About the Role
We're looking for a Senior HR Manager who has lived inside a high-volume retail or QSR environment and knows what it takes to keep dozens of stores fully staffed, well-trained and motivated. This is a hands-on, build-and-scale role, not a maintenance one. You'll own the full people lifecycle for our frontline and store-management teams across three cities, and you'll be the person who makes sure our headcount keeps pace with our store rollout without sacrificing quality of hire.
You'll partner directly with the MD, cluster managers and the training function, and you'll bring the systems, discipline and energy needed to run HR at scale across a distributed network.
Key Responsibilities
Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning
- Own high-volume recruitment for store crew, shift leads and store managers across all three cities, building a pipeline that stays ahead of the store-opening calendar.
- Build and maintain a sourcing engine (referrals, hyperlocal channels, institutes, gig platforms) that fills frontline roles fast and at the right cost-per-hire.
- Forecast manpower needs against the expansion plan and new-store launch timelines.
Retention & Engagement
- Tackle frontline attrition head-on — diagnose root causes, design interventions, and bring measurable improvement to retention and tenure.
- Run engagement, recognition and feedback mechanisms suited to a young, distributed, shift-based workforce.
Performance, Training & Development
- Partner with the Head of Training to ensure every new hire moves through structured onboarding and sign-off gates before going live on the floor.
- Drive a clear performance-management rhythm across stores, including goal-setting, reviews and career pathing for high performers.
HR Operations & Compliance
- Own statutory and labour-law compliance across all locations — Shops & Establishments, PF, ESI, minimum wages, contract labour and store-level documentation.
- Standardise HR processes, policies, SOPs and the HRIS so the system scales cleanly as store count grows.
- Manage payroll inputs, attendance discipline, grievance handling and disciplinary processes fairly and consistently.
Franchise & Multi-City Support
- Define people standards, hiring frameworks and training expectations that franchise partners adopt to keep service quality consistent network-wide.
- Act as the central HR point of contact for cluster managers in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
What We're Looking For
- 8+ years in HR, with at least 4 in a senior role within QSR, food & beverage retail, organised retail or a multi-outlet chain.
- Proven track record managing high-volume frontline recruitment and reducing attrition in a shift-based workforce.
- Strong working knowledge of Indian labour law and multi-state statutory compliance.
- Experience standing up HR systems and processes in a scaling business — not just running an established one.
- Comfortable operating across multiple cities and stores, with willingness to travel.
- Hands-on, founder-mindset operator who can both set strategy and get into the detail.
- Fluency in English and Tamil; conversational Kannada and/or Telugu is a strong plus.
- MBA/PGDM in HR or equivalent preferred.
