Team Lead: People & Culture

Job Purpose:

The Team Leader (Onboarding & Offboarding) is responsible for the end-to-end management, governance, and quality of all onboarding and offboarding activities for both permanent employees and the contingent workforce, including Independent Contractors and Fixed-Term Contractors. This role ensures a seamless, professional experience, regulatory compliance, data integrity, and payroll readiness.

The incumbent leads a specialist team responsible for accurate, timely, and compliant employee lifecycle processing within SAP SuccessFactors and serves as a consultative operational partner to People & Culture Business Partners, Payroll, Line Managers, and third-party benefit providers.

The Team Leader ensures that onboarding and offboarding processes function as a Centre of Excellence, delivering a consistent, supportive, and customer-focused experience aligned with People & Culture service standards. The role maintains strong governance, control, and drives continuous improvement initiatives.

Additionally, the incumbent is accountable for ensuring clear, proactive communication and effective expectation management across all onboarding and offboarding activities.

Responsibilities / Key Performance Areas:

End-to-End Onboarding & Offboarding Delivery:

• Manage onboarding and offboarding from initiation to closure for permanent employees and ICs
• Ensure all lifecycle activities are completed within agreed SLAs and payroll cut-offs
• Validate completeness, approvals, and effective dates prior to processing
• Enforce standard templates, workflows, and intake rules

Contingent Workforce (Independent Contractor) Lifecycle Management:

• Oversee IC onboarding, including contract verification and compliance checks
• Manage IC exits, contract end dates, rehires and extensions
• Ensure IC records are accurately maintained in SAP SuccessFactors
• Coordinate with Payroll and Finance to align IC payments and billing
• Escalate IC classification or compliance risks appropriately

Data Integrity, Quality Assurance & Payroll Readiness:

• Implement mandatory QA controls for all high-risk lifecycle transactions
• Perform or delegate second-level quality checks on hires, terminations, and IC actions
• Validate pay-impacting fields and benefit actions prior to payroll
• Maintain complete audit trails in SAP SuccessFactors
• Track, analyse, and address onboarding/offboarding-related errors

Stakeholder & Third-Party Coordination:

• Act as the operational interface for HRBPs and line management
• Manage engagement with third-party providers including medical aid, provident fund, and insurers
• Ensure accurate and timely benefit enrolments, changes, and terminations
• Manage escalations and provide clear resolution timelines

Customer & Stakeholder Experience Excellence:

• Serve as the escalation point for onboarding and offboarding experience-related issues, ensuring timely and appropriate resolution.
• Ensure clear, proactive, and professional communication with new hires, exiting employees, Independent Contractors, line managers, and People & Culture stakeholders across all onboarding and offboarding stages.
• Communicate requirements, timelines, dependencies, and next steps upfront and throughout the process to manage expectations effectively.
• Provide timely updates on progress, delays, or exceptions, reducing uncertainty and follow-up queries from stakeholders.
• Identify recurring communication or experience pain points and implement improvements to enhance clarity, consistency, and service delivery.
• Balance a customer-focused approach with adherence to governance, compliance, and process standards.

People Management & Team Leadership:

• Lead, coach, and develop onboarding/offboarding administrators
• Allocate work based on complexity, volume, and risk
• Set performance expectations aligned to accuracy, SLA, and quality metrics
• Conduct regular feedback, performance reviews, and capability development
• Foster a culture of accountability, precision, and service excellence

Governance, Compliance & Continuous Improvement:

• Apply labour legislation operationally within onboarding and offboarding processes
• Ensure compliance with BCEA, LRA (as it relates to terminations), UIF, and statutory requirements
• Identify non-compliance or risk scenarios and escalate appropriately
• Maintain SOPs, checklists, and workflow documentation
• Support audits and provide required evidence
• Identify process improvements and support system enhancements

Qualifications And Experience Requirements:

Essential:

• Relevant HR, Business Administration, or Operations qualification (Diploma or Degree)
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in HR administration or HR operations
• Minimum 2 years’ experience in a supervisory or team lead role
• Experience operating in a high-volume, deadline-driven HR operations environment.
• Hands-on experience with SAP SuccessFactors or a similar HRIS
• Strong working knowledge of South African labour legislation

Advantageous:

• Formal training or certification in labour law or industrial relations
• Experience supporting audits and/or CCMA-related administration
• Exposure to large-scale onboarding/offboarding environments
• Working knowledge of payroll legislation and statutory benefits

Competencies & Attributes:

Technical & Professional Competencies

• SAP SuccessFactors proficiency
• Strong understanding of HR lifecycle processes
• Data accuracy and quality management
• SLA and workflow management
• Payroll and benefits process understanding

Leadership & Behavioural Competencies

• People leadership and coaching
• Stakeholder management
• Planning, prioritisation, and decision-making
• Problem-solving and escalation management
• Governance mindset

Attributes

• Exceptionally detail-oriented
• Calm and structured under pressure
• Assertive with strong follow-through
• High integrity and accountability
• Customer & Stakeholder Orientation
• Comfortable operating in a high-volume, high-risk environment