HR Operations Manager - 14 month contract

We're looking for an enthusiastic HR Operations Manager to lead our APAC HR Operations function on a 14-month contract, covering a period of parental leave. The role spans our offices in Sydney, Hong Kong and Korea.

This is a hands-on leadership role with real ownership from day one. You'll manage a Sydney-based team of HR Generalists and HR Coordinators, own the employee lifecycle across the region, and work globally to shape our mobility and immigration agenda as IMC expands and moves top talent across APAC and around the world.

Because this is a defined 14-month tenure, we need someone who can get up to speed quickly, hold the function to a high standard, keep in-flight projects moving, and leave the team in great shape at handover. It's a genuinely broad brief and a great opportunity to work inside a high-performing global trading firm at a point of significant regional growth.

At IMC, we bring together people from a huge range of backgrounds. What they all share is technical expertise, sharp thinking and a collaborative approach - and our HR team prides itself on that same mindset.

Your Core Responsibilities: 

Lead and develop the HR Operations team

• Manage, coach and develop a team of four in Sydney (HR Generalists and HR Coordinators), setting clear priorities and building capability across the team
• Create the conditions for the team to do their best work - clear ownership, sensible workload distribution and meaningful development, including through a leadership transition
• Set the service standard for the team: responsive, accurate and pragmatic support that HRBPs, managers and employees can rely on

Own mobility and immigration

• Oversee end-to-end global mobility across APAC - inbound and outbound moves, intra-region transfers and international relocations
• Lead all visa and immigration activity with the support of the HR Generalists, including sponsorship obligations, renewals, compliance and ongoing risk management
• Partner with employees, hiring managers and external counsel to make relocations feel seamless, from offer through to landing well in a new country
• Manage relationships and performance of external providers, including relocation specialists, immigration counsel, health insurance providers and tax advisor

Run HR Operations across the employee lifecycle

• Own every stage of the employment lifecycle - contracts, employment letters, onboarding and new hire orientation, staff movements, relocation support, offboarding and terminations
• Build, automate and maintain HR operations efficiency, defining and improving processes that strengthen a performance-driven organisation with a focus on quality, delivery and cost optimisation
• Lead the team in maintaining accurate HR information systems, including Workday, payroll data and related HR tools
• Support the HRBP and wider HR teams with the information, communication and service levels they need on HR Operations topics
• Review and improve HR policies, striving for best practice and staying aligned with legislative change across the jurisdictions we operate in
• Own local and regional HR reporting requirements, ensuring accurate reporting for both local and global stakeholders
• Contribute to regional and global HR projects, including HR systems and process improvement initiatives, and look for opportunities to automate and simplify how the function works
• Work with the leadership team to develop HR practices and programs aligned to IMC's strategy and culture
• Partner with key stakeholders across HRIS, Legal, Finance and Payroll to ensure smooth, accurate delivery of HR Operations priorities and improvements
• Support regional compensation queries from leaders and recruitment, and partner with global compensation on the annual review cycle

Your Skills and Experience: 

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Human Resources, Business or a related field
• 6+ years' experience in a generalist HR, HR Operations or shared services role in a progressive, high-touch, fast-paced environment
• Experience leading and developing a small team
• Demonstrated experience in global mobility and immigration, ideally across multiple APAC jurisdictions
• Strong working knowledge of HRIS platforms (Workday highly regarded) and a genuine interest in using systems and data well
• A track record in process improvement, developing SOPs, and building HR capability through training
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the credibility to partner confidently with senior stakeholders
• An abundance of common sense and pragmatism - you solve problems and get results

About Us

IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.