Project Manager - HR Vendor Onboarding

Work Location : London, United Kingdom
Hours: 35
Line of Business: Human Resources
Pay Details: We're committed to providing fair and equitable compensation to all our colleagues. As a candidate, we encourage you to have an open dialogue with a member of our HR Team and ask compensation related questions, including pay details for this role.

Job Description: The primary purpose of this role is to lead and execute the end-to-end onboarding of HR vendors required for Project Armstrong (India expansion), ensuring all priority engagements are ready to support the 1 April 2027 operational readiness date. The Manager will own the integrated HR vendor onboarding plan, drive each engagement through the required sourcing, due diligence, control, privacy, technology, contracting and approval stages, and coordinate HR workstream owners, vendors and enterprise process partners to deliver against the critical path. As a secondary responsibility, the Manager will use the practical experience gained through Project Armstrong to work with Procurement, Legal, Privacy, Technology, Information Security, Third-Party Risk and other process owners to help ensure that third-party processes are clear, proportionate and appropriate for HR engagements across EMEA and APAC, without weakening risk, control or compliance requirements.

Key responsibilities

• - Own and drive the integrated HR vendor onboarding plan for Project Armstrong, with clear prioritisation of every engagement required for operational readiness by 1 April 2027.
• - Take each vendor from intake through onboarding completion, coordinating with the stakeholders including, sourcing, due diligence, risk and controls, privacy and technology, contracting, legal and HR Leads,
• - Establish and actively manage the critical path for each vendor, including accountable owners, deliverables, decision dates, dependencies and completion criteria.
• - Identify delivery risks early and maintain clear contingency, remediation and escalation plans for engagements at risk of missing Project Armstrong milestones.
• - Establish and maintain the inventory of HR vendors and engagements identified through Phase 2, confirming scope, priority, ownership and required onboarding route.
• - Complete early intake and dependency assessment so that vendor selection and onboarding begin at the appropriate point in the project lifecycle.
• - Sequence Phase 2 onboarding activity against delivery milestones, process capacity, technology dependencies and other Project Armstrong commitments.
• - Translate requirements into practical workplans and submission packs for HR workstream owners and vendors, reducing avoidable delay and rework.
• - Provide transparent reporting on Phase 2 pipeline status, upcoming decisions, constraints, risks and required interventions.
• - Act as the HR lead and central point of coordination for Project Armstrong vendor onboarding, bringing together HR workstream owners, vendors, Procurement/Sourcing, Legal, Privacy, Technology, Information Security, Finance and Third-Party Risk.
• - Represent CoEs with stakeholders, explaining the requirements to secure timely and complete responses, and coordinate resolution of due diligence, commercial, contractual and implementation issues.
• - Facilitate focused working sessions to resolve unclear requirements, ownership gaps and competing interpretations, documenting decisions and agreed actions.
• - Escalate blockers, overdue decisions and material risks promptly, with clear impacts, options and recommended actions for senior stakeholders.
• - Maintain momentum across multiple concurrent engagements while ensuring Project Armstrong delivery decisions remain appropriately governed and evidenced.
• - Use Project Armstrong delivery experience to identify where enterprise third-party processes, guidance or hand-offs create ambiguity, duplication or avoidable delay for HR engagements in EMEA and APAC.
• - Work with process owners to clarify requirements and help shape proportionate, appropriate routes that reflect the service, data, risk, delivery model and geography involved.
• - Bring an informed HR perspective to process discussions, including the nuances of benefits and insurance, payroll, recruitment, learning, employee relations, wellbeing, HR technology and professional advisory services.
• - Develop practical playbooks, checklists, templates and minimum evidence standards that improve consistency and execution while preserving required controls and approvals.
• - Capture lessons learned from Project Armstrong and Phase 2 and convert them into targeted improvements for future regional HR vendor engagements.

Experience and Qualifications

• - Significant experience leading complex vendor onboarding, third-party engagement or procurement delivery in a regulated, matrixed enviro