VP, People & Culture

THE COMPANY

Tri-K Industries is a global manufacturer and supplier of specialty active ingredients serving beauty, personal care, and cosmetics brands worldwide. The company is entering a long-term growth phase, with strategic priorities centered on international expansion and an active mergers and acquisitions agenda designed to significantly increase revenue and global market presence over the coming years.

As Tri-K scales, the organization is investing in the people infrastructure required to support a larger, more complex, and more international business. This includes rebuilding core HR service delivery, and establishing a scalable, right-sized HR operating model that can flex with acquisitions and new geographies.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Vice President, People, Culture & Engagement will serve as the architect of Tri-K's people function during a pivotal period of growth. This is a foundational, build-and-execute role: the successful candidate will reboot transactional HR delivery, and design the long-term service delivery model and playbook for the HR function as Tri-K expands internationally and integrates future acquisitions.

This role requires a leader who is equally comfortable operating hands-on in the details of HR administration today and designing the scalable people infrastructure Tri-K will need tomorrow. The VP will partner closely with the CEO and executive team to ensure the people function is a true enabler of Tri-K's growth strategy, not a constraint on it.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Rebuild Core HR Service Delivery

•    Reboot and stabilize transactional HR operations, including onboarding, offboarding, records management, leave administration, and day-to-day employee support.

•    Assess current HR processes and systems for accuracy, compliance, and efficiency, and correct gaps in foundational HR administration.

•    Establish clear service levels, ownership, and accountability for HR transactions across the employee lifecycle.

Design the Future HR Operating Model

•    Build a playbook for Tri-K's long-term HR service delivery model, defining the right mix of centralized, business-partner, and shared-service capabilities.

•    Design an HR infrastructure that can scale efficiently as Tri-K grows internationally and integrates future acquisitions, including a repeatable framework for HR due diligence and Day 1 readiness.

•    Establish the technology, process, and organizational foundation to support a multi-country, multi-entity HR function.

Culture, Engagement & Talent

•    Partner with the CEO and executive team to define and reinforce a culture that supports rapid growth, international expansion, and an evolving M&A pipeline.

•    Develop engagement, communication, and change management strategies that keep employees aligned and informed through periods of significant organizational change.

•    Build the talent acquisition, development, and retention foundation needed to support Tri-K's growth trajectory, including leadership capability for an increasingly global organization.

M&A and International Expansion Support

•    Serve as the HR lead on acquisition due diligence, integration planning, and organizational design for newly acquired entities.

•    Build the framework for extending Tri-K's people practices, compensation philosophy, and HR infrastructure into new international markets.

•    Advise the executive team on workforce, cultural, and organizational considerations tied to specific M&A targets and new-country entry.

Talent Acquisition & Commercial Growth Alignment

•    Identify the key talent gaps standing between Tri-K and its commercial growth targets, and build the talent acquisition strategy to close them, including critical roles in sales, R&D, and technical/regulatory functions.

•    Build scalable recruiting infrastructure and processes capable of supporting increased hiring volume across international markets and newly acquired entities.

•    Develop Tri-K's employment brand and external market positioning to attract specialized talent in a competitive ingredients and beauty industry landscape.

Organizational Effectiveness & Operational Business Management

•    Assess organizational structure, spans of control, and role clarity across the business, and recommend design changes that support commercial growth and operational efficiency.

•    Partner with functional leaders on broader operational business management priorities beyond traditional HR scope, acting as a general business advisor where needed.

•    Build the organizational effectiveness tools and frameworks (workforce planning, org design principles, decision rights) needed to support a rapidly scaling, increasingly complex business.

Employee Development & Internal Advisory

•    Build employee development programs and career pathing that strengthen bench strength and support internal mobility as the organization grows.

•    Serve as a trusted internal consultant to the CEO on organizational, talent, and people matters, providing candid counsel on the toughest business and leadership decisions.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

•    10+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including direct ownership of HR operations, HRIS/payroll infrastructure, and service delivery design.

•    Demonstrated, hands-on experience managing a PEO relationship and leading a PEO exit or comparable HR infrastructure build, including HRIS and payroll implementation.

•    Experience building or redesigning an HR operating model and service delivery framework from the ground up, ideally in a growth-stage or private-equity-backed environment.

•    Exposure to M&A activity from an HR perspective, including due diligence, integration planning, and organizational design for acquired entities.

•    Experience supporting international expansion, including familiarity with multi-country employment, compliance, and HR infrastructure considerations.

•    A pragmatic, builder mentality: comfortable operating in the details of HR administration while also designing scalable, long-term infrastructure.

•    Strong executive presence and the ability to partner directly with the CEO and executive team as a trusted advisor on people strategy.

•    Experience in manufacturing, specialty chemicals, ingredients, or consumer/beauty industries is a plus, though not required.

•    Track record of building talent acquisition strategy directly tied to commercial growth goals, including identifying and closing critical talent gaps.

•    Experience with employment branding and organizational effectiveness work, including workforce planning and org design.

•    A trusted-advisor orientation: able to operate as a true business partner and internal consultant to a CEO, not solely an HR functional leader.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

•    Transactional HR operates reliably and accurately, with clear ownership and minimal disruption to employees.

•    A clear, documented playbook exists for Tri-K's HR service delivery model, scalable to support continued growth and M&A activity.

•    The HR function is viewed by the CEO and executive team as a strategic enabler of Tri-K's growth agenda, not an operational bottleneck.

•    Tri-K has a repeatable, tested framework for evaluating and integrating future acquisitions from a people and organizational perspective.