Regional HR Business Services Leader EMEA in Stowmarket

We are seeking an accomplished and forward-thinking HR leader to transform HR Business Services across EMEA while serving as the region’s senior authority on Employee Relations and Labor Relations (ER/LR). This is a high-impact regional role for a pragmatic, commercially minded leader who can navigate works councils, unions, regulated labor environments, restructuring, and workforce transformation with confidence and credibility. You will shape practical solutions that enable business performance while protecting engagement, productivity, flexibility, compliance, and workforce trust.

Manufacturing fluency is essential, with significant experience in manufacturing operations and a strong understanding of plant, workforce, and productivity dynamics. You will bring a grounded understanding of how work gets done in plants and industrial settings, including shift-based operations, frontline leadership, safety and quality disciplines, workforce planning, and productivity dynamics. This role can be located in EMEA close to a PPG Site. We work on Hybrid mode, from Monday to Thursday in the office, offering the opportunity of a remote Friday.

Your impact

• Lead high-quality, efficient, scalable HR Business Services across EMEA, covering the full hire-to-retire employee lifecycle.
• Establish clear service standards, KPIs, governance, and accountability while continuously improving and simplifying regional processes.
• Act as the senior EMEA authority and trusted advisor on Employee Relations and Labor Relations for regional and global leadership.
• Define and execute a forward-looking ER/LR strategy aligned with business priorities and regional operating realities.
• Navigate unionized and highly regulated markets, works councils, formal employee representation, restructuring, footprint optimization, and workforce transformation.
• Identify emerging labor risks early, develop scenarios, and ensure robust contingency approaches for high-tension situations.
• Partner with HR Business Partners, Centers of Expertise, Legal, and business leaders to anticipate workforce changes and prepare for their labor implications.
• Translate global direction into a fit-for-purpose EMEA operating model that enables speed, consistency, sound judgment, and compliance.
• Use workforce data and insights to improve decision-making, employee experience, service quality, and business outcomes.
• Build practical ER/LR capability across HR and the business, particularly for leaders responsible for negotiating or agreeing labor outcomes.
• Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing HR Services organization and strengthen the regional talent pipeline.

What you bring

• Approximately 20 or more years of progressive experience across Employee Relations, Labor Relations, and senior HR leadership roles, ideally with an ER/LR foundation.
• Proven leadership of HR Business Services or equivalent operational HR activity across multiple EMEA countries.
• A strong track record managing complex labor environments, restructuring, transformation, and organizational change.
• Experience developing and implementing ER/LR strategies at regional or global level.
• Meaningful manufacturing experience supporting plants, factories, industrial operations, or other complex frontline workforces.
• Experience operating effectively in a matrixed, global organization with diverse employee populations.
• Deep ER/LR expertise combined with strong commercial judgment and business perspective.
• Ability to balance legal and regulatory frameworks with pragmatic, value-driven solutions that remain fully compliant.
• Strong judgment and decision-making in ambiguous, high-pressure, and tension-filled situations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead both strategy and execution.
• Credibility and confidence when advising senior leadership and engaging with employee representatives.

How you work

• Pragmatic, outcome-oriented, and courageous.
• Comfortable operating constructively in difficult or highly sensitive environments.
• Focused on impact over process and clarity over complexity.
• Able to hold a firm point of view while building trust with diverse stakeholders.
• Skilled at moving between strategic leadership discussions and practical realities on the plant floor.
• Committed to respectful, transparent, and value-driven employee and labor relationships.

Education

A degree in Law, Human Resources, Business, or a related discipline is preferred. An advanced degree is an advantage. Equivalent experience and demonstrated expertise will also be considered.

Why this role

This is an opportunity to shape how a complex EMEA organization delivers HR services and manages labor relations at a pivotal time. You will influence regional strategy, support business-critical transformation, and help create operating environments where performance, flexibility, compliance, and workforce trust reinforce one another.