HR and Payroll Systems Modernization Portfolio Project Manager

Guidehouse•Arlington, DC

About The Position

Manage individual projects under the Strategic Project Management Office, including HR and Payroll modernization initiatives, data migration efforts, system integrations, and enterprise modernization projects. Draft and maintain integrated project plans, executive strategic roadmaps , risk management strategies, and cross-functional timelines, resource plans, and critical paths Provide regular program updates, risks, concerns, and executive-level insights to senior leadership Coordinate with application leads, functional owners, integrators, and technical teams to ensure dependencies, system impacts, and timelines are fully understood and managed. Facilitate recurring program meetings, workshops, and working sessions to drive alignment, decision-making, and issue resolution. Publish agendas, meeting minutes, action items, risks, and decisions for all PMO-led meetings. Maintain a comprehensive RAID log and a formal Risk Management Plan encompassing resource risks, technical risks, data migration risks, workaround strategies, and design impacts. Track more than 100+ system integrations (Payroll inbound/outbound, HR application changes, SAP, UAP, EEB, PIM, S/4HANA) across multiple modernization efforts. Manage stakeholder expectations and maintain an up-to-date stakeholder register across all active projects. Prepare communications, briefings, status reports, and executive‑ready presentation material. Support coordination across parallel modernization initiatives such as Retirement Modernization, SAP-to-Cloud Migration, SSoT data model changes, HR BI modernization, performance modernization, JBM decouple, ATS modernization, and related HR/Payroll transformation efforts.

Requirements

Minimum of six (6)+ years of relevant experience, examples include: program or project management supporting enterprise‑scale, multi‑year IT modernization or business transformation initiatives for payroll or HR system portfolios.
A Bachelor’s degree is required.
US Citizenship is required due to client project requirements.
A PMP- Project Management Professional certification is required.
Proven ability to manage large programs with multiple workstreams, high interdependencies, and executive visibility.
Strong command of industry-standard PM methodologies (PMP, Agile, hybrid approaches) and enterprise project management tools.
Demonstrated success in: Building and maintaining complex project schedules Managing cross-functional teams Leading executive-level briefings Facilitating working sessions and driving decision-making
Excellent organizational, documentation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
Ability to anticipate issues, conduct risk analysis, and build mitigation plans across technical, functional, and schedule dimensions.
Experience in IT PMO for a large payroll technology implementation or a large human capital management technology implementation.
Experience coordinating with multiple technical and business teams simultaneously (HR, Payroll, Financial Systems, Data Engineering, Integration Platforms, Cloud Operations).
Ability to work with highly complex legacy-to-cloud transition programs, particularly those involving parallel operations and large-scale data migration.

Nice To Haves

Agile Certification (such as PMI-ACP, Certified ScrumMaster, or equivalent) is preferred.
Hands-on familiarity with ServiceNow HR workflows or HR process modernization initiatives.
Prior involvement in implementing Single Source of Truth (SSoT) data architectures.
Change management, communications strategy, or organizational readiness expertise.
Federal consulting experience and/or managing PMO environments with technical SMEs and analyst support teams.
Technology certifications relative to IT Modernization initiatives or associate disciplines such as (but not limited to) AWS Cloud Practitioner, Azure Fundamentals, COMPTIA Security+, CompTIA Cloud Essentials, FinOps Practitioner, etc
Experience in: Direct experience with SaaS Payroll solutions (Ceridian, Workday, Oracle, SAP SuccessFactors, or similar) E xperience delivering analytics of BI modernization efforts (Databricks, modern reporting platforms, SAP Business Warehouse, etc)
Experience implementing SAP for Human Capital Management to include migrating from SAP-HCM to SAP S/4 HANA

Responsibilities

Manage individual projects under the Strategic Project Management Office, including HR and Payroll modernization initiatives, data migration efforts, system integrations, and enterprise modernization projects.
Draft and maintain integrated project plans, executive strategic roadmaps , risk management strategies, and cross-functional timelines, resource plans, and critical paths
Provide regular program updates, risks, concerns, and executive-level insights to senior leadership
Coordinate with application leads, functional owners, integrators, and technical teams to ensure dependencies, system impacts, and timelines are fully understood and managed.
Facilitate recurring program meetings, workshops, and working sessions to drive alignment, decision-making, and issue resolution.
Publish agendas, meeting minutes, action items, risks, and decisions for all PMO-led meetings.
Maintain a comprehensive RAID log and a formal Risk Management Plan encompassing resource risks, technical risks, data migration risks, workaround strategies, and design impacts.
Track more than 100+ system integrations (Payroll inbound/outbound, HR application changes, SAP, UAP, EEB, PIM, S/4HANA) across multiple modernization efforts.
Manage stakeholder expectations and maintain an up-to-date stakeholder register across all active projects.
Prepare communications, briefings, status reports, and executive‑ready presentation material.
Support coordination across parallel modernization initiatives such as Retirement Modernization, SAP-to-Cloud Migration, SSoT data model changes, HR BI modernization, performance modernization, JBM decouple, ATS modernization, and related HR/Payroll transformation efforts.

Benefits

Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance
401(k) Retirement Plan
Basic Life & Supplemental Life
Health Savings Account, Dental/Vision & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
Student Loan PayDown
Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development & Learning Opportunities
Skills Development & Certifications
Employee Referral Program
Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
Emergency Back-Up Childcare Program
Mobility Stipend