Senior Director, People Services + Reward Digital & Tech in London

This job is with GSK, an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community.

At GSK, we unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We are a global biopharma company with a special purpose - to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We're proud to be leading a healthcare revolution, and we're looking for people who can help us deliver on our ambition.

The Senior Director, People Services + Reward Digital & Tech is accountable for the technology strategy, operational continuity, and transformation roadmap supporting People Services, Reward, Global Mobility, Restructuring, Workday, and associated HR platforms across Global HR. The role ensures the reliable, secure, and compliant delivery of critical people services while leading the evolution of the HR technology landscape to enable GSK's people and business ambitions.

Partnering closely with HR and other Tech functions, the role translates the HR strategy into a technology vision that amplifies the human experience, simplifies how we work, and enables better prediction and decision-making through data, AI, automation, and agentic capabilities. The role is accountable for ensuring that technology investments improve employee and manager experiences, reduce process complexity, increase operational efficiency, and create actionable workforce insights.

As the senior leader for the People Services and Reward technology domain, the role owns the end-to-end portfolio of HR products, platforms, and services, balancing operational excellence with transformation. This includes accountability for the continuity and resilience of HR operations, platform reliability and performance, cybersecurity and data protection, regulatory compliance, vendor strategy, financial stewardship, and risk management.

The role leads Product Managers, Product Owners, and delivery teams to define product strategy, prioritise investments, and deliver measurable business outcomes. A key responsibility is driving the next generation of HR digital capabilities, leveraging AI, automation, agentic technologies, and intelligent workflows to simplify processes, automate work, and enhance workforce decision-making at scale. Through strong product leadership and governance, the role ensures the HR technology ecosystem remains secure, scalable, resilient, and capable of continuously evolving to meet future business needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Ensure Continuity, Reliability and Security of Global HR Services: Own the end-to-end technology ecosystem supporting People Services, Reward, Global Mobility, Restructuring, Workday, and related HR platforms, ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of critical people services across Global HR. Accountable for platform reliability, service performance, operational resilience, cybersecurity, data privacy, regulatory compliance, and people-data governance, including security-by-design, GDPR compliance, identity management, access controls, audit readiness, and risk management. Establish and monitor domain OKRs and service measures, providing regular insight on platform health, stability, adoption, data quality, compliance, employee experience, and business outcomes.
• Lead the Technology Transformation of People Services and Reward: Define and govern the People Services & Reward technology vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap, ensuring alignment with HR ambitions across Talent, Reward, People Services, Learning, Workforce Planning, and Global HR Operations. Lead the modernisation of HR technology, processes, and employee experiences to amplify the human experience, simplify how work gets done, and enable better prediction and decision-making. Drive adoption of AI, automation, agentic capabilities, intelligent workflows, and digital platforms to remove complexity, automate manual effort, improve service experiences, and increase organisational productivity at scale. Oversee delivery of strategic HR transformation initiatives and ensure seamless integration across products and platforms to support end-to-end employee and manager journeys.
• Deliver Value Through Product Leadership and Operational Excellence: Apply product management disciplines across the People Services & Reward technology portfolio, managing products through their full lifecycle from strategy and ideation through delivery, optimisation, and retirement. Lead prioritisation, investment planning, and business case development using employee experience, simplification, compliance, workforce insight, automation, and business value as key decision criteria. Direct and develop Product Managers, Product Owners, and delivery teams to translate business needs into secure, scalable, compliant, and user-centred technology solutions aligned to global HR standards. Drive continuous improvement through data-led decision making, process standardisation, workflow digitisation, and automation, improving operational efficiency and HR capability maturity.
• Govern Investment, Risk and Strategic Partnerships: Own the People Services & Reward technology budget, ensuring effective investment decisions, cost optimisation, licence management, FinOps discipline, and measurable value realisation. Define and execute vendor and sourcing strategies across the portfolio, managing strategic partnerships, contract performance, service levels, commercial value, and technology risk. Balance innovation and transformation with operational stability, ensuring all investments support business priorities, regulatory obligations, security requirements, and sustainable long-term value.
• Build Organisational Capability for the Future: Develop the capabilities required to support the future HR strategy, identifying gaps and building high-performing teams. Create an environment that encourages innovation, experimentation, continuous improvement, and the responsible adoption of emerging technologies. Partner with HR, AI Tech, and Learning teams to build a workforce capable of leveraging AI, automation, data, and digital tools to transform how HR delivers value. Lead your team in using approved AI tools to improve productivity and ways of working, role-modelling responsible use and follow GSK's Responsible AI, privacy and security requirements.

Why You! We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Information Technology, or Engineering), or equivalent experience.
• Industry certifications highly desirable (e.g., SAFe, Product Leadership, Workday Pro or equivalent HR technology certifications).
• Significant experience in HR technology leadership, product management, or functional HR systems roles, including accountability for platform strategy, budget ownership, and product outcomes.
• Proven ability to define and deliver multi-year HR Systems strategies and Workday-centric product roadmaps.
• Experience directing Product Managers and Product Owners and managing value-based prioritisation across multiple HR platforms (e.g., Workday, People Services, Reward).
• Demonstrated ability to develop business cases and lead budget decisions aligned to expected employee experience, compliance, operational efficiency, and people data value.
• Experience leading major HR transformation programmes, automation initiatives, or global process digitalisation.
• Track record of developing HR technology capability, coaching product teams, and building domain skills in areas such as Workday configuration, HR data, workflow automation, and reporting/insights.
• Experience overseeing vendor contributions across HR technology platforms, including Workday AMS suppliers, learning technology vendors, and integration partners.
• Experience leading teams internationally.

Other Job-Related Skills/Background:

• Ability to work in a very fast-paced and fluid environment.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and change.
• Strong commercial awareness and financial acumen, including understanding of HR system licensing, payroll cost models, and integration run costs.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder influence skills, able to translate complex HR technology constraints into business-friendly language.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to balance immediate operational needs with long-term HR systems direction and platform sustainability.
• Ability to challenge prioritisation decisions to maximise functional and enterprise value.
• Understanding of emerging HR technology, Workday roadmap developments, employee experience trends, automation opportunities, and modern delivery practices.
• Excellent team building and team leading capabilities.

Closing Date: 31st October 2026

This role is a hybrid role, with a min of 2/3 days a week onsite at our central London HQ.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases - to impact health at scale. People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we're committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.