Vice President, People Operations

Job Description

Location:
New York, NY

The Role

The Vice President, People Operations, is a senior member of the company's People Leadership Team and is accountable for workforce planning, human resources strategy and prioritization, and HCM technology optimization, AI transformation in HR practices and planning. The role translates People strategy into scalable global services, processes, technology, and data capabilities that enable an effective employee and manager experience. This leader will oversee a portfolio that may include global People service delivery, HR technology, People data and analytics, process governance, vendor management, and selected operational programs, payroll, and support workforce AI initiatives. Working in a highly matrixed, multi-market environment, the Vice President will evolve common standards while ensuring that regional and local requirements are appropriately addressed. The successful candidate will be both strategic and hands-on: capable of shaping a multi-year operating roadmap, influencing senior stakeholders, and leading complex change, while also ensuring disciplined execution, service quality, controls, and continuous improvement.

ROLE MANDATE

• Evolve and lead a modern, globally connected People Operations function that delivers consistent, efficient, and employee-centered services.
• Create a clear global operating model, service catalogue, governance framework, and performance standards for People Operations.
• Advance the People technology and digital employee-experience roadmap, maximizing the value of Workday, AI and the broader HR technology ecosystem.
• Build on the established People data, reporting, and analytics capabilities that support workforce decisions, organizational effectiveness, and regulatory requirements.
• Simplify and standardize processes, strengthen controls, and reduce operational friction while preserving necessary local-market flexibility.
• Lead the global payroll modernization initiative across 12 markets
• Lead through influence across People, Finance, Legal, Technology, Procurement, and market leadership to deliver integrated enterprise solutions.

Key Relationships

• Reports to: Chief People Officer (CPO)
• Leadership peers: Global People Leadership Team, including People Business Partners, Talent, Total Rewards, Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Relations, and Labor leaders
• Enterprise partners: Finance, Legal, Product and Technology, Information Security, Procurement, Internal Audit and Communications
• Business stakeholders: Global function leaders, market presidents/general managers, editors, and commercial leaders
• External partners: HR technology, payroll, service-delivery, consulting, and data vendors

Responsibilities
People Operations strategy and operating model

• Build upon and execute a multi-year global People Operations strategy aligned with business priorities and the broader People agenda.
• Clarify global, regional and local accountabilities; establish service ownership, decision rights, escalation paths and governance forums.
• Develop a transparent service catalogue, operating metrics and capacity model for the function.
• Build, coach and develop a geographically dispersed team with strong functional expertise, accountability and customer orientation.

Employee and manager service delivery

• Lead the evolution of People service delivery, including tiered support, case management, knowledge management and employee/manager self-service.
• Improve service quality, responsiveness and consistency through clear standards, service-level expectations and root-cause problem solving.
• Identify work that can be standardized, automated through AI, centralized or transitioned from People Business Partners so they can focus on higher-value advisory work.
• Ensure service design reflects employee needs, accessibility, inclusion and the realities of a global workforce.

HR technology and digital experience

• Own the strategic roadmap for Workday and the broader People technology portfolio, ensuring platforms are secure, integrated, scalable, and fit for purpose.
• Prioritize enhancements and investments based on business value, user experience, regulatory requirements, risk, and total cost of ownership.
• Partner with Technology and Information Security on architecture, integrations, access controls, data privacy, release management, and business continuity.
• Lead responsible adoption of automation and AI-enabled capabilities within People processes, with appropriate governance and human oversight.

People data, analytics and governance

• Build on the People data quality, definitions, ownership, security, and retention across systems and markets workflows
• Deliver accurate, timely workforce reporting and actionable analytics for senior leaders, People partners and functional teams.
• Create dashboards and insights that support workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, talent outcomes, cost management and employee experience.
• Ensure compliance with applicable data-protection, records-management, and employee-information requirements.

Process excellence, controls and risk

• Lead end-to-end process design and continuous improvement across priority People processes, eliminating unnecessary complexity and handoffs.
• Document and maintain global process standards, controls, and operating procedures; ensure readiness for audit and regulatory review.
• Partner with Payroll, Finance, Legal, and market teams to manage operational risk and ensure reliable, compliant execution.
• Use service data, employee feedback, and external benchmarks to identify improvement opportunities and measure impact.

Program, vendor, and change leadership

• Sponsor and govern major global People transformation initiatives, ensuring disciplined scope, milestones, resourcing, risk management, and benefits realization.
• Manage strategic vendors and contracts in partnership with Procurement, including performance, service levels, innovation, security, cost, and relationship governance.
• Build stakeholder commitment through clear communications, practical change plans, training, and sustained adoption support.
• Present recommendations, trade-offs, and progress to senior leadership with clarity, candor, and strong business judgment.

Success Measures

• Improved employee and manager satisfaction with People services, data, insights, and digital tools.
• Consistent service performance against defined quality, timeliness, and resolution standards.
• Higher adoption of self-service, automation, and standardized global processes.
• Improved People data accuracy, reporting confidence and decision usefulness.
• Measurable productivity, cost, risk-reduction and control improvements.
• Successful delivery and adoption of priority transformation initiatives.
• A strong, engaged and increasingly capable global People Operations team.

Candidate Profile
Ideal experience

• Approximately 12-15+ years of progressive human resources experience, including significant leadership of People/HR operations in a large, global and matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated success leading shared services or employee service delivery, HR technology, HR process transformation and operational governance at scale.
• Strong Workday expertise and experience shaping an integrated HR technology roadmap; familiarity with case management, knowledge platforms, analytics and automation tools is highly desirable.
• Experience with People data governance, workforce reporting and analytics, including translating data into business insight and action.
• Experience using AI tools and solutions with proficiency, preference for Gemini and ChatGPT modeling and use.
• Proven record of simplifying and standardizing global processes while navigating local legal, cultural and operational requirements.
• Experience leading complex global programs, vendor partnerships and geographically dispersed teams.
• Broad understanding of the People function and how People Operations enables People Business Partners, Talent, Total Rewards, Employee Relations and other specialist teams.
• Experience in media, technology, digital, consumer, creative or another fast-changing global industry is helpful but not required.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience required; and relevant professional certification is a plus.

Leadership Capabilities

• Enterprise and business orientation: Connects People Operations priorities to business strategy, workforce needs, risk, and value creation. Makes pragmatic choices and understands the operational and financial implications of decisions.
• Operational excellence: Creates clarity, discipline, and repeatability. Establishes standards, controls, and measures while continuously improving how work gets done.
• Technology and data fluency: Uses technology, automation, data, and analytics to improve experience and outcomes. Can engage credibly with technical experts without losing sight of users and business value.
• Change leadership: Sets a compelling direction, challenges legacy practices constructively, and translates strategy into practical adoption. Communicates what is changing, why it matters, and how success will be measured.
• Collaboration and influence: Builds trust across functions, geographies, and levels. Balances global consistency with local realities and can align stakeholders with different priorities.
• Judgment and integrity: Handles sensitive information responsibly, anticipates risk, and acts as an honest broker. Brings transparency, sound judgment, and appropriate challenge.
• Talent leadership: Builds diverse, high-performing teams; sets clear expectations; develops capability; and creates an inclusive environment with strong accountability.
• Learning agility and resilience: Thrives amid ambiguity and pace, rapidly absorbs new information, and remains constructive and focused through complexity and change.

Personal characteristics

• Low ego and highly collaborative
• Customer- and employee-centered
• Bias for action with strong follow-through
• Curious, practical, and solutions-oriented
• Clear, concise, and credible communicator
• Comfortable moving between strategy and detail
• Diplomatic, resilient, and calm under pressure

The expected base salary range for this position is from $250,000 - $300,000. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including but not limited to relevant skills, training, experience, and education.

What happens next?

If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply below, and we will review your application as soon as possible. You can update your resume or upload a cover letter at any time by accessing your candidate profile.