About the Role An award-winning interior architecture studio in Gurugram, with a team of approximately 60 designers, architects and support staff, is building its HR function for the first time. This HR Manager owns the complete function as an individual contributor, reporting to the COO. The mandate: bring records, recruitment, onboarding and appraisals into one disciplined system, and become the people partner to the studio's leadership.

What You'll Do

- Maintain one complete, current record for every team member: documents, contracts, joining details, appraisal history and compensation. Today these sit in physical files and an incomplete sheet.
- Partner with Associate Partners on every hiring need. Question the level asked for (for example, a mid-level designer in place of a senior one) against the project stage and the delivery expected at 30, 90 and 120 days.
- Run end-to-end recruitment in-house for fresher, junior and mid-level design roles, from the requirement conversation to joining. Build sourcing channels and a candidate database.
- Represent the studio formally to principals and campus directors of design and architecture institutes, and build a campus presence for fresher hiring.
- Set and protect the interview standard: environment, connectivity and the feedback format. Give stakeholders direct feedback when an interview falls short.
- Run a formal induction for every new joiner: who the studio is, its policies, and the handbook sections on confidentiality, ethics and conduct.
- Own the attendance-to-payroll input. Mark, calculate and validate attendance, and hand the validated sheet to accounts. Accounts releases salaries; payroll accountability sits with you.
- Issue salary slips and employment documents on request.
- Run the KRA and appraisal cycle: get drafted KRAs filled and returned, hold mid-year check-ins,



and lead the March appraisal conversations with the COO.
- Stay in regular personal contact with the team and the Associate Partners, and bring the team's pulse back to the Principal and the COO.
- Identify training needs for freshers, junior and mid-level staff, and help leadership design the programmes.
- Benchmark compensation for design roles against the market and give leadership an honest view of where the studio stands.
- Handle confirmations, resignations, exit interviews, full and final settlements, grievances and statutory compliance under Indian labour law.
- Assess where an HRMS would solve a defined problem and make the case to the COO. Run the agreed records system with full discipline.

First 90 Days

Month 1

- Learn the studio, its design culture and its career ladder, and meet every Associate Partner and team member.
- Audit existing employee records and list the gaps for each person.
- Take over interview scheduling, stakeholder feedback and joining formalities from the outgoing coordinator.

Month 2

- Complete one record per team member, available to the Principal and the COO.
- Own the monthly attendance validation and payroll input.
- Run the first formal induction session, and take each current hiring request through a structured conversation.
- Get the drafted KRAs filled and returned.

Month 3

- Run recruitment for fresher, junior and mid-level roles in-house.




- Hold mid-year KRA check-ins and report the pulse to leadership.
- Prepare the March appraisal plan, and plan the first institute conversations.

What We're Looking For

- An academic qualification in Human Resource Management: degree, postgraduate degree or diploma. This is mandatory.
- 5 to 6 years of HR experience, with at least the last 2 years in a manager designation.
- End-to-end recruitment experience, from the line manager conversation to joining.
- Has run, or led a major part of, a full appraisal cycle with KRAs.
- Has owned attendance and payroll inputs alongside an accounts team.
- Has built or maintained employee records for a full workforce, and has run an onboarding programme.
- Working knowledge of Indian labour law and statutory compliance.
- Uses Excel for HR records and MIS. Has worked with at least one HRMS.
- Sensitivity to creative people. HR experience in an interior design or architecture firm is preferred; strong HR profiles from other sectors are welcome.

Not a Fit If

- You hold no academic HR qualification, or moved into HR after a short course only.
- Your experience is sourcing-only recruitment, or HR administration and payroll only, without stakeholder partnering.
- You expect to lead a team soon and do not see a long run as an individual contributor.
- You accept hiring requests as given and do not question the level, timing or role clarity of a hire.
- You see an HRMS as the solution, without owning the process behind it.
- You manage people through systems and email only, with little personal contact.
- Your tenures are frequently short without clear, mature reasons.

Work Arrangement

- Work from office in Gurugram
- Monday to Friday
- 09:15 AM to 6:45 PM.

Compensation

- INR 65,000 to 80,000 per month

📌 HR Manager (Gurugram)
🏢 Clear Bracket
📍 Gurugram