Senior People Officer StrongMinds Zambia

Job Title: Senior People Officer

Reporting to: Country Director

SM Salary Grade: 9 (44,814 ZMW monthly gross) – fixed, non-negotiable.

Expected Start Date: 8 September 2025

Duty Station: Lusaka

About StrongMinds Zambia

StrongMinds (www.strongminds.org) Zambia (SMZ) is a fast growing and dynamic social enterprise, committed to improving the Mental Health of all by providing life-changing mental health services to impoverished African women. StrongMinds was formed in 2013 with a mission to improve the mental health of women and girls in Africa.

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability in sub-Saharan Africa, debilitating women at twice the rate of men. Conservative estimates indicate 66 million women are suffering from depression in Africa and the World Health Organization reports that 85% of these women have no access to treatment. Our ambitious goal is to provide treatment to 250,000 Zambians in 2025 and millions more in the years to come.

StrongMinds recognizes that scale will only be achieved by prioritizing the integration of its proven group interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT-G) model through partnerships. We look to do this both within Government structures such as the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and through medium and large international non-governmental organizations (INGOs).

Job Purpose and Context of Role

StrongMinds Zambia currently has a team of 85 staff and over 800 volunteers delivering our operations in the country.

The Senior People Officer plays a central role in driving StrongMinds Zambia’s mission to be the best place to work for all employees at all levels of the organization. Whilst ensuring that People-centred systems and processes are in place is an important part of this role – this role’s core objective is on People and their journey at StrongMinds – with a central focus on staff engagement, empowering positive people operations, capacitating StrongMinds staff to be the best leaders possible of their respective teams; and driving professional development initiatives to ensure staff are supported, motivated, stretched and allowed to thrive. This role suits an HR professional who is approachable to all staff; open and objective and is solutions-driven – freely able to give new, innovative fresh ideas to do the standard things differently. The Senior People Officer shall be responsible for coordinating operationalization of People policies across StrongMinds Zambia, ensuring that processes and procedures throughout the entire employee life cycle promote an exceptional employee experience. S/he will ensure high standards of people service delivery in a safe and enabling work environment. This role is also charged with leveraging digital platforms, to drive and manage the integration of people data in the HRMIS to support a robust data analytics approach that allows for strategic decision making up to the Leadership Team. The Senior People Officer is responsible for ensuring that all StrongMinds staff and operations is conducted in full compliance with the Zambian HR Employment codes and HR best practices in all People focused delivery mechanisms and for ensuring the well-being, safety, and productivity of employees while minimizing risks and hazards in the workplace.

Specific Tasks: (Key Areas of Accountability)

I. Operationalise, coordination and implementation of quality People functions within StrongMinds Zambia – from onboarding to exit – ensuring StrongMinds Zambia is a compliant safe, fair and transparent place to work.

1. People Strategy Implementation

• Ensure all staff have approved Job Descriptions and are within the approved salary bands and grades.
• Ensure efficient recruitment to meet programmatic and operational needs of the country office when notified of new appointment needs by the Country Director and Leadership Team.
• Ensure effective onboarding, induction, and orientation of staff.
• Ensure staff exits are appropriate managed.
• Collaborating with the global People Unit, identify opportunities for streamlining and improving P&C processes and systems, then actively participating in the implementation of those improvements.
• Assisting in the development and delivery of training programs to educate employees on P&C policies, processes, and best practices, fostering a culture of understanding and accountability.

2. People Operations & Compliance

• Ensure that all contracts i.e., employment, insurance, and consultancy, adequately comply with StrongMinds policy, local laws, and donor requirements.
• Track audit reports on HR matters, support the Country Director in the follow up and implementation of any audit action points.
• Ensure that all staff records submitted to HR department are complete, accurate and up to date with relevant information, ensure that these records are entered into the HRIS and updated on a regular basis.
• Staff records Management: Input data in the HRMIS and clean the system regularly updating staff movements and any new developments for effective management of PCA records and; maintain back-up documents in the form of hard copy files
• Ensure that staff use the HRIS as designed for key functions e.g. probation, performance, leave and timesheet management.
• Promote the effective use of different modules in HRMIS (i.e recruitment, onboarding, records management, time off, SM E-academy among others).
• Provide HR administrative support in the form of; drafting HR correspondence, responding to staff queries, contract management process, appraisal process, probation reviews, transfers, recruitment support, staff welfare management among others.

3. Employee Relations & Wellbeing

• Work closely with the Country Director to manage and coordinate grievance management and disciplinary proceedings involving any staff member and recommend appropriate action to resolve disputes ensuring steps taken are all in line with employment laws and best practice.
• Develop best practices in HR management, provide guidance to line managers and staff on employee relations to ensure fairness in the management of staff.

II. Employee Experience – People Champion – ensuring StrongMinds Zambia is the best place to work

• Ensure StrongMinds Zambia implements ongoing people-focussed initiatives to ensure our people are motivated and have the necessary skills and support to deliver in their roles.
• Succession plans are in place to ensure the next level leaders are supported to take on growth and stretch opportunities within StrongMinds
• Training and Development: Ensure all staff have the required performance goals and professional development plans and the respective managers are supported to ensure implementation of them.
• Employee relations: support the success of internal customer channels put in place for staff to raise concerns regular staff engagement surveys.
• Organise regular staff celebrations to motivate and celebrate StrongMinds Zambia staff for their work and achievements. Review their effectiveness and make suggestions for making them even more valued.
• Drive employee recognition and reward within StrongMinds Zambia – making recommendations to the Leadership team for considerations at least every quarter.
• Empathetic and timely response to staff requests / resolving staff concerns for an excellent client experience.
• Effective management of staff leave. Work with line managers to ensure all SMZ staff have prepared for, and monitor annual leave.
• Support the Finance and Administration Manager in assessing feedback on the annual health insurance scheme and making recommendations with the Procurement Team to ensure we are getting value for money.
• Support the Country Director and Leadership team to review non salary benefits and make suggestions to ensure SM remains a competitive, supportive and rewarding place to work.

III. Occupational Health and Safety

• Chair the organization’s Health and Safety Committee; ensuring compliance with health, safety, and environmental regulations to maintain a safe and healthy work environment for employees, visitors, and clients and making sure the Leadership Team are aware of concerns and actions required to resolve issues immediately.
• Security Management: Assist the Finance and Administration Manager to ensure Implementing security protocols and systems to protect facilities, assets, and occupants from security threats, vandalism, theft, and unauthorized access among others.
• Emergency Preparedness and Response: Developing and implementing emergency response plans and procedures to address various emergencies, such as fires, natural disasters, and medical incidents.
• Ensure all SMZ offices have well trained health and safety team liaisons. (First aid, Fire marshals, DEI champion, safeguarding coordinators etc).

COMPETENCIES (Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Behaviors)

Education & Professional Affiliation

• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management, Organizational Development or Organizational Psychology.
• Membership and registration with the Zambia Institute of Human Resource Management with possession of the required practising certificate.

Job related experience, knowledge and skills

Essential

• 3–5 years of professional experience in a people-focused role in Zambia.
• Exceptional people management and employee relations skills.
• Strong knowledge (and demonstrable experience of the use) of the Employment Code Act and HR legal compliance in Zambia.
• Demonstrated experience in skills transfer through training, mentoring, and coaching.
• Proficient report writing, data management, and analytical skills.
• Proven ability to achieve performance objectives and conduct performance-based evaluations.
• Experience in standards, guidelines, compliance, and HR policy development.
• Strong planning, organizing, and records management skills.
• Proficient with digital HR systems and tools (digitally savvy).
• Ability to manage and maintain confidentiality of organizational information and data.

Desirable:

• Experience with NGO or INGO operations

The Senior People Officer will also be expected to be a strong model of StrongMinds’ core values:

We are people focused.
We think big and act fast.
We are data-driven.
We do what we say and say what we do.
We believe in collaboration, not competition.