PropertyGuru is Southeast Asia’s leading PropTech company, and the preferred destination for over 32 million property seekers monthly to connect with over 50,000 agents monthly to find their dream home. PropertyGuru empowers property seekers with more than 2.1 million real estate listings, in-depth insights, and solutions that enable them to make confident property decisions across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
PropertyGuru.com.sg was launched in Singapore in 2007 and since then, PropertyGuru Group has made the property journey a transparent one for property seekers in Southeast Asia. In the last 18 years, PropertyGuru has grown into a high-growth PropTech company with a robust portfolio including leading property marketplaces and award-winning mobile apps across its markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand as well as the region’s biggest and most respected industry recognition platform – PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards , events and publications across Asia.
For more information, please visit: PropertyGuruGroup.com ; PropertyGuru Group on LinkedIn .
Recognised as a Top Employers Certified* organisation, we’re proud to be among the best workplaces in the region—celebrating an inclusive culture of excellence, growth, and well-being.
About the role:
This is a senior leadership role on the People & Culture Leadership Team (PLT). The Head of People – Country and function Lead (CTPO) is the single point of accountability for the full end to end people agenda across their country and/or functional remit.
The role operates with a dual mandate: delivering an excellent HR service in-country, and a member of the regional P&C team, and contributing as a full member of the P&C People Leadership Team.
Direct reporting line is to the Head of HR People & Culture, with a dotted line to the Country Managing Director or relevant XLT business leader.
Why This Role Exists Now
PropertyGuru is in an era of deliberate reinvention under PG Next: country-led operating model, matrix ways of working, and AI-accelerating change in both what we ask of our workforce and how P&C itself delivers.
This role is the country-level engine for that shift. It is expected to model the change, not just manage it.
People Leadership Team (PLT) Membership
As a member of the PLT, this role carries collective ownership of the P&C function's performance, culture, and transformation alongside the Head of P&C and peer PLT members.
PLT members are expected to:
Contribute to and own elements of the P&C operating model
Operate with full accountability
Shared ways of working, and cross-functional collaboration are a collective responsibility
Model the leadership behaviours the business expects from its own people leaders: psychological safety, honest feedback, recognition, and deliberate development of their teams
Engage constructively in functional talent reviews and hold a view on talent across the P&C function, not only their own team
Bring an enterprise lens to decisions, balancing country or functional needs against what is right for P&C and PropertyGuru as a whole
P&C Operating Model
This role has explicit ownership, alongside the CPO and PLT, for shaping and executing the P&C function's operating model focused on AI-infused, human-prioritised P&C function (where transactional work is automated, process value is redesigned, and P&C professionals spend strategic partnering including but not limited to org design, talent strategy, management and development, leadership coaching, and workforce capability).
Org Design, Workforce Planning & the Future of Work
This role is the primary HR partner on org design and workforce transformation for their business unit(s).
Org Design
Design and implement effective country or functional org structures that reflect business strategy, the matrix ways of working model, and the realities of AI-driven role evolution
Identify where current structures create friction, slow execution, or concentrate risk and propose clear, data-supported redesigns
Embed change management rigorously: org changes without effective change management produce attrition, not efficiency
Workforce Planning
Lead structured workforce planning conversations with business leaders (headcount management, capability forecasting: what skills do we need, in what timeframe, and via what strategy (build/buy/borrow/bot)), data focused
Drive FTE forecast accuracy and manage within budget, working in close partnership with Finance HRBPs
Proactive Talent Management
Codesign, and lead talent management and talent review cadence, driving clear outcomes aligned to impact for the business, partnering with business leaders to actively manage talent (developing Talent and managing low performance proactively)
Protect high performers and top talent with visible, differentiated focus (development, recognition, and stretch opportunities)
Leadership of Local P&C Teams
This role manages the local P&C team directly (HRBPs, People Services, and Talent Acquisition) and is fully accountable for the engagement, capability, and performance of that team and all local P&C members including matrix reportees.
Active people leadership role:
Build a high-performing, engaged team, active strategic business partnering to drive business impact;
Building one team within the local team and driving ways of working between country/function teams and regional cross functional P&C teams;
Recognise contribution consistently and create psychological safety: team members should feel able to raise concerns, challenge ideas, and disagree constructively
The P&C function's own engagement results are visible and tracked. This role is accountable for the engagement of their direct team and indirectly contributing to the function's results.
Key Accountabilities
Strategic Business Partnership
Serve as the trusted senior HR partner to XLT member(s) and both country and functional leadership teams
Translate business strategy into a coherent people plan with measurable outcomes, driving business impact
Use people data and commercial insight to drive recommendations;
Manage complex and senior-level employee relations with maturity, sound judgement, and legal compliance (including local employment law requirements)
Talent Acquisition
Lead TA end-to-end for the country: demand forecasting, pipeline quality, brand and attraction, offer conversion, and onboarding outcomes
Ensure TA is integrated with workforce planning
Hold hiring managers to standard on speed, quality, and process discipline
People Services (HR Operations)
Ensure People Services delivers accurate, timely, and compliant HR operations: payroll, employee lifecycle, policies, and local compliance
Identify and drive automation of manual People Services processes
Maintain legislative compliance and proactively track and implement regulatory changes in-country
Employee Experience & Engagement
Drive engagement action planning with rigour: not just listening sessions, but visible change
Ensure the EVP is felt in the day-to-day experience
What Great Looks Like in This Role
The team this person leads is visibly engaged, growing, and clear on their priorities
Org design changes in their remit are implemented cleanly, with stakeholders taken on the journey
Active talent management
Building the future operating model
What We're Looking For
Experience
Substantial experience as a senior country HR leader or Head of HR in a multi-market or regional context, matrix operating experience
Demonstrated track record in org design, workforce planning, and driving transformation
Experience leading and developing a local HR team with named accountability for their engagement and performance
Familiarity with the evolving HR technology landscape, including Workday or equivalent HRIS, and emerging AI tools in HR
Exposure to the impact of AI on workforce design and skills strategy
Capabilities
Strategic advisor, not just executor: challenges constructively, and builds credibility through business impact
Data drive and strong analytical grounding
Effective people leader: develops others, creates psychological safety, and holds performance standards
Comfortable with ambiguity and able to operate across multiple markets or functions simultaneously
Excellent judgement on employee relations and legal compliance in Southeast Asian markets
Communicates with clarity and without unnecessary complexity, at C-suite and team level
Our commitment to you:
Hybrid flexible working that focuses on outcomes over hours.
Holistic rewards package covering your financial, physical & mental health.
Multi-directional career development across all levels.
Inclusive benefits like equal paternity leave, supporting all employees in work-life balance.
At PropertyGuru, you’ll be part of a Top Employers Certified* company that puts people at the heart of everything we do.
