Principal, HR Innovation & Transformation

Marsh McLennan•New York, NY

15h•$175,500 - $263,900•Hybrid

About The Position

The Principal, HR Innovation & Transformation is responsible for driving the People Function’s transformation agenda — operationalizing strategy and converting an evolving set of priorities into structured programs that deliver. Partnering closely with and acting as deputy to the Head of HR Innovation & Transformation, the Principal works across the full portfolio: HR operating model, workforce planning, HR technology, and AI enablement for the People Function.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; an advanced degree (MBA or similar) is a plus.
A minimum of 10 years of experience in management consulting, corporate strategy, transformation, program leadership, or HR/people advisory — including leading complex, multi-stakeholder programs end to end, ideally with operating model, organization design, or workforce strategy exposure.
Proven ability to structure open-ended, ambiguous problems, work from a hypothesis-driven approach, and drive to a clear, defensible recommendation with minimal direction.
Strong commercial and analytical judgment, including the ability to build business cases and investment perspectives; advanced Excel and comfort structuring, analyzing, and synthesizing data.
Exceptional executive communication - able to distill complex inputs into concise, executive-ready storylines; advanced PowerPoint skills.
High autonomy and ownership, with the judgment to know what to advance independently and when to escalate.
Exposure to HR/people functions and technology-enabled change (AI, data, or digital initiatives) - or a clear track record of getting up to speed quickly in an unfamiliar domain.

Nice To Haves

High ownership and drive: pushes work forward without waiting for direction; comfortable operating at a fast pace with high expectations.
Strategic breadth with executional grip: equally credible setting an approach and rolling up sleeves to deliver; sees the whole board, not just the next task.
Consulting-grade problem solving structures ambiguity, reasons from hypotheses, and builds a compelling, evidence-based case for change.
Executive presence and influence earns the trust of senior leaders and brings others along without formal authority.
Outcomes over activity: relentless focus on adoption and value realization - not deployment and tracking.
Tech & AI fluency: genuine curiosity and hands-on fluency for how AI is reshaping work, paired with the judgment to govern and scale it responsibly (does not need to be an AI expert).

Responsibilities

Operationalize the transformation strategy - translating it into a structured, sequenced agenda and building the prioritization frameworks and recommendations that guide where the function focuses its time and investment.
Own the architecture and discipline of the transformation portfolio - maintaining the frameworks, standards, and decision criteria used to prioritize, resource, and measure initiatives, and keeping an integrated view of status, dependencies, risks, and value realization.
Build the investment case for technology and AI - developing ROI perspectives, market scans, and points of view that inform senior funding and build-vs-buy decisions, in partnership with Tech (BCS/CIS), Finance, and enterprise stakeholders.
Develop and operationalize the governance and enablement approach for AI across the People Function - shaping the standards, fluency frameworks, and operating principles that raise maturity across strategy, governance, data, technology/integration, and people/culture.
Build credibility and alignment with People Function leadership and enterprise stakeholders - surfacing trade-offs, representing the agenda in working- and leadership-level forums.