Senior Manager - Benefits, Policies & People Risk

Your role & impact:

As CBA continues to evolve its ways of working across the Group, CBA India is playing an increasingly important role in enabling resilient, well-governed and employee-centric people practices. The Senior Manager –Benefits, Policies and People Risk will play a pivotal role in strengthening the benefits, policy and risk foundations that support India HR, ensuring that obligations are clearly understood, controls are effective, and solutions are implemented with discipline, care and accountability.

This role is accountable for leading the India Employee Benefits, HR Policies and People Risk Governance agenda. The incumbent will support the design, governance and implementation of employee benefits programs, policy frameworks and people-risk controls that are aligned to CBA Group expectations, India regulatory requirements and external market practice. The role is also accountable for designing and implementing corrective actions, providing practical solutions, coordinating implementation across internal and external stakeholders, taking ownership of remediation plans, and ensuring risks are brought to closure with clear evidence, governance and senior stakeholder visibility.

The role will act as a key India subject matter expert across benefits governance, HR policy implementation and people-risk practices. The incumbent will translate India-specific requirements, CBA Group standards and industry best practices into clear policies, SOPs, controls, review routines, benefits governance processes, communication plans and implementation actions.

The role requires strong technical expertise in India HR risk, labour compliance, benefits governance and policy implementation, along with the ability to drive practical closure by working across India and Australia stakeholders, internal functions, external vendors and statutory interfaces.

Your reporting line: The position reports into the Executive Manager, Workplace Relations and Policies, CBA India.

Your skills and experience:

• 8–14 years of post-master’s experience, or equivalent progressive experience, across employee benefits, HR policies, HR governance, total rewards, HR operations, people risk, HR compliance, consulting or related people advisory roles.

• Strong preference for experience in banking, financial services, global capability centers, captives, regulated multinational organizations or complex matrix environments.

• Good understanding of India HR statutory and regulatory obligations, including practical exposure to POSH, payroll and wage compliance, final settlement obligations, Apprenticeship Act governance, statutory benefits, provident fund, gratuity, employee benefits, insurance, leave and entitlement governance, workplace conduct and employee protection obligations.

• Strong exposure to HR risk assessment, benefits risk assessment, control testing, RCSA, internal audit, Line 2 reviews, compliance reviews, remediation planning, root cause analysis and governance reporting.

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Law, Commerce, Business Management or a related discipline is required.

• Postgraduate qualification in Human Resources, Labour Law, Employment Law, Industrial Relations, Business Management or a related field is preferred.

Your responsibilities:

• Lead the India employee benefits governance agenda, covering statutory benefits, retirement-linked benefits, provident fund, gratuity, group insurance, health and wellbeing benefits, leave-linked benefits, employee benefit eligibility, benefit policy governance, vendor governance, benefits communication, benefits audits and benefit-related risk remediation.

• Support the governance of India people-related obligations by maintaining visibility of key HR, benefits, policy and compliance requirements, and partnering with relevant teams to identify gaps, manage risks and drive timely closure.

• Act as the HR risk and benefits expert for India, advising stakeholders on what obligations apply, what benefit or statutory requirements need to be met, what submissions or returns are required, which internal and external stakeholders need to be engaged, what evidence must be retained, and how risks should be brought to closure.

• Monitor external market practices and industry benchmarks across benefits, employee policies and people practices, and recommend opportunities to ensure CBA India’s policies and benefits are both regulatory robust and competitive from a market standpoint.

• Lead the governance of India HR policies, benefits policies, SOPs and controls, ensuring that every material HR and benefits obligation is supported by a clear policy position, operating procedure, control owner, testing approach, review cadence, mandatory learning requirement where applicable, and escalation process.

• Partner with Workplace Relations, Legal, Payroll, People Services, Benefits, Finance, Risk, Compliance, L&D, Procurement, Technology, external benefits providers, external compliance vendors and relevant statutory/government interfaces to implement compliant and sustainable HR and benefits solutions.

• Responsible for the design, governance, and delivery of employee benefits programs, and ensure this employee benefits are compliant, cost-conscious, operationally resilient, employee-friendly and aligned with CBA Group expectations, while being appropriately localised for Indian statutory, regulatory and market requirements.

• Work with risk teams that could pose operational disruption scenarios, such as partial lockdowns, health advisories, infrastructure disruptions, fuel/LPG shortages, office closure requirements, work-from-home mandates or other events impacting employee safety, office operations, attendance, productivity, benefits continuity, legal compliance or employee experience.

• Support Line 1 controls, Line 2 reviews, internal audits, external compliance reviews and governance reporting by maintaining appropriate evidence packs, risk assessments, benefits governance documentation, policy inventories, issue logs, control testing outcomes, action trackers and leadership dashboards.

• This role requires a balance of benefits expertise, policy governance, people-risk awareness, discipline implementation, problem-solving orientation and stakeholder influence. The successful candidate will be expected to take ownership from identifying a gap or opportunity, through solution design and implementation, to evidence-based closure and continuous improvement.

Education Qualification:

• A master’s degree in HR, with bachelor’s degree in engineering is preferred from Tier one college(s)

• A proactive, collaborative, and solution-oriented mindset, with a passion for continuous improvement and learning