Director, AI HR Reimagined in Manchester

At EY, we’re all in to shape your future with confidence. We’ll help you succeed in a globally connected powerhouse of diverse teams and take your career wherever you want it to go. Join EY and help to build a better working world.

What are we looking for? We want creative and ambitious individuals who share our values of sustainability and making a difference to join EY People Consulting as part of the HR Transformation team. EY People Consulting partners with organisations to put humans at the centre of their transformation agenda, enabling them to build a better working world.

Our clients need to become more adaptable to change, facing new workforce challenges driven by globalisation, hybrid working, changing demographics, emerging technology, innovation and regulatory demands. The People agenda is at the heart of successful change and HR will play a key role in shaping organisations to be fit for the future.

HR Transformation opportunity: We focus on partnering with clients to shape and navigate their people agendas, building functions that are business‑focused, cost‑effective, and agile by reimagining how HR can meet the needs of the business. Central to this is the use of AI to go beyond traditional HR operations, simplifying the tech landscape, unlocking insight through data, and delivering more personalised, human‑centred experiences. We integrate Global Business Services (GBS) models and people technology, with AI acting as a strategic enabler for HR organisations wanting to transform and evolve.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead development of a new AI.HR Point of View that is relevant, scalable, and drives opportunities with our clients.
• Bring leading insights from the external market and thought‑provoking ideas to our clients as the world of work changes.
• Reimagine HR operating and service delivery models, embedding GBS, automation, and AI.
• Shape AI and people technology strategies, simplifying landscapes and enabling human‑centred experiences.
• Drive HR GBS transformation – from strategy and design to implementation – optimising efficiency, scalability, and impact.
• Guide clients to become AI‑ready across data, process, governance, and people skills.
• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, influencing C‑suite agendas.

Being successful as a Director: We are looking for dynamic individuals who can demonstrate real impact within businesses to help transform some of the world’s most respected private and public sector organisations. You will build on your existing experience across multiple components of HR or employee experience – including HR Operating and Service Delivery Model, Future of HR, HR Capabilities development, and HR Strategy.

Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate:

• Experience in leading and shaping an AI.HR Point of View and articulating trends, forces and strategies for HR functions credibly.
• Ability to bring provocation and thinking on the future role of HR in the AI Workforce, translating this into new HR operating models and challenging conversations with clients.
• Proven experience in business development and sales, meeting/exceeding financial performance targets; leading delivery of £1m+ HR transformations – developing solutions, responses, and commercials.
• Ability to build a pipeline and hold an active book of business.
• Commercial awareness – knowledge of consulting commercials, sales cycles, key metrics, and pricing levers.
• Ability to lead both sales and delivery concurrently across multiple clients/accounts.
• Thinking beyond HR, building connections with other areas of People, Business and Technology Consulting to identify sales opportunities.
• Experience in developing multi‑year, million‑pound business cases and investment roadmaps for new HR capabilities and technology.
• Depth of sector‑relevant experience – knowledge of sector trends and HR strategy implications.
• Experience leading multiple HR Transformation workstreams, embedding AI.
• Depth of experience in 1–2 specific HR capability areas (e.g., future GBS, future of Partnering) as a subject‑matter resource.
• Leadership of teams to deliver complex, inter‑dependent deliverables (C‑suite presentations, workshop documentation, process localisation).
• Experience of leading HR and HR Service Delivery Transformation – focusing on changing the way HR and GBS functions operate and innovate their capabilities.
• Articulation of the impact of AI on the HR operating model and service delivery, applying a structured methodology to assess feasibility, business value and ROI.
• Designing and delivering people technology strategies, particularly involving AI and automation, articulating the new HR technology stack.
• Working with cross‑functional teams (HR, IT, data, legal & compliance) to develop future‑ready architectures and data models.
• Strong client relationship management, stakeholder engagement and team leadership.

You will:

• Be innovative in AI.HR operating model redesign – bringing new approaches and ideas.
• Be passionate about using technology to create more human, inclusive experiences.
• Be a people leader, with experience leading others and supporting junior team members through client delivery.
• Be platform‑agnostic but have functional knowledge of leading platforms such as SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, ServiceNow, Moveworks, Eightfold.
• Be a strong communicator who can influence senior stakeholders.
• Be curious, innovative and driven by a desire to help our clients achieve their goals.
• Be professional, quickly establishing personal credibility and demonstrating expertise.
• Be commercially savvy – understanding client buying patterns, preferences and shaping commercial offerings.
• Take a practical approach to solving issues and gaining client agreement.
• Be able to analyse complex problems and deliver insightful, practical and sustainable solutions.

Benefits: Our comprehensive Total Rewards package includes assistance for flexible working and career development, and with FlexEY you can select benefits that suit your needs, covering holidays, health and well‑being, insurance, savings and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions.