People Technology Foundation Senior Product Specialist

Job Description 

• We are creating a new Group People Technology function to provide clear ownership, expertise and direction across the technology that supports our global People services. 
• The People Technology Foundation Senior Product Specialist will work closely with business stakeholders to understand their problems, requirements and desired outcomes, translating these into practical, scalable and supportable digital solutions across the People Foundation portfolio. 
• Reporting to the People Technology Foundation Product Manager, you will work alongside another Senior Product Specialist and collaborate with Project Managers, People teams, business regions, IT, architecture, data, integration teams and external delivery partners. 
• You will bring strong knowledge of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and related Foundation capabilities. The portfolio currently includes Employee Central, employee and workforce data, Position Management, Organisation Management, employee lifecycle processes and OpenText, with future scope expected to include Time Off, Absence Management and related Foundation services. 
• This is a hands-on product delivery role. You will lead discovery and requirements workshops, challenge solution-led requests, shape functional designs, complete authorised configuration, coordinate testing and releases, investigate defects and deliver product improvements. You will ensure that stakeholders remain focused on the business problem and required outcomes, while People Technology brings the product expertise needed to determine the most effective solution. 
• You will also create and maintain the detailed configuration, design, testing, release and operational documentation needed to support effective governance, auditability, continuity and future change. Through direct delivery, partner challenge, knowledge transfer and continuous learning, you will help strengthen internal capability and reduce unnecessary reliance on external partners. 
• Although primarily aligned to People Foundation, you will also support other People Technology capability domains when concentrated demand, delivery priorities, holiday cover, business continuity or development opportunities require additional capacity. 

Key responsibilities 

• Work directly with global, regional and functional stakeholders to understand business problems, requirements, user needs and desired outcomes, ensuring discussions remain focused on the need rather than a predetermined technology solution. 
• Lead discovery, requirements and solution-shaping workshops, constructively challenging assumptions and translating business requirements into clear options, recommendations, functional designs and acceptance criteria. 
• Act as a senior subject-matter specialist for SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and assigned Foundation capabilities, bringing relevant platform knowledge, leading practices and product insight into business and delivery decisions. 
• Deliver authorised configuration, product administration, enhancements and optimisation activity directly within agreed access, security, control and segregation-of-duties requirements. 
• Take ownership of assigned product changes from discovery through functional design, configuration, testing, release and early-life support, progressing work through established change and release controls with accurate status, traceability, decisions and evidence. 
• Work with the Foundation Product Manager and Project Managers on larger initiatives, providing product expertise, detailed requirements, scope, estimates, dependencies, risks, decisions and delivery information. 
• Analyse People processes, workforce data structures, business rules, roles, permissions, integrations and operational impacts to support effective end-to-end solution design. 
• Assess Foundation-related incidents, defects, service issues, enhancements and optimisation opportunities, investigating root causes and recommending appropriate resolution or improvement routes. 
• Assess SAP SuccessFactors release updates and product-roadmap changes, identifying relevant impacts, risks and opportunities and coordinating the testing, documentation, stakeholder readiness and adoption activity required. 
• Create and maintain configuration workbooks, configuration records, requirements, functional designs, process documentation, solution decisions, test evidence, release artefacts, operating procedures and product knowledge, ensuring documentation remains aligned to the live product and supports auditability, operational continuity, supportability and future change. 
• Define test scenarios and acceptance criteria, undertake or coordinate functional and regression testing, support user acceptance testing and ensure defects, decisions and test evidence are recorded appropriately. 
• Monitor product health, data quality, recurring defects, adoption and operational performance, identifying and delivering opportunities to simplify processes, improve configuration, reduce manual activity and increase business value. 
• Work confidently with support and implementation partners, leading or contributing to workshops, reviewing designs and deliverables, challenging recommendations and ensuring agreed documentation and knowledge transfer are completed. 
• Maintain and develop relevant SAP SuccessFactors expertise through product learning, release awareness, practical delivery and appropriate certification. 
• Share product knowledge, methods, documentation and lessons with colleagues, reducing single points of failure and increasing the resilience of the People Technology team. 
• Contribute to the Foundation People Technology Community, working with regional stakeholders, super users and champions to gather insight, support adoption and improve the effective use of Foundation capabilities. 
• Support other People Technology domains where demand and capacity require, providing flexible delivery capacity, holiday cover and broader development while maintaining accountability for assigned Foundation responsibilities. 

Candidate Specification:

• Essential 
•  
• Strong hands-on experience with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, including practical configuration, functional design, testing and delivery of controlled product changes. 
• Strong understanding of core HR processes, employee lifecycle activities, workforce data, organisational structures, Position Management and related People Foundation capabilities. 
• Experience leading discovery and requirements workshops, keeping stakeholders focused on business problems and desired outcomes rather than predetermined technology solutions. 
• Ability to translate business requirements into clear process designs, functional requirements, solution options, configuration decisions and acceptance criteria. 
• Experience coordinating product and vendor-release cycles, including impact assessment, regression testing, business readiness, deployment, operational handover and post-release review. 
• Experience assessing incidents, defects, enhancements and optimisation opportunities, including impact analysis, root-cause investigation and recommendation of appropriate solutions. 
• Experience producing and maintaining configuration workbooks, functional designs, process documentation, test evidence, release artefacts, operating procedures and product knowledge. 
• Confidence working with business stakeholders, Product Managers, Project Managers, technical specialists and third-party partners, including constructively challenging designs, configuration, testing outputs and documentation. 
• Ability to deliver authorised configuration and product improvements directly while observing security, access, change-control and segregation-of-duties requirements. 
• Commitment to maintaining deep product expertise, completing relevant learning or certification and sharing knowledge to reduce single-person and external-partner dependency. 
• Ability to support adjacent People Technology products or capability domains when demand, resilience, holiday cover or development priorities require. 

• Desirable 
• SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central certification. 
• Additional SAP SuccessFactors experience or certification in Position Management, Time Management, Platform Foundations, Employee Central Payroll or related capabilities. 
• Experience with OpenText or comparable enterprise employee document and records-management solutions. 
• Experience with Time Off, Absence Management, Workforce Administration, payroll processes or payroll integrations. 
• Experience working within a product-led operating model and delivering through internal, blended and partner-led teams. 
• Experience supporting SAP SuccessFactors release planning, regression testing and adoption of new platform capabilities. 
• Experience working with integrations, data structures, security roles, permissions, business rules and downstream system dependencies. 
• Experience supporting global People processes while considering regional requirements, regulatory obligations and operational differences. 
• Experience working with super-user groups, champion networks, communities of practice or a People Technology Community. 
• Experience using agile, iterative or structured change and release-management practices. 
• Experience contributing across more than one People Technology product, platform or functional domain. 

Qualifications & Certifications - Desirable 

Product and Platform 

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central certification 

SAP SuccessFactors Position Management certification 

SAP SuccessFactors Time Management certification 

SAP SuccessFactors Platform Foundations certification 

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll certification 

OpenText training or certification relevant to document and records management 

Business Analysis and Delivery 

Business-analysis qualification from BCS, IIBA or an equivalent body 

AgilePM 

Scrum certification 

SAFe certification or equivalent agile-delivery qualification 

Service and Change Management 

ITIL Foundation or higher certification 

Relevant change, release or testing qualification 

Relevant SAP SuccessFactors certification is desirable. Where certification is not currently held, the successful candidate will be expected to maintain and develop relevant SAP SuccessFactors expertise through product learning, release awareness, delivery experience and appropriate certification.