BALENCIAGA - Assistant Manager, HR Business Partner

About us

Founded by Spanish-born Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1917 and established in Paris in 1937, the original House of Balenciaga defined modern couture with its many innovations to form and technique. Today it continues to uphold the vision of the House through boundary-pushing collections including women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, accessories, and objets d’art. The brand’s unprecedented interactions with the expanding digital realm, material developments, and today’s social responsibilities keep it at the forefront of modernity.

In 2021, Balenciaga’s 50th Couture collection—the House’s first since its founder retired in 1968 – reintroduces a standard of cutting-edge elegance.  From October 2015 to July 2025, Demna designed both men’s and women’s collections as the Artistic Director. In July 2025, Pierpaolo Piccioli was appointed Creative Director of Balenciaga.

We are looking for a collaborative and commercially minded Assistant Manager, HR Business Partner to support our Retail across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. In this role, you will partner with business leaders to deliver end-to-end HR solutions across talent acquisition, business partnering, talent management, employee relations and HR operations, helping to build high-performing teams and an exceptional employee experience.

Your opportunity

The Assistant Manager, HR Business Partner will partner closely with Retail Leaders across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to deliver people strategies that support business growth, organizational effectiveness and an exceptional employee experience. Acting as a trusted HR partner, this role provides end-to-end HR support across the employee lifecycle while driving talent acquisition, talent development, performance management and employee engagement initiatives. Approximately 50% of the role will focus on managing the full recruitment lifecycle for Retail positions, ensuring the business attracts and retains high-calibre talent aligned with Balenciaga's brand and culture.

Working in a fast-paced luxury retail environment, the role requires a commercially minded HR professional who is hands-on, solutions-oriented and able to influence stakeholders across multiple markets. This role reports to the Senior HR Manager, SEAO.

How you will contribute

HR Business Partnering

• Partner with Retail Directors, Area Managers, Store Managers and Corporate stakeholders across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to provide proactive HR advice that supports business performance and organizational objectives.

• Build trusted relationships with business leaders, providing guidance on people matters, workforce planning and organisational effectiveness.

• Coach and support managers in making sound people decisions while ensuring consistency, fairness and compliance with company policies and local employment legislation.

• Translate business priorities into practical HR solutions that enhance employee performance, engagement and capability.

Talent Acquisition

• Lead end-to-end recruitment for Retail positions across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, ensuring quality hiring outcomes while meeting business timelines.

• Partner with hiring managers to develop recruitment strategies, define role requirements and identify the best talent for the business.

• Proactively source and build pipelines of luxury retail talent through direct sourcing, networking and market mapping to support ongoing and future hiring needs.

• Assess candidates through interviews and competency-based evaluations, ensuring alignment with Balenciaga's values, culture and capability requirements.

• Manage offer negotiations, pre-employment processes and onboarding to deliver a seamless candidate experience.

• Monitor recruitment metrics, maintain accurate recruitment data within Workday and provide regular hiring updates and market insights to stakeholders.

• Promote Balenciaga's employer brand and ensure a consistent, high-quality recruitment experience.

Talent & Performance Management

• Partner with managers to drive the annual performance management cycle, including objective setting, performance reviews, calibration and development planning.

• Support talent identification, succession planning and career development initiatives to strengthen organizational capability.

• Coach managers on performance improvement, feedback conversations and development planning.

• Collaborate with regional HR teams to implement talent management initiatives and leadership development program.

Employee Relations & HR Operations

• Provide day-to-day HR advisory support on employee relations matters including performance management, disciplinary actions, investigations, grievances, attendance management and policy interpretation.

• Support managers in resolving employee issues through practical, commercially balanced and legally compliant HR solutions.

• Manage employee lifecycle processes including onboarding, probation, transfers, promotions, contract changes and offboarding.

• Ensure HR operations are executed accurately and in compliance with local employment legislation, internal policies and governance requirements.

• Partner with HR Shared Services and Payroll to ensure timely and accurate HR administration.

• Maintain accurate employee records within Workday and support HR reporting, audits and compliance activities.

Employee Engagement & Projects

• Support the planning and execution of employee engagement initiatives that reinforce Balenciaga's culture and values.

• Coordinate learning, recognition and wellbeing activities across the SEA markets.

• Participate in regional and global HR projects, process improvements and change management initiatives.

• Contribute ideas that enhance employee experience, operational excellence and organizational effectiveness.

Who you are

• Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources, Business Administration or a related discipline.

• Minimum 5–7 years of progressive HR experience within the luxury retail, fashion or premium retail industry, with strong exposure to both HR Business Partnering and Talent Acquisition.

• Proven experience managing full-cycle Retail recruitment across multiple Southeast Asian markets.

• Demonstrated experience partnering with business leaders to provide HR advisory, talent management and employee relations support.

• Strong understanding of employment legislation and HR practices within Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

• Experience handling employee relations matters including performance management, investigations, disciplinary processes and workplace issues.

• Commercially minded with the ability to balance business priorities, employee experience and risk management.

• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to coach and challenge managers constructively.

• Highly organized, adaptable and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced regional environment.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across all levels of the organization.

• Experience using HRIS and applicant tracking systems; Workday experience will be highly advantageous.

• Self-motivated, resilient and collaborative, with a passion for luxury retail and delivering exceptional people experiences.

Why work with us?

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the Balenciaga philosophy and to become part of a team that offers possibilities to learn and grow.   

Balenciaga is committed to thriving your professional development within the House or in the Kering group. We empower leaders to create, build and sustain high performing teams that excel in execution. We guide every employee to reach their full potential in a stimulating and fulfilling workplace environment.

Diversity Commitment

Balenciaga is committed to fostering a diverse workforce. We believe that diversity in all its forms - gender, age, nationality, culture, disability, sexual orientation… - enriches the workplace and our client experience. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we welcome all applications and select our talents based on competencies and in alignment with our brand behaviors. Setting people for success is what we live for. It is part of our interview process to discuss with you how to excel in our company.