Senior People & Culture Manager
Cyprus / Hybrid
Shape how people grow, perform and thrive — and turn People & Culture strategy into action.
CARDET is one of the leading research and development centres in Cyprus and the region, dedicated to advancing social impact, innovation and lifelong learning. As we strengthen our People & Culture function, we are looking for a hands-on Senior People & Culture Manager to lead implementation, build capability within the function and provide trusted advice to managers.
The role has meaningful ownership across performance, career development, reward and pay transparency, recruitment, employment governance, people analytics, internal learning and workforce capability planning. We are looking for an experienced HR professional who is confident, positive and resourceful, with strong judgement, learning agility and a practical, results-oriented approach.
Key Responsibilities
As Senior People & Culture Manager, you will:
- Lead the practical implementation of CARDET’s People & Culture strategy and frameworks, translating agreed priorities into clear plans, ownership, timelines, manager practices and measurable follow-through.
- Act as a trusted advisor to managers on performance, team matters, employee relations, policies, career development and other people decisions, using sound judgement and escalating higher-risk matters appropriately.
- Own the implementation and quality of performance management, career-development and leadership/manager-development processes, ensuring consistency, fairness and meaningful development conversations.
- Lead reward and recognition implementation, pay-transparency readiness, job architecture, job-description quality and related role/pay governance within approved frameworks.
- Lead recruitment for approved vacancies, remaining hands-on in key or complex hires, while ensuring a professional candidate experience and effective support to hiring managers.
- Ensure the effective and consistent implementation of HR policies, employment practices and documentation, applying Cyprus employment law confidently to day-to-day People & Culture decisions and identifying when specialist advice or escalation is required.
- Use people analytics, HR systems and employee feedback to identify trends, risks and opportunities, and translate insight into practical recommendations and improvement actions.
- Support workforce and people planning by identifying capability, capacity and succession needs and translating these into practical recruitment, development and talent actions.
- Set internal Learning & Development priorities, oversee their effective implementation through the relevant People & Culture and Learning roles, and support employee engagement, wellbeing, inclusion and EVP implementation.
- Lead and develop the People & Culture team, delegate effectively, maintain high standards and remain hands-on where complexity, urgency or quality requires manager-level involvement.
- Where relevant and agreed, contribute selected People & Culture expertise to external consulting, advisory or client-facing work.
What We Are Looking For
Qualifications, Knowledge & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources / Human Resource Management, Organisational Psychology, Employment Relations, Business or another relevant field, or equivalent professional experience and qualifications.
- Substantial progressive HR / People & Culture experience, including independent ownership of multiple core HR areas and direct advisory support to managers and senior leaders.
- Practical hands-on experience in several areas such as performance management, recruitment, employee relations, HR policies, contracts/employment documentation, reward, career development, people analytics and Learning & Development.
- Strong working knowledge of Cyprus employment law and practical HR policy application.
- Experience leading, coordinating or developing others and taking accountability for quality, delivery and follow-through.
- Ability to interpret people data, identify risks and provide evidence-informed recommendations.
- Confidence using HRIS/ATS, digital collaboration tools and Microsoft Office / Google Workspace.
- Excellent professional communication skills in both Greek and English.
Key Skills & Competencies
More than a checklist of experience, we are looking for someone who brings:
- High autonomy, ownership and accountability — able to move work forward.
- Strong professional judgement, critical thinking and the ability to understand context quickly.
- A hands-on, pragmatic and resourceful approach, with the confidence to personally execute high-quality work when needed.
- Strong results orientation, with the ability to drive priorities through to completion.
- Excellent advisory and problem-solving skills, with the ability to turn complex people issues into practical options and recommendations.
- Confident, engaging communication combined with empathy, compassion and the ability to build trust at all organisational levels.
- High learning agility, curiosity and a strong commitment to continuous professional development; quick to understand new concepts, systems and organisational context.
- Creativity, resilience, collaboration and a purpose-driven mindset, with the confidence to challenge, simplify and continuously improve how things are done.
Additional Experience That Would Be Valuable
Experience in any of the following will be considered an advantage:
- Job evaluation, grading/job architecture, pay transparency or salary structures.
- Career-development, talent-management or leadership-development initiatives.
- Workforce planning, capability planning or succession/talent processes.
- Organisational change, engagement, wellbeing, inclusion or employer-brand/EVP initiatives.
- External HR consulting, advisory work, client-facing assignments or facilitation.
- Experience in a multi-stakeholder, fast-paced or project-based environment.
- A postgraduate HR-related qualification, CIPD or other relevant HR, employment-law, coaching, mediation, people-analytics or leadership certification.
What We Offer
- Purpose-driven work with the opportunity to shape People & Culture practices that support meaningful social impact.
- Continuous learning and professional development, including access to internal learning, a personal training budget, mentoring and other development opportunities.
- A role with real autonomy, responsibility and the opportunity to influence how managers and teams work, grow and develop.
- European and international exposure through CARDET’s projects, networks, partners and learning communities.
- An inclusive, wellbeing-oriented and family-friendly culture.
- Provident Fund, in accordance with organisational policy.
- Additional leave and wellbeing benefits designed to promote rest, development and sustainable performance.
- Wellbeing and psychological-support resources, alongside organisational wellbeing initiatives.
- Flexible hybrid working and shorter Fridays, in line with organisational policy.
- A workplace culture recently recognised with First Prize in the 2026 Good Practice Examples Competition for CARDET’s work on the Prevention and Management of Psychosocial Risks.
How to Apply
If you are an experienced HR professional who enjoys taking ownership, solving problems, learning continuously and making things happen, we would be very happy to hear from you. Candidates are invited to submit:
- an up-to-date CV, and
- a brief note outlining what attracts you to the role and the strengths you would bring to CARDET.
Apply here: https://cardet.peoplehr.net/Pages/JobBoard/Opening.aspx?v=a02acae8-1354-4db1-9b31-77fc54e69103
We are interested in strong potential as well as breadth of experience. You do not need to have worked across every area listed above, but you should be able to demonstrate sound HR judgement, hands-on ownership and the ability to learn quickly and advise others with confidence.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and early applications are encouraged. The position will remain open until a suitable candidate has been identified.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate in the next stages of CARDET’s selection process. All applications will be treated in strict confidence and evaluated fairly.
We appreciate the time and interest of all applicants. Due to the expected volume of applications, we will be able to contact only candidates selected for the next stage.
Equal Opportunities & Safeguarding
CARDET is an equal opportunities and disability-confident employer of choice. The organisation has been accredited with the Sound Industrial Relations 2014 Standard and is fully committed to promoting safeguarding and preventing all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation.
CARDET is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Candidates who may require reasonable accommodations during the selection process are encouraged to let us know.
CARDET complies with GDPR. For more details, please refer to our Privacy Policy www.cardet.org/privacy-policy.
For questions, contact 22 002100.
