: Head of HR

Company: Popo Ventures

Department: Human Resources

Reports To: Vice President, Business Operations

Location: Bangalore

Employment Type: Full-Time

About Popo Ventures

Popo Ventures is one of Bengaluru's leading F&B; groups, operating three gourmet brands:

- The Pizza Bakery – Award-winning wood-fired Italian sourdough pizzas; multiple-time Times Food Best Pizza winner.

thepizzabakery.in

- Paris Panini – Gourmet panini, wraps, crêpes, and café-style eats.

parispanini.com

- Smash Guys – Smash burgers, fries, and bold American flavours.

smashguys.in

Today, Popo Ventures operates 40 outlets across Bangalore, including 21 dine-in restaurants and 19 cloud kitchens, supported by a team of 1,000 people.

Role Overview The Head of HR will build and lead the HR function end-to-end. This is a hands-on leadership role suited to someone who can operate independently and strategically while resolving day-to-day people challenges, including recruitment bottlenecks, retention, and operational HR processes.

Key Responsibilities

HR Operations & Compliance

- Oversee the complete employee lifecycle, including onboarding, payroll, attendance, HRIS, and exits.
- Ensure compliance with labour laws, statutory requirements, and internal HR policies.
- Standardise and continuously improve HR processes, SOPs, and governance.

Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning

- Lead end-to-end recruitment across all functions and levels.
- Develop workforce plans aligned with business growth and new store expansion.




- Build talent pipelines and improve hiring efficiency through data-driven recruitment strategies.
- Monitor key hiring metrics including time-to-fill, joining ratio, and recruitment costs.
- Lead direct recruitment initiatives for experienced talent across India, ensuring no dependence on external hiring partners.

Organisation Development & Learning

- Design and implement learning, leadership development, and succession planning initiatives.
- Build structured induction and capability development programmes across all levels.
- Drive a culture of continuous learning and internal career progression.

Performance & Employee Experience

- Lead the performance management framework, including goal setting, appraisals, promotions, and talent reviews.
- Drive employee engagement, retention, recognition, and culture-building initiatives.
- Manage employee relations, grievance handling, and conflict resolution.

Compensation & HR Financial Management

- Develop compensation structures, salary benchmarks, and incentive programmes.
- Own the HR budget, monitor manpower costs, and optimise workforce productivity.
- Partner with internal Finance on manpower planning, payroll governance, and HR cost management.

HR Strategy & Business Partnering





- Partner with business leaders to align people strategy with organisational objectives.
- Build HR dashboards and analyse workforce metrics including attrition, productivity, training effectiveness, and manpower costs.
- Lead organisational development, change management, and strategic HR initiatives.

Leadership

- Build, mentor, and lead the HR team to deliver operational excellence.
- Drive HR initiatives that support business growth, organisational effectiveness, and a high-performance culture.

Requirements

Experience

- 8–12 years of progressive HR experience, including at least 3–5 years in a leadership role as Head of HR or CHRO Functions.
- Proven experience managing full-cycle recruitment, especially in high-volume or fast-paced hiring environments.
- Experience building HR functions and processes from the ground up is preferred.
- Strong preference for candidates with hospitality experience, managing high-volume hiring across multiple brands.

Skills

- Solid knowledge of labour laws and statutory compliance.
- Hands-on experience with HRIS/ATS tools and HR analytics.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder-management, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to balance strategic thinking with operational execution.

Education

- Bachelor's degree required; MBA/PGDM in HR or a related field preferred.

What We Offer

- A leadership role with high ownership and visibility.
- An opportunity to shape HR strategy and systems at an early stage.
- Competitive compensation aligned with industry standard experience.

📌 Head of Human Resources (Bengaluru)
🏢 The Pizza Bakery
📍 Bengaluru