Position Title:
Director, Product Evolution

Status of Employment:
Permanent

Position Language Requirement:
English, French

Language Skills:
English (Reading - C - Advanced), English (Speaking - C - Advanced), English (Writing - B - Intermediate), French (Reading - C - Advanced), French (Speaking - C - Advanced), French (Writing - B - Intermediate)

Reporting to the Executive Director, People Systems & Analytics, we are seeking a visionary and results-driven Director, Product Evolution (Workday) to lead the strategic advancement, configuration, and continuous improvement of our enterprise People & Culture technology ecosystem, including Workday and integrated third-party solutions.

In this role, you will champion the lifecycle of our Workday product features, ensuring they align with broader business objectives and deliver maximum value to the organization.

You will lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing, cross-functional team of Business Analysts and Product Owners. As the bridge between business strategy and technical execution, you will own the Workday product evolution roadmap, investment alignment, governance and drive the end-to-end project management of feature rollouts, system optimizations, and semi-annual Workday releases.

Location: This is a bilingual position (English/French) and can be based in either Ottawa or Toronto with flexible hybrid work options.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Roadmap Management

• Own the Evolution Roadmap: Define, manage, and execute the multi-year product evolution roadmap for the Workday platform and third party system integrations, balancing business-critical enhancements with technical debt and scalability.
• Feature Evolution: Direct the evaluation, testing, and deployment of new Workday features, modules, and functionalities (including Workday's semi-annual release cycles).
• Stakeholder Alignment: Provide enterprise leadership and guidance by collaborating with People & Culture colleagues, Finance, IT, and other business units to translate organizational pain points into scalable technical solutions.

Team Management & Capability Building

• Lead Cross-Functional Teams: Guide a dedicated team of Managers, Workday Business Analysts and Specialists, fostering a culture of agility, accountability, continuous learning and consultative service excellence.
• Resource Allocation: Manage team capacity and prioritize incoming business requests against strategic platform goals.
• Mentorship: Elevate the team's capabilities in business analysis, Workday configuration best practices, and agile delivery methodologies.

Platform Performance, Risk & Compliance

• Accountable for the stabilization, performance, reliability, and continuous improvement of enterprise People & Culture platforms.
• Ensures system controls, audit readiness, compliance, and risk mitigation across P&C technology environments.
• Establishes and monitors performance metrics to ensure operational effectiveness and value realization.

Delivery & Project Management

• End-to-End PM Execution: Take full accountability for the project management lifecycle of Workday evolution initiatives-from initial scoping and requirements gathering to testing, change management, and deployment, in collaboration with People & Culture Centres of Expertise and other business units.
• Governance & Compliance: Establish and maintain robust governance frameworks for Workday configurations, ensuring strict adherence to data privacy, security, and compliance standards.
• Vendor & Partner Management: Act as a point of contact for Workday account teams, implementation partners, and third-party vendors.

About You

Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Human Resources, Information Technology, or related field
• Workday Expertise: 7+ years of experience working closely with the Workday platform (Core HR, Benefits, Absence, Time Tracking, Payroll, Compensation, Talent), with a deep understanding of its architecture, business processes, and configuration capabilities.
• Leadership Experience: 10+ years of experience directly managing and developing cross-functional teams of Business Analysts, Product Managers, or Systems Consultants.
• Roadmap & Project Ownership: Proven track record of owning product roadmaps and successfully delivering complex, enterprise-level system implementations or evolution files.
• Agile/PM Methodologies: Strong proficiency in project management frameworks (Agile, Scrum, or Waterfall) and tools (e.g., Jira, Service Now, etc).
• Language: Fully bilingual in English and French (written and spoken) is required.

Technical & Leadership Competencies

• Strategic Problem Solving & Decision Making: Demonstrates the ability to navigate ambiguity and diagnose complex, systemic organizational challenges. Anticipates potential roadblocks, evaluates risks, and collaborates across functional boundaries to implement sustainable, data-driven solutions that align with long-term business goals.
• Strategic Thinker, Tactical Doer: Ability to conceptualize the big picture while remaining grounded enough to oversee complex configuration dependencies.
• Exceptional Communication: A knack for translating dense, technical Workday configurations into clear, value-driven business language for non-technical stakeholders.
• Change Champion: Resilience and adaptability in a fast-paced environment, with a passion for driving user adoption and continuous process improvement.
• Continuous Improvement: Knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies considered an asset. Strong knowledge of Human Resources processes and programs is considered an asset.

Candidates may be subject to skills and knowledge testing.

We thank all applicants for their interest, but only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Primary Location:
181 Queen Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 1K9

Number of Openings:
1

Work Schedule:
Full time