Director - People Partner

Company:Mercer

Description:

We are seeking a talented individual to join our Human Resources team as a People Partner (Grade G) for Marsh, People and Investments. This role will be based in Mumbai/Pune. This is a hybrid role that has a requirement of working at least three days a week in the office.

As a People Partner you will act as a trusted strategic advisor and as a co-architect of business performance, integrating talent, culture, structure and data to drive sustainable outcomes. The People role provides opportunities to work at the intersection of business strategy and people transformation, exposure to complex, global, and evolving business challenges, and ability to shape the future of work within a high-impact environment.

The People Partner will be:

• Translating business strategy into workforce and organizational solutions.
• Enable leaders to make better, faster, data-informed people decisions.
• Build resilient, future-ready teams and leadership pipelines.

This is a role for someone who can:

• Think in systems, not silos
• Operate with ambiguity and evolving business needs
• Use data, judgment, and influence to shape outcomes
• Act as a true partner in driving business performance through people

We will count on you to be accountable for:

Business & Workforce Strategy

• Partner with business leaders to translate strategy into workforce plans (skills, capacity, location, cost)
• Drive a shift from role-based planning to skills-based workforce strategies
• Provide forward-looking insights on talent trends, productivity, and capability gaps
• Integrate external market intelligence into workforce decisions

Organizational Effectiveness & Design

• Diagnose organizational challenges and design effective, scalable operating models
• Lead org design and restructuring initiatives with clear business cases and outcomes
• Simplify structures, decision-making, and workflows to improve speed and accountability
• Define and track organizational effectiveness metrics

Talent, Leadership & Succession

• Build robust leadership pipelines and succession strategies
• Enable leaders to assess and strengthen bench strength and critical roles
• Partner with HR CoEs to ensure leadership and learning interventions are business-relevant and outcome-driven
• Drive internal mobility and career growth through a skills-first approach

Performance, Rewards & Workforce Planning

• Lead talent reviews and calibration processes to drive high-performance culture
• Advise leaders on reward strategies aligned to performance and market competitiveness
• Continuously evolve workforce plans based on business needs and future scenarios

Culture, Engagement & Inclusion

• Shape and sustain a high-performance, inclusive culture through leadership actions and team environments
• Translate engagement insights into targeted, measurable actions
• Partner with leaders to address culture, inclusion, and team effectiveness challenges
• Move beyond surveys to continuous listening and action systems

Change & Transformation

• Lead and support business transformations (organizational, digital, cultural)
• Design and execute change strategies that drive adoption and minimize resistance
• Enable leaders to navigate ambiguity, scale, and evolving business demands

Data, Insights & Decision Support

• Use data and analytics to generate actionable people insights
• Shift from reporting to decision-focused storytelling

Governance, Risk & Employee Relations

• Provide expert guidance on complex employee relations matters
• Ensure alignment with enterprise policies while balancing business context and risk
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on sensitive people matters

Talent Acquisition (Strategic Input)

• Partner with Talent Acquisition to define target talent strategies and hiring priorities
• Ensure hiring decisions align with long-term capability needs, not just immediate gaps

Enterprise Contribution & Leadership

• Contribute to broader HR and business leadership forums to shape priorities and strategy
• Drive alignment across HR CoEs to ensure integrated, business-focused solutions

What you need to have: 

• 15+ years of progressive HR experience, with strong exposure to business partnering and transformation
• Bachelor’s degree in human resources; Master degree preferred
• Proven experience working with senior business leaders / leadership teams
• Demonstrated ability to drive organizational change and talent strategies at scale
• Experience in global / matrixed environments preferred
• Relevant HR certifications (e.g., SHRM, SPHR) are a plus
• Business & Strategic Thinking: Strong business acumen and ability to connect people decisions to business outcomes. Scenario planning and forward-thinking mindset
• Organizational & Systems Thinking: Ability to diagnose and design organizational systems, not just solve isolated issues. Understanding of org design, operating models, and workforce dynamics
• Influence & Leadership: Executive presence with the ability to challenge and influence senior leaders. Strong coaching and stakeholder management skills
• Data & Digital Fluency: Ability to interpret data and translate into clear, actionable insights. Comfort working with digital tools, analytics, and emerging AI-enabled solutions
• Execution & Change Leadership: Ability to translate strategy into practical, scalable execution. Strong change management and program leadership capability

Why join our team:

• We help you be your best through professional development opportunities, interesting work and supportive leaders.
• We foster a vibrant and inclusive culture where you can work with talented colleagues to create new solutions and have impact for colleagues, clients and communities.
• Our scale enables us to provide a range of career opportunities, as well as benefits and rewards to enhance your well-being.

Marsh (NYSE: MRSH) is a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, advising clients in 130 countries. With annual revenue of over $27 billion and more than 95,000 colleagues, Marsh helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective. For more information, visit marsh.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

Marsh is committed to embracing a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age, background, caste, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Marsh is committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections and professional development benefits of working together in the office. All Marsh colleagues are expected to be in their local office or working onsite with clients at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which their full team will be together in person.