BAT appoints Bambang Hartanto as Head of HR for Indonesia

British American Tobacco (BAT) has appointed Bambang Hartanto as Head of HR for Indonesia, giving the HR leader responsibility for the company’s people agenda across commercial, corporate and operations in one of its key markets.

Hartanto announced the appointment on LinkedIn, describing it as a new chapter after more than a decade with BAT. His career with the company has spanned Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan, alongside earlier experience at Mercer.

In his new role, Hartanto will oversee talent, culture, inclusion and industrial relations, with responsibility for 16 HR team members across Jakarta and Malang. His remit also includes union relations, collective labour agreement negotiations and engagement with Indonesia’s labour authorities.

The appointment comes as BAT Indonesia continues to expand into new categories and export manufacturing. Hartanto said his immediate focus will include resetting the HR operating model following organisational restructuring while supporting the business as it scales.

Hartanto brings extensive experience in organisational transformation and restructuring. During his previous role as Area Commercial HR Partner for Southeast Asia and Oceania, he led a talent strategy that supported an approximately 30% headcount reduction while keeping redundancies below 5%.

Earlier, as Head of HR for BAT’s South Asia Area in Pakistan, he helped build the HR function from the ground up as the business expanded from 150 to 450 employees within 12 months. The organisation recorded a 90% employee engagement rate at the end of its first year.

His previous roles in Malaysia and Indonesia also included managing large-scale transformations, talent strategies, rewards redesign and HR technology implementation. 

At BAT’s Malaysia shared services hub, he supported an organisation of more than 800 employees and helped deliver efficiency gains over three consecutive years without redundancies.

Hartanto has positioned his approach to HR around the idea that people strategy and business strategy are closely connected. In his LinkedIn profile, he argues that HR should operate as a business capability rather than simply a support function.

He has also highlighted the growing intersection between organisational transformation, AI-era workforce redesign and strategic HR, areas likely to shape his agenda as BAT Indonesia navigates changes in its business and workforce.