Director, HR Operations and Payroll Germany (m/f/d)

Location: Bad Homburg, Germany

At Fresenius Medical Care, we are the global leader in kidney care, committed to improving the lives of patients with chronic kidney disease. Our mission is to deliver high-quality, innovative products, services, and care across the entire healthcare journey. Guided by our vision—“Creating a future worth living. For patients. Worldwide. Every day.”—we work with purpose and compassion, supported by a global team of over 125,000 employees.

Our values guide how we work

• We Care for our patients, each other, and our communities
• We Connect across teams and borders to deliver excellence together
• We Commit to doing things the right way— growing with purpose and leading kidney care with integrity and innovation

Position Purpose

Lead all GBS Germany HR RUN operations for all FME entities in Germany by integrating HR Operations, Payroll Operations and Workforce Management into a single governance model. Accountable for service delivery, compliance, team leadership, employee experience, stakeholder management, Works Council engagement, vendor oversight, and transformation execution while managing a hybrid Germany-Poland operating model. The role serves as the primary face of for GBS HR RUN Germany and owns end-to-end operational performance & HR-GBS Stakeholder management.

Key Accountabilities

Service Delivery Leadership

• Own end-to-end HR Operations & Payroll Operations service delivery
• Provide strategic direction for the Germany GBS HR RUN operating model
• Maintain service quality and efficiency across payroll & HR Operations lifecycle activities
• Ensure service delivery alignment with HR Country Partners and Business requirements
• Act as the escalation point for critical issues

Team Leadership

• Lead the Germany HR Operations, Payroll and WFM teams
• Provide direction and guidance to the teams
• Build organizational capabilities to support current and future business needs
• Build team engagement and trust
• Promote collaboration and continuous learning across the organization

Transformation & Operating Model Evolution

• Drive transformation initiatives, ensure contribution to strategic transformation programs
• Lead the implementation, adoption and evolution of the Target Operating Model
• Lead the organization through change, with strategic focus on people
• Ensure knowledge retention, change adoption and effective capability building
• Ensure continuous service improvement and optimization
• Build trust and drive alignment across transformation initiative

Stakeholder & Works Council Management

• Act as Trusted Partner to GBS and HR organizations and Business Leaders
• Primary HR Operations and Payroll representative to Works Council
• Build stakeholder engagement and alignment
• Represent Germany HR Operations and Payroll within regional and global governance forums

Risk, Compliance & Governance

• Ensure service adherence to all applicable labor, tax, data privacy, and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain and execute robust internal controls and governance frameworks.
• Own operational risk and issue management.
• Proactively identify and mitigate operational and compliance risks, drive resolution
• Lead internal and external audit activities
• Oversee statutory reporting and audit readiness

Key requirements

Education

Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or related field.

Experience

• Minimum 12 – 15 years professional experience, covering both HR Operations and Payroll for Germany, preferably within a GBS, Shared Services, or multinational environment
• Extensive leadership experience overseeing complex HR Operations and Payroll organizations
• Deep knowledge of German labor law, payroll, tax, and social security regulations
• Strong transformation, process improvement, and change management capabilities

Experience managing large, geographically dispersed teams

• Works Council engagement experience
• Experience managing outsourced service providers and complex stakeholder environments.
• Shared Services and hybrid operating model expertise

Key competencies

Strategic Leadership & Transformation

Strong Executive Presence

HR Operations & Payroll Expertise

Operational Excellence

Stakeholder Management & Influence

People Leadership & Talent Development

At Fresenius Medical Care, we are the global leader in kidney care, committed to improving the lives of patients with chronic kidney disease. Our mission is to deliver high-quality, innovative products, services, and care across the entire healthcare journey. Guided by our vision—“Creating a future worth living. For patients. Worldwide. Every day.”—we work with purpose and compassion, supported by a global team of over 125,000 employees.

Our values guide how we work

We Care for our patients, each other, and our communities

We Connect across teams and borders to deliver excellence together

We Commit to doing things the right way— growing with purpose and leading kidney care with integrity and innovation

The Associate Director of Employee Relations – Germany and Northern Europe

is responsible for leading a team of Employee Relations Advisors, providing senior‑level direction, guidance, and oversight. The role is responsible for ensuring the team’s adherence to Compliance, Legal, Human Rights, and Labor Union requirements as well as collaborative interaction with all stakeholders, meeting deliverables and all associated key performance indicator (KPI) metrics, and continuous quality improvement. This is a senior and highly autonomous role, accountable for decision‑making in complex, sensitive, and high‑risk ER matters.

This position is performed in highly complex and socially conflictive work environments, Its geographic scope includes Germany and other countries in the EMEA Region, requiring advanced knowledge of German and European labor regulations and proven experience managing Employee Relations across multiple countries.

Your responsibilities

Under the direction of the Director of Employee Relations (ER), the Associate Director of ER, serves in a senior leadership capacity, is responsible to ensure fair and consistent application of HR policies and employee programs in accordance with Company core values and mission, Human Rights, current and forthcoming employment regulations, Workplace Rights and Labor and Employment Principles, Global Social and Labor Standards Policy, Diversity & Inclusion, the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, the Suppliers Code of Conduct, and all works council and union requirements.

The role responsibilities will be executed primarily in Germany and across additional European and international locations, requiring substantial experience operating in multi-country Employee Relations environments, requiring advanced knowledge of German and European labor law and extensive experience leading Employee Relations across multiple countries. This includes but is not limited to:

Developing the strategies and plans necessary to transform the in-country ER services catalogue to one unified group to allow for the consistent and efficient application of HR policies and employee programs in accordance with Company and HR organizational strategy and objectives.

Planning, directing, and supervising all activities relating to assigned in-country ER teams in multiple sites, geographies, and business lines. Activities include:

Investigation of complaints alleging discrimination, harassment, unfair working conditions, violations of compliance, legal, and ethics policies or regulations, and issues relating to works council/union contracts.

Leaves of Absence, work restrictions, contract management, performance management, disciplinary and termination consults, and separation criteria.

Ensures the ER teams are applying HR policies and employee programs fairly and consistently in accordance with Company core values and mission, Human Rights, Workplace Rights and Labor and Employment Principles, Global Social and Labor Standards Policy, Diversity & Inclusion, the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, the Suppliers Code of Conduct, and all works council and union requirements.

Responsible for quality assurance of investigation outcomes for consistency, thoroughness, objectivity, and appropriate remedies. Partakes in or directs the appeals process.

Maintains and expands knowledge and understanding of existing and proposed country regulations affecting human resource management. Communicates identified trends that could affect organizational objectives and/or operational resources.

Responsible for the team’s interaction, engagement, and requirements with local works council/unions and may partake in or advise on negotiations as needed. including complex collective bargaining processes and direct involvement with European Works Councils (EWC) at senior level.

Works in strong partnership with HRCP, Labor Relations, Compliance, Legal, and Human Rights teams to provide support, connection, and collaboration on all employment related cases and reporting requirements.

Provides recommendations to business leaders, employees and other HR professionals on complex performance management and policy matters.

May personally conduct high-level investigations and/or executive escalations as needed.

Partakes in or directs the appeals process.

Responsible for team management including performance, hiring, retention, staffing levels, performance appraisals, coaching and development opportunities.

Provides analysis of ER trends to identify opportunities with recommended remedies.

Responsible for team management including performance, hiring, retention, staffing levels, performance appraisals, coaching and development opportunities.

Performs other job-related duties as assigned

Operates with a high degree of autonomy, receiving minimal direction on day-to-day work, and independently managing multiple and conflicting priorities at a senior leadership level.

Your Profile

• Required training and education:

Bachelor’s Degree; Advanced Degree desirable in Employment Law, Human Resources, Organizational Development, Business Administration or similar business degrees; or an equivalent combination of education and experience

• Required professional experience:

• Has 10+ years of professional experience directly in the Employee Relations function of Human Resources with 7+ years of managerial experience.
• Management of direct reports (minimum 5 years)
• Multi-country experience is needed and working in highly complex, socially conflictive country/s.
• Advanced knowledge of German employment law and European labor regulations, and experience managing Employee Relations or Labor Relations matters in more than one country.
• Experience with works councils, unions, EWC, complex negotiations, and managing collective bargaining agreements and co‑determination processes across different legal frameworks is required.

• Required personal competencies:

• Work independently and manage multiple and competing priorities in more than 1 country, while operating with a high degree of autonomy and senior‑level accountability.
• Has strong business acumen in addition to Human Resources skills.
• Exercises solid judgment in decision making on complex, high‑impact, and sensitive ER matters across countries.
• Resilient and can navigate challenging and difficult situations with the ability to hold crucial conversations at senior level.
• Able to collaborate and communicate at all levels in the organization in a clear and articulate manner, both verbal and written, with the ability to influence senior leadership across countries.
• Acts as a change agent to the team and with business leaders, driving transformation and shaping the ER strategy across multiple countries.

• Other specialized knowledge, expertise and skills:

a) Functional knowledge

Advanced knowledge of German labor law and regulations; well‑rounded understanding of all core Human Resources disciplines; and strong expertise in Works Councils, European Works Councils (EWC), unions, and complex collective negotiations in international environments.

b) IT skills

Workday, Microsoft Office suite, and case management system.

c) Languages

Level 3 or higher in English and German in both verbal and written form

5 ) Special personal requirements

Able to travel up to 50% wherever direct reports are located and/or attend meetings where such meetings are held.

Our Offer for you

• There is a lot you can discover at Fresenius Medical Care, regardless in which field you are an expert and how much experience you have - all dedicated to your professional journey.
• Whether in front of or behind the scenes - you are helping to make ever better medicine available to more and more people around the world
• Individual opportunities for self-determined career planning and professional development
• A corporate culture in which there is enough room for innovative thinking - to find the best solution together, not the quickest one
• A large number of committed people with a wide range of skills, talents and experience
• The benefits of a successful global corporation with the collegial culture of a medium-sized company