About SkyQuest

SkyQuest Technology Consulting is a rapidly expanding global advisory firm specialising in market intelligence, innovation management and commercialisation strategy. We partner with corporates, governments and development organisations to turn insights into implementation.

Our business operates across consulting, technology and development-sector programmes, working with governments, global foundations, multilaterals and development finance institutions across India and Africa.

Our workforce includes consultants, agricultural economists, development specialists, engineers, technology professionals, analysts and international programme leaders. Managing this diverse and growing workforce requires a strong, business-oriented HR function.

Learn more: https://www.skyquestt.com

About the role

SkyQuest is seeking an experienced Senior HR Business Partner – Consulting and Development Sector to lead and strengthen the people function across our consulting, technology and international development practice.

The role involves partnering closely with leadership across workforce planning, talent strategy, the employee lifecycle, performance management, HR operations, policy, compliance, employee engagement and culture.

The candidate will lead SkyQuest’s HR team — including Talent Acquisition and HR operations — build scalable HR systems and SOPs, and help the organisation scale its people and culture agenda as it grows.

This is a hands-on leadership role for an HR professional who operates beyond transactional HR — understanding business priorities, anticipating people requirements and building strong teams.

The team

SkyQuest works across consulting, technology and a Development Practice that runs programmes with governments, global foundations, multilaterals and development finance institutions across India and Africa.

Our people range from PhD consultants and agricultural economists to engineers, analysts and country leads in Africa — a diverse, fast-growing team that needs a strong, business-oriented people function.

The opportunity The Senior HR Business Partner will act as the strategic and operational HR partner to leadership, translating organisational priorities into practical people plans.

The role will set the hiring strategy and lead the Talent Acquisition function, with the TA team running day-to-day hiring. It will also own key HR processes end to end, strengthen employee experience and HR governance,



and build a high-performance, accountable and people-centric culture.

Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Work arrangement: Full-time, work from office (on-site).

Key responsibilities

- Build trusted relationships with employees, managers and leadership as a credible and approachable HR partner.
- Partner with leadership on organisation design, succession, capability building and people-related decision-making.
- Lead annual and periodic workforce and business resource planning covering headcount, skills, hiring priorities, deployment and capacity needs.
- Monitor utilisation, vacancies and attrition, and identify people risks and capability gaps early with practical interventions.
- Set the overall hiring strategy, annual hiring plans, priorities and recruitment SLAs, and lead the Talent Acquisition team in delivering them.
- Personally drive headhunting and closure for critical leadership and senior specialist positions.
- Oversee the Tier 1 and Tier 2 campus hiring strategy and relationships with key universities and institutes.
- Lead, coach and manage the HR team, setting clear goals, ownership, service standards and performance expectations.
- Own the employee lifecycle from onboarding and probation through role changes, development, performance and exit.
- Drive performance management cycles — goal-setting, reviews, feedback discussions and appraisals.
- Handle employee relations matters with fairness, confidentiality, maturity and appropriate documentation.
- Lead the development, review and implementation of HR policies, SOPs and guidelines across all core HR processes.
- Ensure HR operations align with applicable employment laws, statutory requirements and internal governance; drive periodic HR audits and close identified gaps.
- Plan and execute employee engagement, recognition and culture-building initiatives.
- Strengthen SkyQuest’s employer brand, campus visibility and candidate experience.
- Build HR dashboards covering headcount, hiring funnel, attrition, performance and engagement, and present actionable insights to leadership.




- Drive the use of AI tools across HR — screening, HR analytics, policy drafting and employee query handling — to make the function faster and more efficient.

Qualifications and experience

Education

- Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Management or a related field.
- Additional HR or people-management certification will be an advantage.

Skilled experience

- 10+ years of progressive HR experience, with strong exposure to both Talent Acquisition and HR operations / business partnering.
- Demonstrated experience managing HR teams and independently owning a broad HR portfolio.
- Strong experience in hiring strategy, leadership hiring, workforce planning and business resource planning.
- Hands-on experience across employee lifecycle processes, performance management, engagement, HR policies, SOPs and compliance.
- Proven experience developing or improving HR policies, processes and operating frameworks.
- Experience overseeing Tier 1 and Tier 2 campus hiring programmes.
- Experience partnering with senior leadership and business heads in a fast-paced professional environment.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, stakeholder-management and analytical capabilities.

Desirable experience

- Prior experience in consulting, IT, professional services or a research / advisory organisation.
- Experience working with multilateral organisations, development finance institutions (DFIs), foundations or international development partners.
- Hands-on use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, AI-enabled HRMS / ATS) in HR workflows — screening, analytics, documentation and policy drafting — will be a robust plus.
- Track record of building, expanding or significantly improving an HR function or talent function.

Important – Candidate requirement

Candidates should demonstrate hands-on experience leading an HR function and partnering with senior leadership, not only HR administration.

Preference will be given to professionals from consulting, professional services, IT or development-sector organisations.

Candidates whose experience is limited to HR operations or payroll administration, without team leadership, talent acquisition and business partnering exposure, will not be suitable for this role.

How to apply

Apply directly through LinkedIn, or share your profile at [email protected] with the job title in the subject line..

📌 Senior HR Business Partner – Development Sector & Consulting (Ahmedabad)
🏢 SkyQuest Technology Consulting
📍 Ahmedabad