Ekaterina Lepenysheva
RDI Group
Moscow,,Russia/ Willing To Relocate
1
Certification
26
years of professional experience
Senior HR leader with over 20 years of experience in Compensation & Benefits, HR operations, and organizational development across international manufacturing, telecom, and logistics companies. Proven track record in designing and scaling benefits programs, driving automation and digitization of HR processes, managing budgets and payroll optimization, leading cross-functional projects in multinational environments. Strong expertise in vendor management, process improvement, and financial planning.
Work History
HR Director
2 Years 6 Months- Leading the full HR function for a dynamic organization. Overseeing compensation strategy, benefits administration, payroll operations, and organizational development. Driving automation of HR processes and implementing scalable people solutions to support business growth.
Head of HR, Russia & Belarus
1 Year 10 Months- Leading a team of up to 9 HR professionals, providing comprehensive HR support for a commercial offices (300 employees across 30 distributed offices) and a manufacturing.
- Compensation & Benefits: Designed and implemented a well-being program and a motivational scheme for the sales team, reducing turnover to 5%.
- Benefits Management: Adapted global benefits policies to local market needs, ensuring competitiveness and cost-efficiency.
- Budgeting & Cost Control: Managed HR budget and headcount planning; leading crisis management, workforce reduction, and legal entity closures as part of a Management Buy Out transition. Handled ~300 complex layoffs with 0 complaints over 6 months, including outplacement support for 30% of affected employees.
- Process Improvement: Developed a successful onboarding program for plant employees, attracting 25 new skilled workers from technical colleges
HR Business Partner
1 Year 3 Months- Provided strategic HR support for the "Large Industries" and "Electronics" divisions in Russia (250 employees).
- Compensation & Benefits: Led a project to align compensation packages for 45 client-transferred employees without increasing the HR budget; optimized payroll costs by 7% through work schedule reform and overtime reduction.
- Budgeting & Financial Planning: Managed the full annual HR cycle, including resource planning, headcount control, and payroll budgeting.
- Process Improvement: Developed a competency matrix for technical staff and automated it; implemented a mentorship and talent pipeline program for multi-skilled workers; achieved 4% headcount optimization through production staff rotation.
- Airliquide.com – Industrial Gas Production
Head of HR Methodology and Service
2 Years 2 Months- Led the migration of 42 routine HR processes to a Shared Service Center and digitized HR services (employee portal, mobile app, chatbot) within one year.
- Process Automation & Optimization: Drove end-to-end digitization of HR operations, achieving a projected 5-year ROI with 20% annual payroll cost reduction..
Senior HR & Organizational Development Manager (HR Business Partner)
1 Year 7 Months- Provided full-cycle HR support for a newly established subsidiary (up to 300 employees) focused on tower maintenance across Russia.
- Compensation & Benefits: Developed local regulatory documents, defended HR budgets, and implemented a recruitment system for technical and leasing specialists within 4 months.
- Organizational Design: Led organizational design and strategy development.
HR, CompBen, Western Region
1 Year 1 Month- Implemented unified HR standards and optimized HR business processes across 14 branches (2,500 employees).
- Process Optimization: Managed resource planning, compensation & benefits, and HR administration at the regional level.
- Automation: Championed the pilot and subsequent rollout of routine HR operations to a Shared Service Center across Russia.
- Headcount Management: Managed HR-side headcount optimization, handling ~250 layoffs over 3 months with only 3 legal disputes.
Organizational Development Manager
1 Year 8 Months- Developed regulatory and methodological materials for organizational development. Coordinated a company-wide structural transformation, optimizing headcount from 21,000 to 17,000 through centralization of service functions and reduction of management layers from 11 to 5.
Head of HR
1 Year 9 Months- Adapted the first acquired plant in Russia (300 employees) to Siemens' corporate culture within 7 months.
- Compensation & Benefits: Implemented a grading system, non-material motivation programs, and SAP HR for payroll, time tracking, and training.
- Process Improvement: Introduced recruitment policies, automated HR administration and payroll, and outsourced temporary staff for special orders.
Head of Labor Relations & Compensation
2 Years 10 Months- Built HR support from scratch for a greenfield automobile plant, scaling the workforce from 86 to 2,400 employees in 3 years.
- Compensation & Benefits: Designed and implemented a grading structure, resource planning, and budgeting systems; authored all mandatory and corporate HR policies.
- Payroll & Operations: Automated the full HR cycle on SAP HR within 3 months from scratch.
- Process Optimization: Successfully prevented unionization through proactive employee relations and competitive benefits design.
-
8 Years- Held progressive roles in Compensation and Benefits, HR administration, payroll accounting.
Education
Master of Science - Global HR Manager
MBA - HR
High School Diploma
Skills
Compensation & Benefits: Budgeting
benefits cost control
financial planning
compensation package alignment
grading systems
incentive program design
HR Operations & Automation: Payroll operations
HR process digitization
electronic document flow implementation
SAP HR
employee self-service portals
chatbot deployment
Process Optimization: Resource planning
headcount optimization
payroll cost reduction (up to 20% annually)
workflow redesign
Vendor & Stakeholder Management: External provider coordination
cross-functional collaboration with Payroll
Finance
IT
and legal entities
International HR: Adaptation of global policies
management of geographically distributed teams (up to 5
000 employees across 30+ locations)
Tools: Advanced Excel / Google Sheets
SAP HR
SuccessFactors
1C
Certification
Certifications & Training: Continuous learner; currently pursuing advanced studies in international HR management.
Languages
Languages: English (C1), German (Basic), Italian (Basic)
Additional Information
- Relocation: Open to relocating to Serbia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, or Cyprus with family support.
- Personal Qualities: Highly adaptable, empathetic, decisive, and results-oriented.
- Volunteering: Active participant in charitable and volunteer projects.
- Driving License: Category B.
Timeline
HR Director
RDI Group
01.2024 - CurrentRead More
Head of HR, Russia & Belarus
Grundfos (Grundfos.com – Pump Manufacturing and Sale)
01.2022 - 11.2023Read More
HR Business Partner
Air Liquide
07.2020 - 10.2021Read More
Head of HR Methodology and Service
FESCO Service Center
06.2018 - 08.2020Read More
Senior HR & Organizational Development Manager (HR Business Partner)
VimpelCom (Veon.com – International Subsidiary)
03.2016 - 10.2017Read More
HR, CompBen, Western Region
VimpelCom (Vimpelcom.ru – Russian Telecom)
07.2015 - 08.2016Read More
Organizational Development Manager
Ilim Group (Ilimgroup.ru – Timber Processing)
11.2013 - 07.2015Read More
Head of HR
Siemens (Motor Manufacturing Plant)
01.2012 - 10.2013Read More
Head of Labor Relations & Compensation
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus
03.2009 - 01.2012Read More
-
-
01.2001 - 01.2009Read More
Kingston University
Master of Science from Global HR Manager
Read More
Saint Petersburg State University of Economics – Higher School of Economics
MBA from HR
Read More
Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance
High School Diploma
Read More