Director, Human Resources

The Director, Human Resources - Pre‑Opening, for Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Athens will serve as the strategic leader for all Human Resources and people‑management functions with a core focus on establishing the full HR framework for the Athens property prior to opening. This individual will play a pivotal role in designing and implementing pre‑opening HR strategies, including organizational structure development, workforce planning, large‑scale recruitment, pre‑opening training programs, policy creation, and cultural alignment to the Hard Rock brand.

During the pre‑opening phase, the HR Director will lead the build‑out of HR systems, processes, and compliance infrastructure; oversee hiring for all operational departments; develop onboarding and training plans to prepare team members for opening; and ensure that all HR practices meet local labor regulations and brand standards.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Partner with Senior Leadership and project stakeholders to align the people strategy with business objectives, incorporating all Greek‑specific labor law, digital compliance, and pre‑opening obligations for Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Athens.

• Lead the full suite of pre‑opening HR activities, including workforce planning, large‑scale recruitment events, local compliance setup, and cultural induction aligned with the Hard Rock brand.

• Ensurecompliance with Greek labor laws, regulations, and collective agreements.

• Ensure compliance with EU and Greek regulations for EU/EEA citizens

• Oversee all management recruitment during the full pre‑opening hiring, ensuring compliance with Greek labor law requirements for written employment contracts and early disclosure of all mandatory terms.

• Manage sponsorship and legal employment of third‑country nationals, ensuring employment invitations, work contracts, and declarations meet employment requirements

• Oversee all immigration‑related HR processes, ensuring full compliance with Greek work‑authorization requirements for non‑EU nationals

• Oversee expat onboarding and legal integration, including coordination of ERGANI registrations, social insurance enrollment, Greek tax numbers, and ensuring all work‑permit holders receive proper contract issuance.

• Ensure all employment contracts (permanent and fixed‑term) comply with Greek limits on contract renewals, probation periods, and statutory elements required by Greek labor law.

• Implement proper registration of new hires in the ERGANI II system, adhering to real‑time reporting and mandatory digital work card tracking required under Greek Law.

• Ensure consistent delivery of recruitment, onboarding, payroll, benefits, and HR operations, meeting Greek mandates for working time tracking, overtime declarations, and penalties for undeclared hours.

• Oversee the correct handling of terminations in Greece, ensuring that grounds for validity meet legal requirements, severance calculations comply with law, and collective dismissal thresholds and consultation procedures are followed when applicable

• Promote a positive, inclusive, and compliant workplace culture by embedding policies aligned with Greek working time protections, leave entitlements, anti‑discrimination statutes, and ERGANI II transparency requirements.

• Ensure all pre‑opening HR systems for Athens (recruitment platforms, timekeeping, payroll, learning systems) meet local legal requirements

REQUIREMENTS

• Proven Human Resources management experience in the hospitality industry.

• Previous project management and/or pre-opening experience, preferred.

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business Administration, or related field.

• Strong knowledge of Greek labor law, excellent negotiation, analytical, and communication skills.

• Fluency in Greek and English (written and spoken).

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Managers are expected to be able to perform the job functions with reasonable accommodation.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• N/A

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

• Pre-Employment Process: Employment with Hard Rock International requires the successful completion of the pre-employment process; to include two satisfactory reference checks

Closing

Hard Rock International is an equal opportunity employer. We live our motto LOVE ALL – SERVE ALL, and strive to foster an inclusive workplace culture for every team member. Hard Rock welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Disclaimer 
While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the current job or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change, (e.g. emergencies, changes in personnel, workload, rush jobs or technical developments).