HR Business Partner and Head of People & Organization, Switzerland

We are looking for an experienced HRBP and Head of P&O Switzerland, preferably with experience in the pharma industry, to support our Bern production site and head People & Organization in Switzerland.

Your Role and Responsibilities

You will play a dual role, supporting both the Bern Site Leadership Team and serving as the primary HR contact for Swiss operations.

As HR Business Partner, you will serve as a trusted advisor to the Bern Site Leadership Team, supporting their strategic organizational agenda to achieve results for our 200+ employee manufacturing site.

To succeed in this role, you must be proactive, a strategic thinker with operational execution experience, and passionate about HR Business Partnering. Your key responsibilities include:

• Strategic HR Business Partnering: Drive the site annual HR cycle activities related to organizational review, people review, and engagement dialogues. Ensure talent, performance, rewards, and culture-building activities are embedded into the site organization.
• Leadership Development & Coaching: Coach and support leaders in their development and in building high-performing teams.
• Scaling and Organizational Growth: Co-Lead organizational development projects that are critical for the site manufacturing deliveries, including organizational design, capability building, and headcount planning.
• Culture & Engagement: Foster an engaging and inclusive workplace by facilitating team discussions on engagement survey results and driving continuous improvements.
• Collaboration Across HR Functions: Work closely with the other HR Business Partners, HR Global CoE (C&B, HR Ops and Global TA) to align the employee experience with overall business goals.
• Global HR Initiatives: Help develop and roll out global HR initiatives to support business transformation and future workforce planning.
  

As Head of P&O Switzerland, you will act as the primary HR point of contact for our Swiss operations, ensuring compliance with local labor laws and regulations. An HR specialist, reporting into the Global HR Operations team assists you with the site-specific HR responsibilities in Switzerland.
Key responsibilities include:

• Providing HR support and guidance to leaders and employees in Switzerland.
• Ensuring HR policies and procedures align with Swiss labor laws and company standards.
• Managing local HR legal and compliance, employee relations, and workplace policies.
• Ensure country specific, mandatory (and optional) local benefits are in place and comply with country legislation

Your Profile

To thrive in this role, you should have:

• +8 years of experience as a strategic HR Business Partner with a proven track record of implementing successful changes.
• Experience from manufacturing organizations, ideally within pharma.
• Knowledge of scaling businesses and working in a global setup.
• Extensive experience with Swiss labor law and HR compliance requirements.
• Experience within mobility is a plus
• Strong influencing skills with senior stakeholders.
• A passion for developing and coaching others.
• A mature and adaptable approach to change management.
  

Be part of our great P&O Team

You will join a dedicated global P&O function supporting a rapidly growing business, reporting directly to the Head of People & Organization, as a part of our global matrix team of four HR Business Partners supporting Global Operations organization (1.100 employees).

This role is based in Bern Switzerland. Site presence is expected, but with opportunities for working from home partially. Expect travel 2-4 times per year for global meetings.

Join Us in Making a Difference

At Bavarian Nordic, we are a fully integrated vaccine company with a vision to become one of the largest pure-play vaccine companies in the world. Our +1,600 dedicated colleagues are passionate about making a difference. We offer an inclusive and flexible workplace with a strong focus on personal and professional development.

Application

For questions, please contact Jesper Frimann Nielsen, Senior HR Business Partner for Global Operations at Write an email

We are interviewing on an ongoing basis and look forward to receiving your application as soon as possible. We hope to find the right candidate before the end of May.

Founded in 1994, we have +30 years of experience developing life-saving vaccines. We are a global leader in smallpox and mpox vaccines. Our commercial product portfolio contains market-leading vaccines against rabies, tick-borne encephalitis, cholera, typhoid, and Ebola. We are headquartered in Denmark and have manufacturing, research, and sales offices across Europe and North America. Our values - our Bavarian Nordic DNA, as we like to call it - are what guide our actions every day. We act as persistent pioneers, embrace change, value being boosted by the team, and believe in protecting lives every day. If that is also a part of your DNA, we invite you to join us in Bavarian Nordic! Bavarian Nordic is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applications will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.
www.bavarian-nordic.com