Karnot is growing fast. In July 2026, the company hires 10 people in a single month — engineers, technicians, sales staff, and operations. By October, the headcount has nearly doubled again. By FY31, the plan is 47 employees across engineering, commercial, field, and corporate functions. Managing that growth without an HR function in place is one of the most common ways a scaling SME makes expensive mistakes — employment disputes, payroll errors, DOLE violations, and failed culture.
The HR Officer is the person who prevents those mistakes. You will own recruitment sourcing and screening, onboarding, employee records, payroll co-management with the bookkeeper, performance review processes, DOLE compliance, and the early-stage work of building a culture that attracts and retains the technical talent Karnot needs. You will be the first HR hire — there is no established team, no inherited process, and no bureaucratic constraints. You build what Karnot needs.
This role reports directly to the CEO. That is not a courtesy title — the HR Officer sits at the leadership table from day one and participates in hiring decisions across every department. The right person will be promoted to HR Manager within 18 months as the team grows past 30 heads.
It means there is no established HR process to inherit. There is no employee handbook, no performance review template, no onboarding checklist, no established payroll workflow. You build all of it. That is both the challenge and the opportunity. The CEO has managed employment matters directly until now — you take that over, structure it properly, and create the foundation for a professional people function. Most HR Officers join to maintain a system someone else built. Here you build the system.
You do not need to be able to assess refrigeration competence — the hiring managers do that. Your role in technical hiring is sourcing, screening for minimum qualifications (correct TESDA/PRC licence, relevant experience), coordinating interviews, and owning the offer and contract stage. The PEE, PME, and Sales lead conduct technical assessments independently. HR manages the process, not the technical decision.
In partnership with the Safety Officer (who handles OSH-specific DOLE obligations) and the CEO (who remains accountable for compliance decisions). The HR Officer owns labour standards compliance — working hours, 13th month pay, mandatory benefits enrolment, notice periods, documentary requirements for all employment classifications. The Safety Officer owns the OSH-specific DOLE programme. The CEO is the final sign-off on compliance strategy.
Karnot enters October 2026 with approximately 19 employees. The plan reaches 47 by FY31 (2031). Growth is not linear — the largest single hiring cohort is July 2026 (10 hires), with smaller cohorts of 3–5 per year thereafter. The HR Officer manages the full lifecycle: hire, onboard, develop, retain, and — when necessary — separate. Planning for this growth rather than reacting to it is a core part of the role.
The role starts October 2026. Send your CV and a brief note about your experience building or restructuring an HR function. We read every application personally.
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