HR & Payroll Operations Specialist

About the Role:
Join the HR team as an HR Operations Specialist based in Bahrain or Dubai, UAE, and help make the world cleaner, safer, and healthier. In this role, you will deliver high-quality HR operational support across the employee lifecycle, ensuring an exceptional employee experience and efficient service delivery. You will partner closely with employees, managers, HR Partners, Centres of Excellence (COEs), Finance, payroll providers, and external vendors to execute core HR processes, including payroll, benefits, employee administration, HR systems, reporting, and compliance. This position will also play a key role in driving continuous improvement initiatives, enhancing operational effectiveness, and supporting regional and global HR priorities.

What’s in it For You:

• The opportunity to take on some of the world’s most meaningful challenges, helping customers achieve clean water, safe food, abundant energy, and healthy environments.
• The ability to make an impact and shape your career with a company that is passionate about growth.
• The support of an organization that believes it is vital to include and engage diverse people, perspectives, and ideas to achieve our best.

What You Will Do:

• Provide end-to-end HR Operations support to employees, managers, and local HR teams across the employee lifecycle.
• Administer payroll processes, HR expenses, and vendor relationships, partnering with Finance, banks, and external providers as required.
• Manage leave administration and ensure requests are reviewed and processed in accordance with company policies and local requirements.
• Support benefits administration, including medical insurance, pension, and other employee benefit programmes.
• Coordinate medical insurance enrollments, amendments, and terminations for employees and eligible dependents.
• Maintain accurate employee records and manage the preparation, issuance, tracking, and filing of employee documentation and letters.
• Process HR transactions and maintain employee data in Workday and other HR systems, ensuring data accuracy and compliance.
• Respond to employee HR inquiries and support knowledge management and content maintenance within MyEcolab.
• Support pre-boarding and onboarding activities for new hires and internal transfers, including relocation logistics, temporary accommodation, travel arrangements, and shipment coordination where applicable.
• Execute operational employee lifecycle activities, including hires, transfers, promotions, compensation changes, and employee exits.
• Prepare HR reports, metrics, and analyses to support data-driven decision-making and business planning.
• Administer HR contracts, supplier agreements, invoicing, and document repositories.
• Coordinate contingent worker processes, including onboarding, contract management, assignment tracking, vendor engagement, renewals, and offboarding activities.
• Support Talent Acquisition operations, including interview scheduling, job requisition creation and closure, reporting, and recruitment administration.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve HR Operations processes, service delivery, operational efficiency, and employee experience.
• Support regional and global HR initiatives, projects, policy implementation, talent programmes, and organizational changes.
• Participate in HR projects and continuous improvement initiatives as assigned.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in human resources or accounting-related field, business administration, or other related area.
• 5 years of Human Resources experience, preferably with significant payroll experience.
• Fluent in both written and spoken English.
• Customer service-focused, with superior communication and analytics and presentation skills.
• Ability to interact effectively with all levels of management.
• Strong organizational, time, and project management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet critical deadlines.
• Ability to identify opportunities for improvement, develop action plans, and implement solutions.
• Strong interpersonal skills to make recommendations and decisions based on solid assumptions.
• Results-oriented, adaptable with proven drive and follow-through in a fast-paced, results-driven environment.
• Demonstrated initiative and ability to work independently, as well as in a team setting.
• Critical thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills balanced with creativity.
• Excellent attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications:

• HR or Accounting Certification.
• Proficient in Sage or Workday System.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite.

Our Commitment to a Culture of Inclusion & Belonging:
We are committed to fair and equal treatment of associates and applicants and furthering the principles of Equal Opportunity in Employment. We will recruit, hire, promote, transfer, and provide opportunities for advancement based on individual qualifications and job performance in all matters affecting employment, compensation, benefits, working conditions, and opportunities for advancement. We will not discriminate against any associate or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, creed, national origin, citizenship status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expressions, genetic information, marital status, age, or disability.