Central America & Mexico People and Culture Manager CA

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

As One P&C, we support the achievement of Plan International’s Global Strategy by

• Creating a more engaging people experience

• Supporting the evolution of our workforce

• Accelerating performance, leadership, and learning

• Promoting technology and process excellence

Plan International embarked on an ambitious and exciting strategic change initiative to make the organization more transparent, legitimate, and agile. Strengthening our People and Culture processes is one of the key enablers in attaining our strategic goals.

The Cluster P&C Manager will:

• Understand, influence, and Interpret the Country Offices (CO) strategies and Plan International Inc (PII) P&C’s Strategic Plan and priorities to develop and implement Clúster P&C strategic and operational plans to enhance the Country Office’s performance through our people.

• Partner with the Cluster Management Team (CMT) to nurture an agile organisational culture in the COs, underpinned by our values and feminist principles.

• Lead and manage the P&C function in the Country Offices (CO) focusing on responsive and efficient operations and targeted excellence in Talent Acquisition, Performance Development and Talent Development.

Dimensions of the Role

Impact of this role is significant within the country and the region and could have some impact PII-wide. The role operates in scope of, and aligned to:

• Country Offices Strategies

• PII P&C Strategy and Strategic Plan

• Labour Law, PII policies and procedures and industry best practices

• International assignee hosting

• CO Complexity related context: (customise as required: Low, Medium, High)

• Membership in relevant networks in the countries with other INGO's and/or private sector.

• 3 P&C Coordinators of the countries and 1 P&C Cluster Officer report to this positionn.

Other dimensions of the role are as follows: 

• A member of the Clúster Management Team

• Line management and budget management of the P&C department

• Management of sensitive and confidential information

• Membership in relevant networks: PII Regional and Global P&C other professional networks

Accountabilities

Strategic Leadership and Direction

Understand, influence, and Interpret the Country Offices strategies and Plan International Inc (PII) P&C’s Strategic Plan and priorities to develop and implement Clúster P&C strategic and operational plans to enhance the Country Office’s performance through our people.

• Be an active participant and contributor to the Regional and the Global P&C team (i.e., sharing of skills, ideas, and expertise)​

• Influences the development of PII P&C strategy and ensures and supports operational implementation within the country office and the region, to enhance the Country Office’s performance through our people.

• Operate as One Plan across the breadth of P&C specialisations. Integrate P&C work in the COs operations and programme planning (including people aspect of project/grants from proposal development to grants completion) as appropriate. Foster a culture of inclusivity, diversity, and equity in the COs.

Agile Organisational Culture

Partner with the Cluster Management Team (CMT) to nurture an agile organisational culture in the COs, underpinned by our values and feminist principles.

• Partner with management to build a highly engaged and inspired team and achieve targeted excellence through our people.

• As a member of the Cluster Management Team, support change management and initiatives required for sustainability, accountability, and quality.

• Adopt a culture of continuous improvement as part of the Cluster Management Team (CMT) – process, policies, and systems, conduct reflections and analysis with CMT of P&C Key Performance Indicators for making strategic decisions and improvements.

Globally integrated, responsive, and efficient P&C function

Lead and manage the P&C function in the Country Offices focusing on responsive and efficient operations and targeted excellence.

• Ensure high-quality operational service across the full employee lifecycle for staff, including but not limited to contracts of employment, pre-employment checks, onboarding, payroll, probation, sickness absence, parental leaves, job changes and exit. Ensure that the countries’ P&C function (policies, procedures, systems, and controls) is in place and compliance with PII policies, P&C frameworks local labour laws and requirements.

• Ensure implementation and enriching PII P&C strategic priorities within the COs, specifically around Employee Relations, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Engagement, Talent Acquisition, Performance Management and Succession Planning, Total Rewards, Staff Care and Wellbeing, Data and Analytics, Employee Value proposition etc., to ensure successful implementation.

• Make decisions, develop solutions to diverse and complex problems and anticipate and resolve challenges within the country and in line with regional and P&C policies/ parameters.

• Ensure the Talent Acquisition pipeline is in place and critical positions are filled within expected timelines to enable CO effective operations.

• Facilitate Talent Management and Workforce/ Succession Planning, including short and long-term succession bench strength for leadership and strategically critical roles. Contribute to cross-regional succession planning.

• Ensure High-Performance culture through coaching CO leadership, management, and staff in performance management. Ensure cadence is in place for CMT reflections, staff objective setting, mid-year, and annual performance reviews, development plans, regular 121 on deliverables, aligned to values, wellbeing, and development, etc.

• Ensure Staff Care and Wellbeing practices are in place, in line with the global framework and COs context, articulating the support of the P&C Shared Service Centre (CSS) to adjust Staff Care Framework to the local context and apply it consistently, Staff Care champions are in place and EAP is used.

• Ensure Employee Relations and Case Management practices are robust and in line with global framework and use of data and trends to address focus areas, update policies, communication and training and leadership decision making articulating the support of the P&C Shared Service Centre (CSS) in the management of cases and conflict resolution. 

• Interpret people-related Data and Analytics drive data-driven decision-making by the CMT. Facilitate ongoing data integrity and staff ownership of their data on HRIS. Work to continually improve data and reporting to help COs to enhance their performance.

• Ensure Total Rewards policy and practices is embedded and aligned with the CO context and PII Total Rewards philosophy articulating the support of the P&C Shared Service Centre (CSS) to elaborate job profiles, evaluate the positions, update salary scales and build salary review and salary increase proposals.

• Support the humanitarian response plans according to the Emergency Response Manual and CO Disaster Preparedness Plan. Support and provide expertise and advice to the Surge P&C Manager.

P&C capacity and capability

Build COs P&C capacity and capability to support the P&C operations in the cpuntries, through competency assessments, learning and development, performance and talent management, workforce planning, etc.

• Coach, monitor and train the P&C team to ensure teams are equipped to deliver on agreed P&C services and priorities, in line with global P&C strategy, plans and frameworks.

• Work with P&C teams to identify:

  • capability gaps and training requirements and develop strategies and plans to address needs/gaps.

  • talent pools and manage capability and capacity development opportunities. 

• Oversee competency development, talent and performance management, succession planning and workforce planning of staff and roles in the P&C function of the Country Offices.

• Support the PII P&C in the design and roll out of capability development initiatives within the country offices.

• Ensure the P&C team is equipped to support national, international, and hosted employees in the country.

• Analysis and preparation and presentation of analysis of key areas for Cluster Management Team; cost-efficiency, staff turnover, in-depth analysis and development of scenarios of possible pathways of mitigation key risks in their area of expertise.

• Support design of projects ensuring that adequate support for P&C (talent acquisition, contacts employment, pre-employment checks, onboarding, payroll, probation, sickness absence, parental leaves, job changes and exit) is included in the proposal and ensure the contract of this support.

Safeguarding

• Ensure that Plan International’s global policy for Safeguarding and PII policy for Preventing Sexual Harassment Exploitation and Abuse; and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Technical expertise, SKILLS, and knowledge

• Significant professional expertise and in-depth knowledge acquired through professional qualifications, inherent understanding, and substantial relevant experience in developing and embedding people, capability, and organisational / HR practices.

• Fundamental understanding and extensive experience in strategic and operational aspects of people, capability and organisational/HR practices in a leadership role and ability to plan and prioritise work within the context.

• Professional expertise and knowledge acquired through professional qualifications, inherent understanding, and relevant experience in developing and embedding people, capability, and organisational / HR practices.

• Good understanding and some experience of working in strategic and operational aspects of people management, capability and organisational/HR practices and ability to plan and prioritise work within the context.

Desirable

• Experience of working in non-profit sector

• Local language and Intermediate level of English

• Experience of work with more than one country

Location: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.

Reports to: Cluster Director

Closing Date: May 11, 2025

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.