Associate Manager - HR (on Contract)

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This role owns the core People Operations engine at Monks. The Associate Manager - HR ensures that payroll, compliance, employee experience, and HR operations run with precision, integrity, and consistency. The role partners closely with leadership, finance, payroll vendors, and employees to build a strong, reliable people foundation that scales with the business.

• Lead end-to-end payroll governance through third-party payroll partners ensuring timely, accurate, and confidential salary processing. 
• Own monthly payroll cycles including attendance, leave management, compensation changes, incentives, reimbursements, and full & final settlements.
• Ensure 100% statutory compliance across PF, ESI, TDS, gratuity, and all regulatory filings; actively support internal and external audits
• Act as the primary interface between employees, finance, and payroll vendors, managing escalations, discrepancies, and service-level commitments.
• Strengthen payroll controls, documentation, and process efficiencies to improve accuracy, reduce errors, and elevate overall employee experience
• Conduct regular HR and payroll audits to validate compliance, accuracy, and process adherence

• Own day-to-day HR operations and continuously improve workflows for scale, efficiency, and employee satisfaction. 
• Maintain high data integrity on Workday HRIS, ensuring accurate reporting, analytics, and decision support. 
• Lead onboarding and employee lifecycle processes to deliver a smooth, high-quality experience from day one. 

• Partner with People leadership and business stakeholders to execute people strategies aligned with organizational growth.
• Drive rewards management programs and support leadership in compensation-related initiatives.
• Lead employee engagement, culture, and inclusion initiatives including townhalls, HR boot camps, recognition programs, and company-wide celebrations.
• Own employee wellness initiatives such as health camps, vaccination drives, and wellbeing programs.

Leadership Reporting & Workforce Insights

• Build and present leadership dashboards and workforce reports covering attrition trends, engagement insights, and key HR metrics.
• Translate people data into actionable insights for leadership and business planning

• Serve as a trusted HR partner handling employee relations, grievances, conflict resolution, and policy interpretation with consistency and fairness
• Support managers in navigating performance, conduct, and employee concerns. 

Success in This Role Looks Like :

• Payroll is always on time, error-free, and compliant. 
• Employees experience HR as dependable, responsive, and human. 
• Leadership has clear visibility into workforce health and trends. 
• Processes scale smoothly as the organization grows. 
• Compliance risks are proactively managed and controlled. 

Ideal Candidate Profile. 

• 6–8 years of progressive HR experience with strong exposure to payroll, compliance, and people operations.
• Proven experience working with payroll vendors and statutory frameworks in India. 
• Hands-on experience with HRIS platforms (Workday preferred). 
• Strong stakeholder management across leadership, finance, vendors, and employees
• High ownership mindset with excellent problem-solving and execution skills

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About Monks

Monks is the global, purely digital, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global marketing and technology services to accelerate business possibilities and redefine how brands and businesses interact with the world. Its integration of systems and workflows delivers unfettered content production, scaled experiences, enterprise-grade technology and data science fueled by AI—managed by the industry’s best and most diverse digital talent—to help the world’s trailblazing companies outmaneuver and outpace their competition.

Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services. It has remained a constant presence on Adweek’s Fastest Growing lists (2019-23), ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-23) and is the only partner to have been placed in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). In addition to being named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023), Monks has been recognized by Business Intelligence in its 2024 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards program in three categories: the Individual category, Organizational Winner in AI Strategic Planning and AI Product for its service Monks.Flow. Monks has also garnered the title of Webby Production Company of the Year (2021-24), won a record number of FWAs and has earned a spot on Newsweek’s Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces 2023.

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.