Associate Director, Product Owner - SAP HR S4, Strada and Mercans Payroll

Overview

Associate Director, Product Owner for SAP HR S4 Payroll, Strada and Mercans Payroll. Maximises value from the HR Product portfolio by translating business needs into a prioritised backlog and leading delivery across the HR product lifecycle.

What you'll do

• Serve as the functional and technical SME for SAP HR S4 Payroll, offering expert guidance on configuration, statutory compliance, and best practice.
• Partner with business stakeholders to understand functional needs, refine requirements, and define product outcomes that support business priorities, within guardrails set by the Senior Director, People Services & Reward, and VP HR Digital & Tech.
• Serve as the escalation point for HR Product teams and business users on functional product issues, guiding decisions within agreed financial, risk, and architectural guardrails set by the Director, Workday, Payroll & Time Product Manager and VP, HR Digital & Tech.
• Own and manage the Product backlog (e.g. Jira, ADO etc), ensuring requirements (e.g., epics, features, user stories) are well-defined and supported by minimum data inputs (e.g., cost drivers, user volumes, risk/sensitivity, process impact, dependencies).
• Make prioritisation decisions for the Product backlog based on value, cost, risk, business continuity, and resource capacity, escalating only where strategic trade-offs are required by the Senior Director, People Services & Reward, and VP HR Digital & Tech.
• Lead the Product team's delivery activities, guiding Engineers, Architects, and Testers to ensure solutions are fit-for-purpose, secure, compliant, supportable, and aligned to architectural standards.
• Drive operational readiness by applying a delivery readiness checklist covering support model requirements, training needs, continuity planning, configuration/runbook documentation, release notes, and user onboarding.
• Define and maintain the Product performance dashboard, tracking adoption, cycle time/throughput, stability/defects, UX signals (e.g., CSAT, SUS, completion rates), and support effort; use performance insights to drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure product changes follow required security controls, risk assessments, data handling policies, and regulated change processes, obtaining approvals from relevant SMEs where required.
• Support Solution Architects to assess design options and manage cross-Product dependencies, contract/interface impacts, and sequencing needs to support interoperability and consistent business outcomes.
• Contribute to the improvement of delivery practices within the Product, promoting agile (i.e. SaFe, Scrum etc), iterative, value-driven, and data-led ways of working, including meaningful measurement of benefits and operational impact.

What you'll need

• 15 to 19 years of experience working in product delivery, digital solutions, business systems, or process-led technology roles.
• In-depth knowledge of SAP payroll software, including configuration, workflows, and business rules, and hands-on configuration across Payroll, Payroll Interface, and related integrations.
• Knowledge of functional domains within Global Functions (e.g., HR) and familiarity with the technology platforms that enable them (e.g., SAP HCM/PY on S4 HANA) and legacy ECC.
• Knowledge of global or multi-country payroll platforms and managed payroll service providers.
• Strong understanding of payroll processes, local tax regulations, and compliance requirements, including government reporting and statutory payments.
• Understanding of product performance measures and KPIs, with the ability to drive improvements in product adoption, cycle time, stability, support effort, and overall user experience.
• Proven experience defining and prioritising functional requirements (e.g., epics, features, user stories) and managing a product backlog.
• Experience working directly with business stakeholders to translate needs into feasible, value-led technology changes.
• Demonstrated ability to make prioritisation decisions based on business value, process impact, risk, cost, and technology constraints.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Information Technology, or Engineering), or equivalent experience.

Nice to have

• SAP certification in SAP HCM or Payroll, preferably on S/4HANA.
• CSPO, PSPO or SAFe POPM (the SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager certification), ITIL 4 Foundation or similar IT service management certification.
• Familiarity with Strada and/or Mercans.
• Understanding of data protection for payroll data that crosses borders, such as GDPR.
• Awareness of how local statutory and regulatory changes drive technical changes in outsourced payroll services.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, able to explain technology constraints clearly and support stakeholders in making informed product decisions.
• Skilled in coaching and guiding Associate Product Owners and delivery team members to ensure requirements, documentation, and solutions meet business needs and compliance expectations.
• Able to interpret business processes, user feedback, and operational data to identify opportunities for process simplification, automation, and improved user experience.
• Comfortable working within structured governance, security, and data protection requirements, ensuring product changes remain controlled, supportable, and compliant.
• Strong analytical mindset, able to weigh value, risk, complexity, and cost to make prioritisation decisions and sequence backlog items appropriately.
• Ability to work in a very fast-paced and fluid environment.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and change.

Details

• Location: Bengaluru Luxor North Tower.
• Hybrid working under GSK's "Performance with Choice" approach, typically 2–3 days per week in the office, pattern agreed with manager.