Leaves & Accommodations Specialist

Palo Alto Networks•Office - USA - CA - Headquarters, CA

4d•$95,200 - $154,000•Onsite

About The Position

As a Leaves & Accommodations Specialist, you will be an integral part of the People team community, serving as the dedicated internal expert and owner for all complex leave of absence (LOA) and ADA accommodation matters. You will step into a highly specialized role designed to provide a single point of contact to manage North America LOA and accommodation matters across the organization. In this role, you will use your deep expertise in the interactive process, undue hardship reviews, and federal/state frameworks to help leaders navigate sensitive accommodation, leave of absence, and return-to-work scenarios. You are someone who balances technical, legal, and operational excellence with empathy, ensuring that our business can operate at full effectiveness with minimal disruption while fully supporting our employees. We are looking for an experienced and innovative HR professional with a passion for building scalable processes designed to support managers through complex compliance and operational challenges. You should be comfortable collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders, driving operational follow-through, working in ambiguity and scaling our accommodation infrastructure to meet evolving business and legal needs. This role is critical for ensuring our company remains a supportive, inclusive, and compliant place to work as we continue to scale.

Requirements

A minimum of five years of dedicated experience managing leaves of absence and ADA accommodations within an HR, Benefits, Compliance, or Employee Relations function.
Expertise in leading individualized, good-faith interactive processes and conducting complex undue hardship analyses to guide stakeholders toward practical, compliant solutions.
Extensive practical experience advising managers on non-standard leave frameworks, evaluating essential job functions, functional limitations, and navigating return-to-work complexities.
Experience reviewing and resolving extended leave cases involving exhausted statutory leave, uncertain return-to-work timelines, repeated extensions, reassignment considerations, and potential separation decisions.
Demonstrated success partnering with third-party leave administrators (e.g., Sedgwick) to drive consistent communication and clear accountability throughout the leave lifecycle.
Proven track record of operational excellence and project follow-through, with the ability to bridge gaps between stakeholder approvals and actual workflow execution in dynamic environments.
Strong interpersonal skills and high emotional intelligence, allowing for the ability to build trust, influence all levels of the organization, and respectfully challenge assumptions when necessary.
Exceptional analytical skills with a passion for using data and metrics to identify trends, optimize processes, and adjust solutions to meet changing legal landscapes.
Meticulous attention to detail and strong organizational skills, ensuring consistent follow-up and resolution of extended leave cases involving reassignment or potential separation.
Proficiency in HR technology and productivity tools, including Workday, ServiceNow, and Google Workspace, to manage multiple priorities in a high-intensity work environment.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a global, dynamic environment. Must be able to operate with limited direction.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree required; Advanced specialized certification in HR compliance/absence management preferred.
Experience managing multi-state or global leave and accommodation frameworks.
Project management experience, specifically in building and optimizing workflows or migrating operational roles across HR structures.

Responsibilities

Own the operational leave/accommodation lifecycle, ensuring the development of rigorous and clear processes for LOA and accommodations management.
Build scalable workflows, templates, decision frameworks, service-level expectations, and reporting mechanisms to support the long-term success of the function.
Serve as the single internal point of expertise and end-to-end accountability for complex leaves of absence and ADA accommodation matters.
Lead and document a timely, individualized, and good-faith interactive process for complex accommodation requests, ensuring proposed options are thoroughly evaluated for effectiveness, feasibility, and compliance.
Lead undue hardship reviews in close partnership with business leaders, People Business Partners (PBPs), and Legal to assess business impact and drive practical, timely solutions.
Work closely with our third-party leave of absence administrator (Sedgwick), ensuring seamless internal coordination and status checks.
Conduct structured reviews of employees on extended or long-term leave, identify cases requiring updated medical information, interactive process engagement, return-to-work planning, reassignment consideration, or employment-status resolution, and drive each case to a timely and well-documented outcome.
Provide clear, operational guidance to managers and stakeholders on leave tracking, complex accommodations, and return-to-work protocols.
Bridge the gap between decision-making and operational execution by tracking high-risk or non-standard leave scenarios through completion across Payroll, Benefits, Talent Acquisition, Finance and other functions as needed.
Use data, reporting, and trend analysis to identify accommodation impacts, monitor state leave framework expansions, and make data-driven recommendations to leadership.
Perform other HR operational tasks and/or project support as needed.
Act as an advocate for equitable and fair treatment; ensure our accommodation practices continue to align with our company’s core values: Disrupt, Execute, Inclusion, Collaboration, and Integrity.