Executive Director, HR Business Partnership & IT Solutions Lead

MSD•Rahway, NJ

6d•$231,900 - $365,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Executive Director, HR Business Partnership & Solutions Lead is the senior Enterprise IT (EIT) leader accountable for partnering with Human Resources leadership to shape and execute the enterprise HR digital, data, technology and AI strategy. The role integrates HR strategy, workforce priorities, employee experience, operating-model transformation, enterprise platforms, data, AI, products and delivery into a coordinated transformation agenda. A central mandate is leading AI-enabled HR transformation through responsible use of generative AI, agents, analytics, intelligent workflow and automation. The leader establishes the integrated portfolio, develops multi-year roadmaps and investment choices, and ensures adoption and measurable business value. HR business expertise and transformation leadership are primary, including the credibility to co-shape HR strategy and operating-model change and mobilize technology, data and AI to deliver outcomes. The role serves as a strategic partner to senior HR leaders, owns the integrated HR technology and solutions portfolio, governs priorities and investments, and leads the reimagination of HR processes and experiences. It oversees an ecosystem spanning HR services, talent, learning, recruiting, workforce insights, and employee and manager experiences, while ensuring trusted data and knowledge foundations and coordinating delivery across business, technology, risk, vendor and enterprise teams. The Executive Director is accountable for transparent portfolio governance, investment outcomes, risk management, adoption, value realization, and the reliability and operational performance of business-critical HR technology services. The role also leads and develops a multidisciplinary organization, builds product-, data- and AI-enabled HR capabilities, and fosters partnerships and a culture of empathy, responsible experimentation, disciplined delivery and accountability. The position is hybrid, with the primary location in Rahway, New Jersey.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Organizational Psychology, Industrial/Labor Relations, Information Systems or a related field.
15+ years of progressive experience spanning HR, HR transformation, employee experience, HR operations, digital transformation, technology or product leadership, including significant leadership in a complex global organization.
Deep understanding of HR operating models, employee and manager journeys, and multiple HR domains such as talent acquisition, learning, talent management, workforce planning, core HR, rewards or HR service delivery.
Demonstrated success advising senior HR executives, shaping strategy, leading transformation, and translating priorities into roadmaps, investment decisions, operating-model change and measurable outcomes.
Demonstrated experience leading AI-enabled transformation, process reimagination, intelligent automation, advanced analytics or responsible agentic capabilities.
Strong technology fluency across enterprise HR platforms, digital products, data, integrations, workflow, automation and AI-enabled capabilities.
Proven ability to lead through influence across global, cross-functional organizations and mobilize business, product, technology, data, risk and delivery teams around shared outcomes.
Strong business and investment acumen, executive communication, transformation leadership, organizational change, commercial judgment and strategic partner-management skills.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in HR, business, organizational development, technology or a related field.
Experience with Workday, ServiceNow HR, learning ecosystems, HR data and analytics, or comparable enterprise HR platforms.
Experience in pharmaceuticals, life sciences or another highly regulated global industry.
Experience scaling responsible AI, generative AI, intelligent automation or agentic solutions within HR or another enterprise function.

Responsibilities

Partner with senior HR leaders to shape HR strategy, transformation priorities, workforce capabilities, employee experience and the future HR operating model.
Establish an integrated multi-year HR digital, data, technology and AI strategy aligned with enterprise priorities.
Translate strategic priorities into sequenced roadmaps and process, experience, data, platform, product and AI investments, with clear business cases and outcomes.
Bring external insight on HR, workforce and technology trends to identify opportunities to reinvent work.
Own the integrated HR technology and solutions portfolio and establish accountability across business ownership, product leadership, platforms, data, delivery, adoption and value realization.
Set portfolio priorities, product investment recommendations, platform direction, delivery sequencing and lifecycle decisions.
Serve as the senior EIT escalation point for material HR technology decisions, cross-functional dependencies, investment trade-offs and delivery risks.
Drive reuse of enterprise platforms, data products, AI capabilities and common technology patterns, while determining where differentiated HR capabilities are justified.
Establish and govern an integrated HR AI transformation portfolio spanning employee and manager support, HR services, talent, recruiting, learning, workforce planning, insights, knowledge and HR operations.
Lead end-to-end reimagination of HR journeys and processes using generative AI, responsible agents, predictive analytics, intelligent workflow and automation.
Partner with HR leaders to redesign work, service models, decision points and human-machine interactions as AI changes HR services and expertise delivery.
Determine appropriate delivery approaches for AI capabilities, including enterprise platforms, embedded HR products, reusable enterprise capabilities, HR-specific solutions or strategic partners.
Reduce fragmented AI experimentation by establishing common priorities, reusable patterns, data requirements, governance and value measures.
Sponsor responsible agentic solutions with appropriate human accountability for consequential workforce, talent, employee and manager decisions.
Lead an integrated solutions ecosystem spanning HR services, talent, learning, recruiting, workforce insights, and employee and manager experiences; align DigitalU with broader HR strategy and the talent agenda.
Translate priorities into outcome-based product strategies, roadmaps, experience designs and adoption plans while enabling technical teams to determine implementation approaches.
Establish data, content, knowledge, access and governance foundations for trusted digital, analytics and AI-enabled experiences.
Orchestrate delivery across HR, product, engineering, data, architecture, cybersecurity, privacy, Legal, Compliance, vendors and enterprise platform teams.
Ensure solutions are intuitive, inclusive, accessible, globally scalable and responsive to applicable local requirements.
Establish transparent governance for prioritization, funding, capacity, delivery, risk, adoption and value realization.
Define outcome commitments for major investments, including experience, service quality, process performance, productivity, decision quality, adoption, control effectiveness and business value.
Evaluate investments against strategic alignment, adoption, delivery confidence, risk and realized value to inform future portfolio decisions.
Ensure HR products, platforms, data, AI capabilities and services meet privacy, security, compliance, architecture, resilience, accessibility and lifecycle expectations.
Be accountable for reliability, continuity and operational performance of business-critical HR technology services, with clear service expectations, incident leadership and operational-health measures.
Ensure the portfolio remains modern, supportable, scalable and economically sustainable.
Lead and develop a multidisciplinary organization spanning HR business partnership, product and solution leadership, digital capabilities and related technology disciplines.
Build capabilities for a product-, data- and AI-enabled HR organization, including process reimagination, experience, change and value realization.
Develop leaders and talent through coaching, succession planning, capability development, purposeful mobility and continuous learning.
Shape partnerships across HR Centers of Excellence, HR operations, DigitalU, EIT, enterprise data and AI, architecture, cybersecurity, privacy, Legal and Compliance, communications and change, enterprise platform teams, and strategic vendors.
Create a culture combining deep business understanding, empathy, disciplined delivery, responsible experimentation and accountability for outcomes.