Head of People Partners

Job Description

Are You Ready to Navigate the Future of Global Trade?

Maersk is a global leader in integrated logistics and has been an industry pioneer for over a century. Through innovation and transformation, we are redefining the boundaries of possibility and continuously setting new standards for efficiency, sustainability, and excellence.

We believe in the power of diversity, collaboration, and continuous learning, and we work hard to ensure that the people in our organization reflect and understand the customers we exist to serve. With over 100,000 employees across 130 countries, we work together to shape the future of global trade and logistics.

What we Offer:

• Global Reach, Local Impact: Thrive in a role with international scope, contributing to projects that shape global trade.

• Inclusive and Dynamic Culture: Join a team where diversity is strength, fostering an environment rich in personal and professional growth opportunities.

• Competitive Rewards: Benefit from a compensation package matching your role as a leading industry player, complemented by best-in-class benefits and talent development programs recognized worldwide.

About the role:

This role is a strategic advisor to business leaders, shaping and executing people strategies that enable organizational performance, operational excellence, and future growth. Serving as a trusted leadership partner, this role helps build a high-performance culture by strengthening leadership capability, guiding organizational design, and ensuring teams are structured and equipped to deliver against business priorities.

In addition to influencing senior leaders, this role leads a People Partner team across multiple areas in North America. This includes developing talent, setting clear operating rhythms, driving consistency in people processes, and ensuring the team delivers high-quality strategic partnership to the business. The role fosters a strong, unified People Partner community with aligned standards, capabilities, and ways of working.

Leveraging people analytics, workforce insights, and business acumen, the Head of People Partnering informs strategic workforce planning, identifies capability and leadership gaps, and drives decisions related to talent pipelines, succession, and organizational effectiveness.

The role provides expert consultation on organizational design, change leadership, culture shaping, and leadership development, ensuring that solutions are proactive, data-driven, and aligned with the global People Strategy.

Through forward-looking insight, disciplined execution, and strong team leadership, this role plays a critical role in enabling talent, shaping culture, and driving sustainable business results across a complex, fast-moving global organization.

In this role, you will:

1. Strategic Business Partnership

• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior business leaders, translating business priorities into integrated people strategies.

• Provide thought partnership on organizational performance, workforce planning, capability building, and long-term talent needs.

• Influence leadership decisions with data-driven insights, proactive recommendations, and deep business understanding.

2. Leadership of the People Partner Organization

• Lead, coach, and develop a People Partner team across multiple sites and functions.

• Establish clear standards, operating rhythms, and ways of working to ensure consistent, high-quality partnership across the business.

• Build a strong succession pipeline within the People function, driving continuous capability growth and professional development.

• Foster a collaborative, aligned, and empowered People Partner community.

3. Workforce Strategy & People Analytics

• Use people analytics and workforce insights to guide strategic workforce planning and identify future talent requirements.

• Assess capability gaps and partner with leaders to build or buy talent needed for growth, innovation, and operational excellence.

• Lead data-informed succession planning, talent reviews, and readiness strategies for critical roles

4. Talent, Leadership & Culture

• Shape a high-performance culture through leadership effectiveness, coaching, and alignment to company values.

• Partner with leaders and COEs to implement leadership development programs tailored to current and emerging business needs.

• Guide the design and execution of engagement strategies, culture initiatives, and retention plans.

5. Organizational Effectiveness & Design

• Lead organizational design work, including structure optimization, spans and layers, role clarity, and capability alignment.

• Advise on org transformations, new operating models, and scaling plans as the business grows or evolves.

• Ensure organizations are structured, staffed, and equipped to meet short- and long-term business priorities.

6. Change Leadership

• Lead change management strategies that ensure readiness, adoption, and long-term sustainability of business transformations.

• Coach leaders on navigating ambiguity, building change capability, and maintaining team engagement through transitions.

• Serve as a key connector between business needs, people impacts, and enterprise HR strategy.

7. People Process & HR Operational Excellence

• Oversee delivery of all annual people cycles (performance, talent, succession, compensation, engagement) with excellence and consistency.

• Partner with COEs to ensure seamless execution of HR programs and policies across all locations.

• Drive continuous improvement of HR processes, increasing efficiency, reducing complexity, and delivering an elevated employee experience.

8. Employee Relations & Risk Management

• Provide oversight and guidance on complex employee relations matters to ensure fair, consistent, and risk-mitigating outcomes.

• Ensure compliance with policies, employment legislation, audits, and governance standards.

• Use ER insights to proactively identify trends and address systemic issues.

What you bring:

• Bachelor’s degree preferred in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related discipline.

• 7+ years of progressive HR experience, including 3+ years in a strategic HR Business Partner or advisory role within a complex contract logistics environment.

• Proven ability to partner with senior leaders, influence decision-making, and navigate a matrix organizational structure.

• Extensive experience in employee relations and some labor relations helpful, including effective collaboration with Works Councils, unions, and within Collective Labor Agreements (CLAs).

• Demonstrated success driving the People Cycle, including performance management, talent reviews, succession planning, compensation processes, and employee engagement initiatives.

• Strong background in organizational design, workforce planning, and supporting business transformation and change management efforts.

• Advanced capability in organizational assessment, job leveling, and role architecture design.

• Proficient in talent assessment methodologies, competency frameworks, and leadership development practices.

• Ability to leverage data, analytics, engagement insights, and workforce dashboards to inform decisions, identify trends, and provide strategic guidance.

• Execution discipline: Manages multiple priorities and ensures consistent delivery of people processes.

• Flexibility: Ability to travel to sites or regional offices as needed (10-20%).

Join us as we harness cutting-edge technologies and unlock global opportunities. Together, let's sail towards a brighter, more sustainable future with Maersk.

Job Type: Full Time

Salary: $145,000 - $185,000 USD*

Benefits: Full-time employees are eligible for Health Insurance, Paid Time Off, and 401k Match.

*The above-stated pay range is the anticipated starting salary range for the position. The Company may adjust this range in light of prevailing market conditions and other factors, such as location. The Company will work directly with the selected candidate(s) on the final starting salary in accordance with all applicable laws.

Notice to applicants applying to positions in the United States: You must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.

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Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with all legal requirements.

We are happy to support your need for any adjustments during the application and hiring process. If you need special assistance or an accommodation to use our website, apply for a position, or to perform a job, please contact us by emailing accommodationrequests@maersk.com.