Associate Director - HR Technology Operations

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Merck · India

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About the role

Right now, over 70,000 of our employees are working to cure the world's most complex diseases. We know that our people are the key to our success, which is why our Human Resources team works to attract, develop, retain and inspire our people so that they can learn, grow and make a true impact on the world. Together we collaborate to create a culturally rich, diverse organization ensuring we remain innovative, agile and flexible. Based in Hyderabad , this role sits within HR Operations , operating at the intersection of HR, technology, and digital enablement. As part of our growing Regional Capability Center , you will help build and scale the HR technology capabilities that support our global workforce-spanning platforms, data, automation, and emerging AI‑enabled solutions. Here, your work directly supports a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines, and animal health products-while helping shape the future of how HR delivers value through data, automation, and intelligent systems. Your ideas matter, your expertise drives impact, and your contributions help multiply organisation's ability to deliver for patients, colleagues, and communities worldwide. Role Summary We are seeking an HR Technology Operations & Delivery Leader to lead our India-based HR Technology Hub, accountable for the end-to-end demand intake, prioritization, delivery governance, and operational excellence of global HR technology solutions. This role blends hands-on Workday and HR systems expertise with strong managerial, demand management, and execution leadership . This role will serve as a primary point of coordination and execution between HR business stakeholders, HR Solutions & Strategy leadership, and delivery teams-ensuring demand prioritization, disciplined execution, regulatory compliance, and scalable operations across the HR technology landscape. This leader will be responsible not only for what gets delivered (prioritization and demand governance), but how it gets delivered (intake rigor, backlog health, testing, release, and post-deployment stabilization).

Responsibilities

HR Technology Regional Capability Center Leadership & Operations

Provide day-to-day leadership for the India RCC, overseeing operations, delivery, prioritization, and testing across Workday and related HR platforms.

Lead a centralized team responsible for HR technology configuration, testing, release management, integrations, and Tier 3 support.

Define and maintain operating models, service levels, SLAs, KPIs, and capacity plans to ensure predictable delivery and operational excellence.

Establish clear role definitions, escalation paths, and accountability across the hub.

Serve as the primary point of contact for HR OPS at the Hub site. Serve as the HR OPS escalation point for Hub-related challenges and support issue resolution within the team.

Lead, coach, and develop a team of direct and indirect, as well as dotted line relationships, across Workday functional domains and HR technology operations.

Establish performance expectations, career paths, succession plans, and continuous learning opportunities.

Build demand management, delivery governance, and execution excellence capabilities within the team.

Promote knowledge transfer, documentation discipline, and operational resiliency, including hybrid work environment supporting compliance and culture.

Stakeholder Communication: Act as a primary point of contact for HR OPS for internal and external stakeholders to facilitate effective communication and collaboration.

Leads overall site administration by representing HR Ops in site-based activities and ensuring coordination across key support functions, including Facilities, IT, EHS, and Legal. Ensure adequate resource planning, office logistics, and local onboarding of new employees.

Drives culture, communication, diversity & inclusion, talent development, and employee engagement initiatives to foster a strong, values-driven workplace in alignment with co-locating functions

Implement training programs to ensure that team members are informed of current standards and best practices. Also, identify training needs across the Hub and support implementation.

This is a People Manager role with close to 20 reports (direct & indirect reports.)

Demand Intake, Prioritization & Governance

Design and build a HR Technology / Workday configuration, testing, tier 3 case management, audit, data loads, and automation maintenance hub that will support the global HR function.

Act as the primary point of coordination for HR technology demands, ensuring requests are well-defined, complete, and aligned to business priorities.

Design and run a structured demand intake and triage process, balancing regulatory, operational, and strategic work.

Facilitate prioritization decisions with HR Solutions & Strategy leaders, business process owners, and IT partners.

Maintain transparency and health of the HR technol

Associate Director - HR Technology Operations

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