Top 10 Highest Paying HR Jobs in India [2025 Guide]

What are the highest paying HR jobs in India? Top roles like CHRO, HR Director, Talent Acquisition Head, HR Business Partner, and Compensation Manager offer salaries between ₹6 lakh and ₹1 crore a year. 

These job positions carry big responsibilities, from shaping company culture to driving talent strategies and supporting business growth.

In 2025, the HR department not only manages company policies, but they are also the key driver of an organization’s success. In this blog, we will explore the 10 highest paying HR jobs in India, including their average salaries, main duties, and the skills you need to succeed.

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Which are the Highest-paying HR jobs in India?

Human Resource Management offers excellent earning potential, especially in senior and specialized roles. There is a range of positions in talent acquisition, employee relations, and senior roles like VP and CHRO. More experienced HR professionals tend to get higher salary packages. 

Want to solidify your HR career? Explore our top courses in management and HR to learn relevant skills:

• HR Analytics Course Certification from IIM-K
• Advanced General Management Program from IMT Ghaziabad
• Generative AI Mastery Certificate for Managerial Excellence

Here’s a table with the highest-paying HR jobs in India and their yearly salary: 

Source: Glassdoor, AmbitionBox

Now, let’s discuss each of these job roles closely, learning about their daily responsibilities and steps to secure these roles.

1. Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)

A CHRO or the Chief Human Resources Officer can be considered the apex HR job title in a company and among the top leadership positions. They are the ones who lead the entire HR department and come up with strategies that align with the company’s goals and objectives. 

A CHRO has an average annual salary of INR 68.7 Lakhs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic HR Planning: A CHRO plans strategies and methods to hire and train employees, as well as to evaluate their performance. They are the ones who execute strategic goals to meet the company's goals.
• Employee Engagement: CHROs make a special contribution to ensure that the employees stay motivated and involved through clear communication with the employees and by recognizing them for their contributions.
• Hiring and talent acquisition: They are responsible for handling recruiting as well as retaining suitable employees in the organization. 
• Legal Compliance: They also take care of the fact that the company follows the required labor laws and regulations.
• Change Management: As companies go through structural changes, they are the ones who pave the way for handling the change process so that the entire organization adjusts well to a new order.

Here is a visual roadmap to becoming a CHRO:

2. Vice President of Human Resources

They are responsible for shaping HR strategy to support business goals and lead teams in hiring, compliance, and employee performance. A VP is an important role that impacts how the company grows and retains top talent.

A VP of Human Resources earns an average annual salary of INR 44 lakhs.

Top Responsibilities:

• Developing HR Strategy: Building HR strategies that can be applied at a large scale and across the organization
• Leading Talent Acquisition: Leading the recruitment process using job portals like LinkedIn and Naukri
• Driving Employee Engagement: Handling the implementation of retention efforts and employee wellness activities
• Managing Compliance: Ensuring that ethical HR practices are followed through HR management systems and portals. 

How to Become a VP in HR?

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3. Talent Acquisition Director

A Talent Acquisition Director leads the entire plan for recruitment in an organization. They are responsible to attract and hire top talent while meeting the goals of their company.

Average annual salary of a Talent Acquisition Director is INR 36.8 lakhs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Designing Recruitment Strategy: Building hiring frameworks for tech firms and startups using ATS platforms like Greenhouse.
• Employer Branding: Handling the company’s image on platforms like Glassdoor and LinkedIn to attract high-quality candidates.
• Campus Hiring and Diversity: Handling campus recruitment in different sectors and making sure that there is diversity in hiring drives 
• Collaborating With Other Teams: They work with different departments to make sure that hiring needs match the hiring process.

Path to becoming a Talent Acquisition Director:

4. HR Director

An HR Director is the one who manages the overall HR functions, ranging from employee training, learning, and development to payroll, as well as aligning these functions to HR policies and business needs.

Average yearly salary of an HR Director is 32.5 lakhs.

Key Responsibilities:

• HR Operations: Managing payroll, benefits, and compliance using HR payroll platforms and systems.
• Leading Learning & Development: They are also involved in leading employee learning programs for skill development
• Policy Implementation: They handle the smooth implementation of new HR policies across branches using HR systems.
• Resolving Issues: Resolving any grievances and employee concerns across the organization in a timely and orderly way.

Want to know how to become an HR Director? See this image below:

Know what is the Scope of MBA in HR: Job Roles, Skills, Top Companies & Future

5. Senior HR Business Partner (HRBP)

A Senior HR Business Partner works closely with other department heads in the organization. They are the ones who advise leaders in areas such as workforce planning and overall employee management.

A Senior HRBP earns 20 lakhs annually. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Advising Managers: Guiding managers and heads to handle team structure and employee performance.
• Organizational Change: Supporting change management in different sectors
• Analyzing Workforce Data: Using platforms like Visier to interpret employee turnover, productivity, and engagement trends.
• Building Pipelines: They assist in building internal team pipelines to facilitate internal mobility of employees 

Here’s how you can progress to eventually become an HRBP:

Watch this video to discover the top 10 highest-paying HR jobs and compare HR salaries across India, the USA, the UK, and Canada. https://youtu.be/VlcucGMtico?feature=shared

6. Learning and Development Manager

A Learning and Development (L&D) Manager is the one who looks after employee training and upskilling to boost their productivity. As such, they are quite important for any organization as they ensure that there is a continuous improvement and learning culture that contributes to actual employee growth.

Average annual salary of an L&D Manager is INR 13 lakhs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Creating Training Roadmaps: Plan training with skills improvement platforms or tools.
• Managing Leadership Programs: They also handle leadership programs and learning tracks in different departments and sectors.
• Evaluating Impact: They assess the results of training and see how much on-the-job improvement has been made
• Promoting Digital Learning: They encourage employees to participate in digital learning via short courses.

Here’s how to Become an L&D Manager:

7. Compensation and Benefits Manager

As the name suggests, a compensation and benefits manager is responsible for designing the compensation structure for different employees, including features like employee perks to attract top-level employees. They have to ensure that they meet the market pay standards to ensure fair pay to employees.

Average annual salary for this job role is INR 13 lakhs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Designing Pay Structures: They create salary structures for different roles using smart and data-driven HR tools. 
• Managing Benefits Programs: They manage health insurance policies, retirement plans, and other company benefits. 
• Conducting Analysis: As part of their job, they also conduct comparative analysis using tools like Payscale to study the market needs.
• Incentives & Bonuses: They handle joining or retention bonuses, ESOPs, and any additional rewards in the company.

This is the path to landing this role:

8. Organizational Development Manager 

An Organizational Development Manager focuses on introducing strategic change, leadership growth, and enhancing ongoing processes. Their main role is to build agile and high-performing cultures, which is done by aligning the employees and processes with what the company needs for sustainable growth.

The average annual salary of an organizational development manager is INR 12 lakhs.

What do They Do?:

• Lead Change Initiatives: They lead any change programs across the company using change model frameworks such as ADKAR.
• Improving Structures: They work on improving the team structure and workflow through clear communication and defined roles.
• Enhancing Leadership: Organizational development professionals also work to build leadership development, where employees get training and mentorship.

Steps to become an Organizational Development Manager:

Know which are the 5 Best Ways for Employee Engagement

9. HR Analytics Manager

An HR Analytics Manager uses data to improve workforce decisions and optimize HR strategies. This job is rooted in data analytics, wherein professionals use people data and change it into actionable insights, which further allow smart decision-making.

The average annual pay for an HR Analytics Manager is INR 8 lakhs.

Main Responsibilities:

• Tracking Data: They monitor trends in employee turnover as well as productivity using platforms like Power BI and Tableau.
• Creating Predictive Models: HR Analytics managers predict future talent needs by using tools like Python and R.
• Building Dashboards: Another role they play is to create visual dashboards to present to upper management and leadership using HR tools. 
• Decision-Making: They assist HR teams to make better and data-backed decisions for HR functions like recruitment and employee engagement.

Take a look at the following visual roadmap for becoming an HR Analytics Manager:

Want to make data-driven HR decisions? Learn HR strategy and workforce analytics with upGrad’s Business Analytics & Consulting Program with PwC Academy.

10. Employee Relations Manager

An Employee Relations Manager is responsible for handling any conflicts in the workplace to support a healthy work environment for all. They create a balance between protecting the rights of the employees and maintaining the company’s interests through the right policies.

An employee relations manager earns an annual average salary of INR 8 lakhs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Handling Workplace Conflicts: They do so by resolving team conflicts using case management tools like ServiceNow HRSD.
• Policy Compliance: These managers see to it that labor laws are enforced along with company rules and regulations.
• Conducting Investigations: They carefully look into any sensitive matters such as misconduct or harassment.
• Promoting Workplace Fairness: They collect feedback using anonymous tools to handle grievances from employees fairly.

Steps to become an Employee Relations Manager:

Preparing to land an HR role? Read this guide on 50 Common HR Interview Questions with Answers for 2025

What Are The Essential Skills Required For An Hr Professional?

HR Professionals need the right set of skills so that they can ensure engagement and compliance across the organization.

Here are some essential skills every HR professional needs to master:

• Communication Skills: HRs need excellent communication skills to be able to explain policies, solve conflicts, and engage with leadership and employees alike.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: This skill is now needed by all HRs to use tools like Excel or Tableau to understand HR trends and help with hiring or keeping employees.
• Tech Savviness: In an AI age, HRs should be able to use smart methods to manage employee information using automation and increase efficiency.
• Change Management: In the event of any changes, HRs are the ones who help teams adjust to big changes, which is why they need to be skilled in change management.
• Talent Acquisition Expertise: This is a core functional area of HR, which is why they must know how to hire the right people with tools like LinkedIn Talent Solutions
• Emotional Intelligence: This skill is very crucial for HR professionals as they work with multiple teams and handle conflicts in the organization.

Enroll in our free course How to Be Emotionally Intelligent at Work to build self-awareness and improve your workplace relationships!

Conclusion

If you want to secure high-paying HR jobs, you have some diverse opportunities across sectors like tech, finance, and manufacturing. However, most of these top-paying roles require you to master strategic HR management and be skilled in using Artificial Intelligence-backed strategies and methods to align with industry needs.

So, how can you become an industry-ready HR professional? You can pursue upskilling courses and certifications that can help you learn the latest skills. At upGrad, we have multiple HR courses for you, where you learn through real-world projects and at your own schedule.

Here’s a list of the courses provided by upGrad that will help you in your journey:

• Introduction to HR Analytics
• Introduction to HR Management and Strategy
• MBA from O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU)
• Business Communication Masterclass

Not sure where to start? Book a free 1:1 counseling call with our experts or visit upGrad’s offline centers to explore more learning opportunities.

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