PESB Advertises Director (HR) Post at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

The Public Enterprise Selection Board has advertised the post of Director (Human Resources) at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, inviting applications from eligible officers by October 12, 2026.

The Director (HR) is a board-level position at HAL, India's largest defence aerospace public sector undertaking, responsible for workforce policies governing an organisation that runs multiple aircraft and helicopter production divisions across the country. The role oversees recruitment, industrial relations and training for manpower spread across HAL's design, manufacturing and overhaul facilities, central to scaling production of platforms such as the Tejas and Light Combat Helicopter. The Director (HR) also sits on the company's apex committees for wage negotiation and workforce planning, giving the post a direct role in how HAL manages its relationship with its unionised shop-floor employees across its various production divisions.

Board-level HR postings at defence PSUs are typically filled through the PESB's selection process from among general managers and executive directors within the company, or from equivalent-rank officers at comparable central public sector enterprises, screened for managerial experience and familiarity with defence-sector service conditions. Candidates are usually required to have handled large unionised workforces and to demonstrate experience negotiating wage settlements, given the scale of HAL's industrial relations apparatus across its multiple production centres.

The vacancy follows the completion of tenure or movement of the previous incumbent in the post, though the board has not specified the reason for the current opening in its advertisement. PESB advertisements of this kind typically follow several months after a vacancy first arises, once the administrative ministry has cleared the recruitment rules for the specific post.

The advertisement comes as HAL scales up production to meet expanded Tejas Mk1A and helicopter delivery schedules under recent defence contracts, a ramp-up that has placed pressure on the company's shop-floor manpower planning and technical training pipelines. Board-level HR appointments at HAL are watched for their bearing on how the company manages this expansion, particularly at production centres that have had to recruit and train new technical staff at a faster pace than in previous years.

Whoever is selected will take charge of an HR function balancing the demands of rapid production scale-up against established service conditions across HAL's unionised technical workforce, a balance previous incumbents have had to manage amid recurring wage-settlement negotiations. The incoming director will also inherit ongoing discussions with employee unions over productivity-linked incentives tied to the company's expanded delivery targets.

Applications for the post must reach the PESB by October 12, 2026, according to the advertisement.