Senior Business Manager

Senior Business Manager (India)

Reporting to Central Operations, the Senior Business Manager (India), owns the end-to-end operational delivery for the India shared services hub across HR, recruitment, and finance support functions.

Acts as the primary in-country operational lead for BB UK managers, delivering expert support across talent acquisition, recruitment, employee management, compliance and office operations.

The role serves as the primary in-country escalation and advisory lead for India HR matters providing end-to-end support across the full employee lifecycle, while also overseeing the performance and effectiveness of the India shared service centre, including finance operations and controls, to ensure high-quality, efficient service delivery.

In addition, the role is accountable for overseeing the quality, consistency, and timeliness of outputs from the BB India team, ensuring standards are met, processes are adhered to, and service delivery aligns with group expectations and business priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Operations

• Serves as the bridge between UK management and India teams, ensuring alignment in expectations, communication, and ways of working.
• Acts as the primary escalation point for UK managers on quality issues, providing local support on performance management.
• Partners with Central Operations to continuously improve processes, policies, and ways of working.
• Provides cultural insight and guidance on employee expectations.
• Drives the scaling of India operations in line with business growth plans.
• Defines and monitors KPIs and SLAs to ensure high-quality, efficient service delivery.
• Ensures consistent application of working arrangements in line with company policies and local requirements.
• Manages relationships with local vendors (e.g. recruitment agencies).

People & HR

• Leads and develops the local HR and Finance team, setting objectives, driving performance, and building capability
• Contributes to the group people strategy, ensuring alignment with local market conditions in India and providing on-the-ground insight to inform decision-making.
• Leads all India people operations across the full employee lifecycle, from hiring through to exit.
• Oversees end-to-end recruitment activity, including sourcing, selection, background checks, and onboarding.
• Provides market intelligence to support hiring strategy and compensation decisions, including salary benchmarking and local hiring practices.
• Advises UK managers on Indian employment practices, HR policies, and compliance requirements.
• Leads employee engagement, retention, and culture initiatives within the India team.
• Ensures compliance with Indian labour laws and statutory requirements.
• Oversees HR operations including employee records, HR administration, employee support, and exit formalities, supported by the wider HR function.
• Oversees payroll processing and statutory contributions to ensure accuracy and compliance.

Manages employee relations cases locally, ensuring fair, timely, and compliant resolution.

Finance

• Owns the operational performance and governance of the India Shared Service Centre, ensuring finance service delivery across accounts payable, accounts receivable and management accounting support functions meets quality, productivity, governance, and SLA requirements.
• Drives continuous optimisation of finance operations, focusing on process scalability, efficiency improvements, robust financial controls, and risk mitigation.

Skills & Experience

• 10+ years’ experience in operations or business management roles within a global organisation
• Experience in a global marketing agency or professional services environment preferred
• Proven experience leading shared services or offshore operations
• Experience managing multi-functional teams across HR, recruitment, and finance
• Strong knowledge of Indian employment law, compliance, and HR practices
• Strong track record of scaling operations
• Solid understanding of finance operations and controls
• Experience operating in a matrixed, global organisation with senior stakeholder exposure
• Excellent stakeholder management and cross cultural communication skills, with experience supporting international teams
• Proven ability to drive process optimisation and continuous improvement