HR Adviser - (Singapore or Hong Kong)

We will offer you a place where you can be yourself and where there are no limits on what you can achieve. With us, you can take ownership of your career and have honest conversations throughout. You would join an ambitious firm with a clear strategy for profitable growth where you can get early responsibility and early involvement in growing the business. Here you can expect a competitive and fair reward as well as recognition based on all round performance. This forms part of our internal promise to you, The Deal, between the firm and its employees.

You can expect:

• A competitive salary and a host of family friendly policies
• Life assurance, private health and dental care for you and your family
• The opportunity to support the firm's charity through volunteering leave
• A wellbeing strategy that focuses on preventative measures to maintain overall health, and tools and support for when our people experience physical or mental difficulties. The strategy focuses on four pillars: physical, emotional, financial and social aspects.

The global HR and L&D function comprises a team of 40 people globally and across Asia, a team of six support Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul.  The global team are responsible for the management of all matters concerning the employment and development of our people.  This involves guiding and supporting partners, managers, and all employees alike, as well as supporting the creation of an inclusive and diverse environment, enabling our people to thrive.  This includes:

• implementing our people and talent strategy in line with business objectives;
• resourcing, talent and career management;
• reward (financial and non-financial) strategy; and
• policy and procedures setting and the practical application of these across the business.

Role Overview

A key member of the HR team, this role will support the Asia HR team in the provision of a consistently high level, seamless service to our internal clients. Reporting to and working closely with the Asia Head of HR and the HR Managers, the adviser will be involved in advisory work, primarily supporting the resourcing across the region, as well as supporting our future talent and approach to diversity and inclusion. This will involve working closely with the global future talent and talent acquisition teams, as well as other international HR, L&D and business services teams.

Working closely with the Partners and Business Services leads across the region, this role requires a candidate with prior experience in HR and recruitment, who is keen to deliver and drive 'The Deal' - Stephenson Harwood's Employee Value Proposition focused on promoting engagement, development of our people, having honest conversations and rewarding talent.  This is a broad role where the incumbent will have autonomy to make a real difference to the practice and business teams functions and deliver a best-in-class experience to our people. 

The role will lead on the following key focus areas:

Talent Acquisition

• Working closely with the global Talent Acquisition team and local HR teams, lead the recruitment of all lawyer and business services roles across the region - including providing advice on selection strategies, preparation of job descriptions, candidate management, screening candidates and interview arrangements (where needed)
• Identify strategies to promote the firm in the external recruitment market, developing our employer brand to make us an employer of choice and attract the best candidates
• Implement a culture of continuous improvement, regularly identifying ways to improve the candidate experience (e.g. through line manager training) by keeping up to date with market trends and industry standards
• Building relationships with candidates and recruitment agents whilst focusing on cost reduction through direct sourcing and negotiation of competitive terms
• Own the internal recruitment approval process for all Asia roles including drafting of business cases
• Demonstrate strong compliance with updating relevant systems and career portals and monitoring hires against headcount budgets.
• Implement processes and strategies to push forward our DEI agenda where they touch on resourcing (e.g. fair hiring processes, interview bias training, approach to social mobility and gender diversity)

Future Talent

• Working closely with the global Future Talent team, have responsibility for the Singapore and Hong Kong (and other regional offices as needed) vacation scheme and training contract programmes.
• Manage the end-to-end student recruitment campaigns including, but not limited to:
• Promotional activities such as careers fairs, website content, e-brochure materials
• Development of relationships with law societies, students and student bodies, as required.
• Advising on appropriate selection processes and strategies for attracting our future talent
• Responsibility for candidate shortlisting, interviewing and selection
• 'Own' the trainee schemes for the Singapore and HK offices – including:
• Supporting and advising the trainee population based on the people strategy
• Onboarding and exit processes, structure of programme, seat rotations and secondments (to clients, within the region &/or to international offices)
• Support with feedback, overseeing the supervisory and buddy systems and general oversight of the progress & development of the trainees
• NQ selection and onboarding of NQs, including any compliance requirements
• Responsibility for setting and monitoring future talent budget

Talent management

• Oversee NQ promotion process, providing support to high potentials, and assist with NQ pipeline within the practice groups
• Working alongside the wider HR team, have responsibility for overseeing all employee relations issues for the trainee population:
• first escalation point on ER matters
• ensuring a consistent approach in line with legislation, firm policy and with pragmatism
• Support managers and senior stakeholders in managing under performance and ensuring the partners and managers understand the risk to the business arising from employee issues

Policy, procedures, process and projects

• Ensure annual or bi-annual global processes (e.g. trainee seat move, trainee pay review) are carried out effectively and in line with the firm's timeline and guidelines
• Review, develop and provide 'best-practice' HR operational support and advice
• Leading or assisting with HR projects related to the firm’s people strategy
• Share knowledge with the wider HR team and local HR-legal sector network

• Significant relevant experience in a similar HR, future talent or talent acquisition role, acting as a trusted adviser to support client groups
• Experience of working in a legal or professional services firm is desirable and using a recruitment or HR information system to support an advisory role effectively
• Strong IT skills in Word, PowerPoint and Excel (formula and analysis)
• Service focused attitude, with an approachable and professional manner
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with people at all levels of the business and a good attention to detail
• Ability to create strong relationships and use influencing skills when appropriate with stakeholders
• Able to flex your style when needed and equally have a good level of resilience, knowing how to manage yourself in challenging situations and with competing deadlines & demands
• Resilient and pragmatic with the ability to respond in a timely manner to requests
• Manage time and stakeholders effectively whilst remaining calm under pressure
• Results focussed with the ability to deliver results to a consistently high standard
• Proactive, well organised and able to structure and prioritise own work
• Commercially focussed in understanding and approach
• Able to use initiative and make suggestions to improve or change processes
• Able to handle sensitive situations and information in a confidential and discreet manner
• Knowledge of local employment and immigration law and experience of dealing with law society regulations preferable
• Fluent in English and preferably have Cantonese and/or Mandarin language skills

We are an equal opportunity organisation, committed to having a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, culture, or any other protected characteristics. We aim to create a culture where everyone can be themselves and is valued for their strengths and unique perspectives.

With 8 offices worldwide and with our headquarters based in London, Stephenson Harwood is a law firm where our people are committed to achieving the goals of our clients - listed and private companies, institutions and individuals across the globe. Our mix of expertise and culture results in a combination of deep local insight and the capability to provide a seamless international service.

Our experience encompasses corporate, commercial litigation and arbitration, employment, pensions and private wealth, finance, marine and international trade, and real estate and projects.

We assemble teams of bright thinkers to match our clients' needs and give the right advice from the right person at the right time. Dedicating the highest calibre of legal talent to overcome the most complex issues, we deliver pragmatic, expert advice that is set squarely in the real world.

We understand the power of diversity in delivering that high calibre advice to our clients. We want to attract diverse talent and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics.

Our values

Individuality - We encourage creativity and develop talent.

Commitment - To be the best and deliver the highest standard.

Teamwork - We work together to build close, long-term relationships

Straight talking - We say what we mean and do what we say.

These values express the personality of the individuals within our firm. They are the behaviours we encourage in our people and the standards which inform our decisions and actions.

Our vision into 2026

To be a successful firm where talented people work together in an entrepreneurial environment, building long term client relationships.

This vision is about who we want to be, as well as who we are. It is as much about our values as about our character – the attributes we want to see from all of our people. That's how we unlock our entrepreneurial spirit, advising our clients with top performing teams.

A key part of the 2026 strategy is to focus on five core sectors: decarbonisation, life sciences, private capital & funds, technology, and transportation & trade. These have been identified as crucial in the drive for accelerated profitable growth.