HR Manager

Smile is a national digital health company founded in 2006 comprising five divisions, including the National Dental Network and Health Fund Partnerships.

Smile is committed to revolutionising quality healthcare accessibility and affordability for the people of Australia. Smile is the top-rated dental cover in the country, offering Retail Dental Cover to the public and Corporate Dental Cover to companies and their teams across Australia.

We have operated successfully with a globally distributed team since 2017 and continue to grow across multiple areas of the business.

ROLE OBJECTIVE

We are seeking an exceptional Senior HR Manager to take ownership of Smile's People function as our lead HR professional.

This is a broad, high-ownership position combining three important elements:

• Strategic Adviser partnering directly with our CEO and COO on People strategy, organisational challenges, performance, retention and remuneration.
• HR Manager owning the full employee lifecycle and ensuring our People practices remain effective as the company grows.
• Hands-On Operator personally carrying out the operational work required to keep the HR function moving.

This is not a role for someone who wants to manage HR from a distance or delegate most operational work to a coordinator.

You will be senior enough to advise leadership while remaining hands-on enough to personally execute.

Our immediate priority is Talent Acquisition . We are therefore looking for someone with significant international recruitment experience, strong judgement when assessing talent and a demonstrated ability to identify and attract exceptional performers.

As Smile grows, you will also help strengthen our performance, development, retention and remuneration practices while keeping our People systems practical, lightweight and appropriate for a globally distributed organisation.

AMAZING REASONS TO WORK WITH SMILE

• 100% Remote: Enjoy the flexibility and convenience of working remotely.
• Full-Time Position: Secure a stable and consistent working schedule.
• Similar Time Zone: Work with a globally distributed team operating around Australian business hours.
• Established Company: Join a successful organisation established in 2006.
• National Presence: Be part of an Australian digital health company with a national footprint.
• Meaningful Work: Contribute to Smile's mission of improving healthcare accessibility and affordability.
• Direct Leadership Exposure: Work closely with Smile's CEO and COO and have meaningful input into People decisions.
• High Ownership: Take genuine ownership of the People function rather than managing one small piece of HR.
• Opportunity to Build: Help shape performance, development, retention and People practices as the organisation continues to grow.
• High-Performance Environment: Work alongside experienced leadership and a globally distributed team with high expectations for ownership and performance.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Talent Acquisition

• Own international recruitment end-to-end, including sourcing, screening, interviewing, assessment, offers and onboarding.
• Maintain a high hiring bar and help leadership consistently identify A Players.
• Develop practical sourcing strategies across different international talent markets.
• Manage multiple recruitment processes simultaneously while maintaining candidate quality and speed.
• Continuously improve recruitment workflows, screening methods and candidate assessment.
• Partner with hiring managers to clearly define requirements and challenge assumptions where necessary.
• Monitor recruitment performance and identify opportunities to improve candidate quality, efficiency and hiring outcomes.

HR Operations & Employee Lifecycle

• Manage employee and contractor onboarding and offboarding.
• Maintain HR documentation, records and People systems.
• Manage leave administration and support payroll processes.
• Ensure HR policies and processes remain accurate, practical and consistently applied.
• Manage day-to-day employee queries and People-related administration.
• Continuously improve HR workflows to reduce unnecessary manual work and administration.

Performance & Employee Relations

• Support and manage performance-related matters professionally and confidently.
• Guide managers through difficult employee conversations and performance concerns.
• Handle employee-relations matters with sound judgement, confidentiality and emotional maturity.
• Help establish and operate effective performance management processes.
• Ensure performance expectations and accountability remain clear across the organisation.

People Advisory & Organisational Development

• Act as a trusted People adviser to the CEO and COO.
• Provide honest, practical and evidence-based recommendations rather than simply agreeing with leadership.
• Identify People risks early and recommend proportionate solutions.
• Support organisational changes and the development of new divisions as Smile grows.
• Help build practical employee development and career-development processes.
• Support leadership with remuneration reviews and salary benchmarking.
• Identify potential retention risks and recommend appropriate actions.

AI & Continuous Improvement

• Use AI and other digital tools confidently in your day-to-day HR and recruitment work.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality and decision-making through technology.
• Explore ways to reduce repetitive HR administration and improve candidate and employee experiences.
• Stay curious about emerging People, recruitment and AI tools without over-engineering solutions.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

Performance in this role may be assessed through areas including:

• Quality of Hire: Ability to consistently identify and recruit strong performers who succeed after joining.
• Recruitment Efficiency: Effective management of sourcing, screening, interviewing and hiring pipelines.
• Hiring Manager Satisfaction: Quality of partnership and support provided throughout recruitment.
• People Operations Accuracy: Timely and accurate completion of onboarding, documentation, leave, payroll support and HR administration.
• Performance Management: Effectiveness and consistency of performance-management processes and manager support.
• Employee Relations: Quality, judgement and timeliness in resolving People-related matters.
• Retention & Risk Identification: Ability to identify meaningful retention or People risks before they become larger problems.
• People Process Improvement: Practical improvements to systems, workflows and People practices.
• Leadership Advisory: Quality and usefulness of advice provided to the CEO, COO and managers.
• Ownership & Accountability: Demonstrated responsibility for outcomes, reliability and proactive follow-through.
• AI & Digital Effectiveness: Practical use of technology to improve efficiency and quality across HR and recruitment.

REQUIREMENTS

This full-time role will suit someone who meets all or most of the following:

• 8+ years of broad HR / People experience.
• Experience in senior HR generalist, HR Manager or People leadership roles.
• Strong, hands-on end-to-end international recruitment experience.
• Experience working within a remote or globally distributed organisation.
• Experience advising CEOs, founders or senior leadership.
• Demonstrated experience managing performance and employee-relations matters.
• Experience with remuneration and salary benchmarking.
• Experience supporting a rapidly growing business or new business division.
• Experience establishing or operating performance and employee-development processes.
• Strong HR operational capability, including personally handling onboarding, documentation, leave, payroll administration and related activities.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Strong digital capability and practical day-to-day use of AI tools.
• High emotional maturity and sound professional judgement.
• Strong ownership, accountability and ability to work independently.
• Confidence respectfully challenging senior leadership where appropriate.
• A professional remote-working environment and demonstrated remote-work experience.

Highly regarded:

• Experience operating as the sole or lead HR professional within a smaller or growing organisation.
• Recruitment experience across international talent markets including India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam and/or Bangladesh.
• Experience building People systems or frameworks from scratch.