Sun King

Off-grid solar home systems provider

HR Lead – Southern Africa

HR Generalist & Employee RelationsUpdated on Nov 13

Full-timeLusaka, ZambiaNo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

At least 8 years of progressive human resources experience, including 3 or more years supporting multiple countries, and a track record of leading and developing an HR team.
A degree in human resources, business, psychology, law, or a related field is required.
Working knowledge of employment law and statutory practice in Southern Africa, including the ability to learn new jurisdictions quickly.
Deep employee relations experience, including fact-finding, investigations, disciplinary and appeal hearings, terminations, and exposure to labour tribunals or the CCMA; sound escalation judgment and documentation discipline are required.
Hands-on experience with a human resources information system and applicant tracking system, such as HiBob and Pinpoint or comparable platforms, is required.
Ability to build and use people dashboards, rather than relying on assumptions, and comfort using artificial intelligence tools are required.
Experience supporting large, distributed, field-based workforces in sales, logistics, retail, or similar high-volume environments is required.
Experience overseeing multi-country payroll and human resources operations, including selection and management of outsourced providers and statutory compliance, is required.
Willingness to travel across the region and to be based in Lusaka, Zambia is required.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop the in-country HR team across five markets, setting consistent delivery standards and building regional HR capability, bench strength, and succession.
Own end-to-end regional talent acquisition on Pinpoint, meeting 30-day turnaround for roles at or below manager grade and 60 days for roles above manager grade, closing at least 90% of positions through direct sourcing, and conducting documented intake discussions, structured panels, and competency-based assessments for every role.
Drive inclusive hiring through gender-decoded, template-compliant job descriptions, gender blinding on Pinpoint, diversified interview panels, reference and background checks before offers, timely applicant feedback, and improved gender representation, particularly in Pay-as-you-go sales.
Deliver onboarding through planned inductions, onboarding buddies, complete joining documentation on HiBob, goals set within 45 days, 30-day and 60-to-90-day pulse checks, and timely probation evaluations.
Foster inclusion, belonging, and engagement through quarterly story circles and Culture Champion sessions in each country, HR-led skip-level dialogues with tracked action plans, Gallup survey action planning with managers, a monthly engagement calendar, and quarterly well-being sessions with Employee Assistance Programme partners.
Build a culture of learning by identifying capability needs, running skill-share sessions in every market, promoting Sun King Center for Leadership programmes, and maintaining more than 90% completion of mandatory e-learning, particularly Sexual Harassment and Personal Safety modules.
Improve performance management by completing all review cycles on time, delivering quarterly manager capability sessions on feedback, coaching, and difficult conversations, ensuring timely and documented supportive performance improvement plans, and connecting performance outcomes to pay, promotion, succession, and mobility.
Serve as the region's senior employee relations authority by conducting thorough fact-finding and investigations alongside a designated second, chairing disciplinary and appeal hearings, closing cases within 30 days, consulting the Head of Employee Relations from the outset on gross misconduct and potential terminations, and obtaining required approvals before termination.
Safeguard health, safety, and statutory compliance across five jurisdictions by recording occupational incidents and illnesses accurately on HiBob, progressing eligible work injury benefit claims, escalating serious workplace incidents within 24 hours, and meeting local employment legislation and statutory reporting requirements, including South African employment equity.
Own the regional talent agenda by maintaining current views of top talent and high-potential employees by function, holding career conversations with key talent, building succession for critical roles, identifying retention risks, and reporting progress through a quarterly talent dashboard.
Strengthen HR operations, payroll, and analytics through accurate and compliant payroll in every market, including markets managed directly by HR; optimize and automate employee lifecycle workflows on HiBob; standardize dashboards for headcount, attrition, hiring, performance, and engagement; and use artificial intelligence tools to surface insights faster and improve team productivity.
Manage offboarding by conducting exit interviews for every voluntary leaver and feeding insights back to managers for action, ensuring clean handovers and clearance, completing final settlements within 30 days, and using attrition reviews to drive targeted retention actions.
Collaborate with sales, operations, finance, logistics, and other teams so people decisions support commercial delivery, and travel regularly across the region to engage with field, warehouse, and retail teams.

Desired Qualifications

CIPD, SHRM, ZIHRM, or an equivalent professional qualification is an advantage.
Familiarity with the Zambian Employment Code and South African labour legislation is a strong plus.
Working Portuguese or French is an advantage.

Job Location: Lusaka, Zambia.

About the role:
The HR Lead – Southern Africa at Sun King will own the full people agenda across Southern Africa region partnering with country and regional managers to build and
safeguard the teams that bring affordable solar energy to millions of off-grid households. Based in Lusaka and
leading a team of in-country HR professionals, you will be the senior HR voice in the region — delivering against
Sun King's HR goals across talent acquisition, onboarding, engagement, learning, performance, employee
relations, and HR operations, and holding the line on employment compliance in five distinct jurisdictions.

Lead, coach, and develop the in-country HR team across the five markets, setting a consistent standard of delivery and building regional HR capability, bench strength, and succession.
Own talent acquisition for the region end-to-end on Pinpoint — holding the 30-day turnaround for roles at or below manager grade and 60 days above, closing at least 90% of positions through direct sourcing, and running documented intake discussions, structured panels, and competency-based assessment on every role.
Drive inclusive hiring: gender-decoded, template-compliant job descriptions, gender blinding on Pinpoint, diversified interview panels, reference and background checks completed before offer, and timely, respectful feedback to every applicant — while lifting gender representation across the region's teams, particularly in Pay-as-you-go sales.
Deliver an onboarding experience that shortens the learning curve — pre-planned inductions, an onboarding buddy for every joiner, complete joining documentation on HiBob, goals set within 45 days, 30-day and 60-to-90-day pulse checks, and probation evaluations completed within defined timelines.
Foster inclusion, belonging, and engagement — quarterly story circles and Culture Champion sessions in each country, HR-led skip-level dialogues that convert employee feedback into tracked action plans, Gallup survey action planning with managers, a monthly engagement calendar, and quarterly well-being sessions with our Employee Assistance Programme partners.
Build a culture of learning: identify capability needs, run skill-share sessions in every market, drive awareness and adoption of Sun King Center for Leadership programmes, and hold completion of mandatory e-learning — particularly the Sexual Harassment and Personal Safety modules — above 90%.
Raise the quality of performance management — 100% completion of review cycles within timelines, quarterly manager capability sessions on feedback, coaching, and difficult conversations, PIPs that are timely, well documented, and genuinely supportive, and performance outcomes that flow through to pay, promotion, succession, and mobility.
Act as the senior employee relations authority for the region: Ensure thorough fact-finding and investigations alongside a designated second, chair disciplinary and appeal hearings, drive cases to closure within 30 days, consult the Head of Employee Relations from the outset on gross misconduct and potential terminations, and secure the required approvals before any termination.
Safeguard health, safety, and statutory compliance across five jurisdictions — accurate recording of occupational incidents and illnesses on HiBob, work injury benefit claims progressed for every eligible case, serious workplace incidents escalated within 24 hours, and full compliance with local employment legislation and statutory reporting, including South African employment equity.
Own the region's talent agenda — maintain a current view of top talent and high-potential employees by function, hold career conversations with key talent, build succession for critical roles, identify retention risks early, and report progress through a quarterly talent dashboard.
Strengthen HR operations, payroll, and analytics — accurate and compliant payroll in every market including those managed directly by HR, optimisation and automation of employee lifecycle workflows on HiBob, standardised dashboards covering headcount, attrition, hiring, performance, and engagement, and the use of AI tools to surface insight faster and lift the team's productivity.
Make offboarding a priority rather than an afterthought — exit interviews for every voluntary leaver with insights fed back to managers and acted on, clean handovers and clearance, full and final settlements within 30 days, and attrition reviews that lead to targeted retention action.
Collaborate with sales, operations, finance, logistics, and other teams so that people decisions support commercial delivery, and travel regularly across the region to spend time with field, warehouse, and retail teams.

At least 8 years of progressive HR experience, including 3 or more years supporting multiple countries, and a track record of leading and developing an HR team.
A degree in human resources, business, psychology, law, or a related field; CIPD, SHRM, ZIHRM, or an equivalent professional qualification is an advantage.
Working knowledge of employment law and statutory practice in Southern Africa — familiarity with the Zambian Employment Code and South African labour legislation is a strong plus, alongside the confidence to get up to speed quickly on new jurisdictions.
Deep employee relations experience — fact-finding and investigations, disciplinary and appeal hearings, terminations, and exposure to labour tribunals or the CCMA — with the judgment to know when to escalate and the discipline to document properly.
Hands-on experience with an HRIS and an applicant tracking system (HiBob and Pinpoint, or comparable platforms), the ability to build and act on people dashboards rather than relying on assumption, and comfort using AI tools to work faster and better.
Experience supporting large, distributed, field-based workforces in sales, logistics, retail, or a similar
high-volume environment — not head-office populations alone.
Experience overseeing multi-country payroll and HR operations, including the selection and management of outsourced providers and statutory compliance.
Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders across cultures, languages, and seniority levels; working Portuguese or French is an advantage.
A genuine commitment to fairness — the instinct to evaluate every case on its merits, advocate for what is right, and hold the line even when it is uncomfortable.
Willingness to travel across the region and to be based in Lusaka, Zambia.

About the Company

Sun King

Off-grid solar home systems provider

Sun King designs, manufactures, distributes, and finances solar home energy products for off-grid communities in Africa and Asia. Its range includes solar lanterns and solar home systems with inverters and storage that can power lights, radios, phones, and household appliances, all financed through a pay-as-you-go model with small mobile money installments after a low upfront payment. The company differentiates itself with an end-to-end approach—handling product design, manufacturing, distribution, and financing—supported by a large field-agent network and strategic acquisitions like PayGo Energy to expand into clean cooking. Its goal is to increase energy access by helping households leapfrog kerosene and unreliable grids, aiming to reach millions of homes and businesses, including over 2 million in Ethiopia by 2030.

Company size: 1,001-5,000
Company stage: Debt Financing
Total funding: $864.9M
Headquarters: Chicago, IL
Founded: 2008

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