With over 9,000 employees, Center Parcs operates 29 holiday parks across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Our mission is to inspire guests to truly connect with nature and each other while caring, sharing, and enjoying. Our parks, located in diverse nature reserves, set new standards in family holidays. Through a comprehensive upgrade plan, we've enhanced our parks with premium cottages, upgraded Aqua Mundo facilities, authentic activities, and strong collaborations with local partners, all contributing to memorable experiences. In Germany, we manage six beautiful parks and employ nearly 1,200 Happy Family Makers. This term reflects our cultural DNA, emphasizing continuous improvement in our products, services, and hospitality skills. We believe that engaged, happy employees lead to engaged, happy guests. To support our vision, we are seeking a high-performing, solution-driven Country HR Director for Center Parcs Germany.
Mission:
With a positive, 'can-do' attitude, you will define, propose, and manage action plans within the framework of the HR strategy in Germany. Overseeing 1,100 park employees and 70 support staff (Sales, Finance, Marketing, Legal), your responsibilities include:
- People strategy: Adapt and develop the European HR strategy for Germany.
- Core HR: Manage staffing costs, wage policies, remuneration and employee benefits.
- Working Conditions: Implement employee incentives, engagement surveys, and employee wellbeing programs.
- Central coordination and execution of Payroll, HR IT and related HR-IT related activities.
- Social Relations: Serve as the main contact for staff representatives, handling all matters impacting Germany (work councils, company agreements).
- People Development: Participate in people reviews, talent reviews, and annual appraisals.
- Organizational Development: Contribute to company-wide projects, including D&I initiatives, organizational transformation, and restructuring.
You play a key role in delivering a 5-star employee journey, ensuring consistent actions across the six parks and the Cologne office. Collaborate closely with HR Centers of Excellence on Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding, Training, Talent Management, and Internal Communications.
Your key stakeholders include the Managing Director of Germany, General Managers of parks, department directors, and HR peers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. You will coach and develop HR Managers at the parks, empowering their autonomy while providing support when needed.
You will directly manage a small team comprising an HR Business Partner and two payroll employees, with a dotted line to six HR Managers, a Recruiter, and an L&D Manager in Germany. You report to the Chief Human Resources Officer of Center Parcs Europe and are part of the European HR Management Team.
About You:
You are a seasoned HR leader with at least 5 years of experience leading HR functions in Germany at both strategic and operational levels. Ideally, you have a background in the service industry or related sectors (hospitality, leisure, catering, retail, entertainment), or a customer driven company. An authentic leader with excellent influencing and communication skills, you can build support and coordination across large organizations. You are a trusted advisor to senior management and a sparring partner to our CHRO. You live near or in Cologne so you can easily come to the office. Or you are willing to relocate. You also enjoy travelling to our parcs.
