We're a fast-gowing, venture-backed startup offering real opportunities to scale your career as we scale our impact.
• A Culture That Cares: Work in a space where collaboration, inclusivity, and purpose aren't just valuesthey're how we roll every day.

Additional details: You will be working directly with theCEO to define and execute People & Culture strategies. This role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to high-impact decisions, experiment with bold ideas, and shape the direction of PadCare's expansion. You'll collaborate cross-functionally with teams and play a key role in driving measurable business outcomes.