London Area, United Kingdom
I am a Global HR leader with senior leadership experience in Automotive, Oil and Gas, as well as the engineering sector. I have worked closely with CEOs and other senior business leaders whilst leading highly skilled and valued HR functions covering the full range of Human Resources activity and expertise. I have transformed HR functions to be more business-focused and strategic. I am comfortable in global businesses, working with different cultures and employment environments. I have lived & worked in UK, Germany, UAE and China. I am highly commercial and have led many line function initiatives as well as providing strategic and operational leadership in Human Resources. I have established Global HR Shared Services Centres to reduce cost and improve service. I have introduced employee and manager self-service and outsourced non-core HR activities such as payroll. I have established Key Talent and leadership programmes that meet the needs of the business and our employees.
I joined Petrofac as Group Director of Human Resources in August 2017. At the time, Petrofac had 12,500 employees and was listed in the FTSE250. I reported to the CEO and was a member of ExCo. I supported the Remuneration Committee and Nominations Committee of the Board. I led the HR function consisting of 300+ team members operating in 18 countries. Our Reward team handled Pay reviews, Annual Bonus, Share Plans and Benefits (Pensions, Healthcare, Life Insurance etc) for colleagues worldwide. We established our Global HR Shared Service Centre in Chennai in 2019. This is the hub that administers 28 payrolls across the world and managed all our HR data (including recruitment, onboarding and offboarding). Our HRIS was Oracle Fusion and we utilized employee self-service heavily. We established in June 2022 a Global Mobility Company. Based in Singapore, this team administered 200-400 employees at any one time and paid salaries in 40 different countries. Our Talent Acquisition teams hired between 100-300 people each month across the world in streamlined and efficient processes. We had robust Talent Management and D&I processes, ensuring we had succession plans, development plans and performance and potential assessments for all our key talent. We increased the proportion of women in our senior leadership positions from 6% in 2018 to 32% in 2025. I was a Board director of 4 Petrofac subsidiary companies, three in India and one in UAE. Petrofac went into Administration in October 2025. I stayed on, working with the Administrator, the CEO, CFO & General Counsel as we tried to save as many jobs as possible. Through two complex "carve out" transactions we saved c.5000 of the remaining 7000 jobs. My position as Group Director of HR, along with other senior corporate roles, was then made redundant at end of March 2026.
Global Head of HR for the one of the world's leading offshore deepwater drilling contractors, operating in 15 countries and 5 continents. Main clients were BP, Exxon, Total, Petrobras, Saudi Aramco etc Main locations were: USA, Brazil, Mexico, Angola, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Malaysia and Singapore. Reporting to the CEO and member of ExCo. Responsible for all HR matters, including Compensation & Benefits (supporting RemCo), Expat management (we had c.2500 expats), Training and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Succession Planning, Recruitment etc. During the oil price collapse the workforce was reduced from 13,000 to 5,000. We fundamentally re-engineered the HR function, bringing in modern practices, reduced HR workforce from 270 to 140 people, creating a HR Shared Service Centre, outsourcing many of our 30 different payrolls to one common platform etc.
This was an interim position, running IMI in China whilst helping source a permanent replacement. I used my HR skills, and my experience of business in China, to keep this multi-million pound engineering business, a subsidiary of FT-SE 100 IMI plc, moving forward whilst also reviewing the organisation design and the talent pool in IMI China and readying the business for significant investment and growth initiatives. The business had turnover of GBP120million with 950 employees. It had both manufacturing and R&D as well as sales activities in China, primarily in Shanghai and Tianjin.
Led HR function with c.300 staff and annual budget of c.£40million. Sat on Executive Committee, reporting to CEO. Also member of Compensation Committee and Land Rover PLC Board. Represented Company on various external bodies inc. CBI working parties. Board champion for China and led negotiations on establishment of Joint Venture to build vehicles in China. Managed transition of JLR from Ford to Tata ownership. Managed people issues in a highly unionised environment through the downturn of 2008-09 with lots of restructuring and redundancies, through to growth and international expansion, growing headcount by 50%, hiring more than 8000 people including record numbers of graduates and apprentices. Led transformation of world class apprentice programmes, including introducing Advanced Apprenticeships (Level 4). Introduced JLR Bonus, LTIP and pension plans. Developed JLR stand-alone HR policies. Led HR function including: Comp & Ben; Employee Relations; Recruitment; Organisation Design; Education & Training; Talent Management; Health & Safety; Security; and Corporate Real Estate. Chaired 3 sets of national pay bargaining.
Led HR team covering all white collar staff across Europe covering all functions: Finance, IT, Manufacturing, Product Development Engineering, Marketing & Sales , Purchasing etc. Reporting to VP-HR, Ford of Europe and to President, Ford of Europe. Responsibilities included: performance management, succession planning, talent management, organisation design etc. Also responsible for Employee Relations for plants in France, Belgium, Spain, Russia and Turkey, including handling works council issues at country and at European Works Council level.