Human Resources Program Manager

HR Program Manager

6 months contract

Remote

Purpose

Provide an overview of the Program Manager role on the Talent team, clarify expectations around change management, project management, and testing, and align on hiring process, timelines, and logistics.

Role and org context

Manager introduced herself as a Program Manager on the Talent/HR team, responsible for large, complex, cross‑functional initiatives across Talent, Tech, Finance, and Workplace Services.

• The new hire will support a major initiative: migrating Workday HR systems from Workday’s private cloud infrastructure to AWS public cloud, in a tech‑driven, fast‑paced environment with a “people over process” culture.
• Workday → AWS migration overview
• Workday is moving all customers from its private data centers to AWS; Workday performs the technical migration, but the company is responsible for testing, integrations, and change management.
• The migration will impact the entire global population: all employees, contingent workers, subsidiaries, vendors, and any user or system that accesses Workday (e.g., browser bookmarks, saved URLs like myworkday.com, apps, integrations).
• After the April 18 hard cutover date, existing URLs, bookmarks, and integrations pointing to Workday will no longer work and must be updated; up to 24 hours of Workday downtime is expected during the cutover weekend.

Key responsibilities of the new Program Manager

A. Change management (top priority)

• Own and lead the overall change strategy for the migration across the global organization.
• Identify key personas and audiences, understand how and when they are impacted, and design the communication and rollout plan (timing, channels, and messaging).
• Ensure company‑wide awareness of URL changes, downtime, and required user actions; make sure managers, employees, and vendors are prepared for cutover and any constraints around events needing Workday access.

B. Project/program management

• Track timelines, scope, deliverables, and cross‑functional workstreams across Talent, Tech, Finance, Workplace Services, and other partners.
• Coordinate alignment among workstream owners, run recurring syncs, and ensure teams understand their responsibilities and are working together effectively.
• Focus on progress tracking rather than heavy process: scope and timelines are largely known, but there is still some ambiguity and a need for strong ownership and follow‑through.

C. Testing and UAT responsibilities

• Partner with the Technical PM and Tech team (who own technical, automated, and manual testing) while the Talent team owns functional, end‑to‑end testing.
• Define and drive end‑to‑end test scenarios across the entire employee lifecycle (recruit → hire → in‑role processes → retire → alumni).
• Work with Talent stakeholders to:
• Write test scripts that reflect real end‑to‑end scenarios.
• Assign appropriate testers across Talent teams (recruiting, talent management, talent operations, etc.).
• Track test execution and progress.
• Collaborate with Tech to identify risk areas (custom code, higher‑risk integrations, areas without automated testing) and ensure adequate coverage.
• Bring curiosity and critical thinking to validate the testing strategy, ask whether “we are doing the right things at the right time,” and probe for gaps.

D. External engagement / lessons learned

• Ideally, proactively connect with Workday reference clients who have already completed the migration to AWS.
• Lead or participate in conversations to understand how other companies approached change management, what challenges they faced, and what they would do differently, then incorporate those lessons into this program.

E. Stakeholder management and collaboration

• Manage highly cross‑functional relationships, bringing together various teams (HR/Talent functions, Tech, Finance, Workplace Services, vendors) and ensuring they understand their roles in the migration and change plan.
• Operate in a tech‑led program structure: a Technical Program Manager runs the overall migration, with major workstreams under them (HR/Talent, Finance, etc.), and this role sits as a dotted‑line lead for the Talent workstream, coordinating sub‑teams such as Recruiting, Talent Management, and Talent Operations.

Candidate profile and required skills

Core requirements

• Strong change leadership skills; ideally 2–3 major company‑wide change initiatives, not just small localized changes. 5 years of experience total.
• Solid program/project management experience (tracking, coordination, risk awareness) in complex environments.
• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written), including the ability to craft clear, concise change communications.
• High accountability, self‑motivation, adaptability, collaboration, and problem‑solving skills.

Domain preferences

HR/Workday background is strongly preferred; understanding HR processes and Workday improves effectiveness in this role.

• Experience with Workday→AWS migration is a strong plus, but other large‑scale system migration experience is also valuable.
• Familiarity with UAT/testing fundamentals is needed; deep technical expertise is not required because there is a dedicated Technical PM.
• Tools, work model, and culture
• Tools: primarily Google Suite (Sheets for project tracking, Docs for documentation and information sharing, Meet for remote meetings) and Workday.
• Work model: fully remote role; most stakeholders are also remote, so working with distributed teams is normal.
• Time zone: open to various time zones, but Pacific Time hours are preferred for effectiveness given most stakeholders are on PT.
• Culture: very fast‑paced, low formal process, high ownership, and “people over process”; the person must be comfortable with limited structure, receptive to feedback, humble, and able to navigate ambiguity.