Project Manager - HR IT & Digital Initiatives

Job Description – Project Manager (HR IT & Digital Initiatives)

Location: Chennai, India

Type : Work from office/All Days

Experience: 10–15 years (with 4–5 years in Project Management)

Function: IT / HR Technology

Reports To: IT Director / Digital HR Leadership

1. 1. Role Summary

The Project Manager will be responsible for leading medium to large-scale HR Technology projects, managing cross-functional teams, and driving implementation of enterprise HR applications and AI-based initiatives.

The role requires strong domain knowledge in HR, hands-on project delivery experience, and the ability to manage complex multi-stakeholder environments. The candidate will also mentor team members, promote innovation, and ensure delivery excellence across the project lifecycle.

1. 2. Key Responsibilities

A. Project Leadership & Delivery

• Lead end-to-end project lifecycle: scope definition, planning, budgeting, execution, monitoring, risk management, and closure.
• Manage delivery for HR technology projects involving HRMS, payroll, performance systems, workforce management, and employee experience platforms.
• Drive AI/automation use cases within the HR domain, ensuring feasibility assessments, implementation, and adoption.
• Maintain project documentation, progress dashboards, communication plans, and governance structures.

B. Team & Stakeholder Management

• Lead and mentor a delivery team of 25–30 members including developers, testers, analysts, and support engineers.
• Engage with multiple business units, HR teams, COEs, compliance teams, and technical leads to align priorities and ensure smooth execution.
• Facilitate project ceremonies—scrums, reviews, retrospectives, workshops, UAT planning, and executive updates.
• Build a collaborative, positive, and high-motivation environment within the team.

C. HR Domain & Compliance Expertise

• Work closely with HR business teams to understand process impacts, map requirements, and translate them into actionable technical specifications.
• Demonstrate strong working knowledge of HR processes (Core HR, Time, Payroll, Talent, L&D, Onboarding, HR Ops).
• Bring understanding of Indian HR compliance, including Wage Codes, labor law changes, statutory requirements, and audit readiness.
• Ensure implementation of application controls, role-based access, and data security practices.

D. Technology, AI & Platform Exposure

• Manage implementation, integration, and enhancement of HR applications using diverse technologies such as enterprise HRMS platforms, workflow tools, analytics tools, and integration engines.
• Explore, evaluate, and implement AI platforms for HR—Chatbots, document processing, predictive analytics, automation, etc.
• Work with architects and engineering teams on platform modernization, API integrations, cloud migration, and scalability initiatives.

E. Governance, Quality & Continuous Improvement

• Set and monitor KPIs, SLAs, delivery metrics, and quality parameters.
• Implement best practices in project governance, documentation, testing, and release management.
• Identify opportunities for automation and process optimization across HR IT operations.
• Ensure alignment with organizational objectives, cost management, and value realization.

1. 3. Required Skills & Competencies

Technical & Domain Skills

• Strong experience in HR applications implementation or management (HRMS, Payroll, Attendance, Talent Systems, etc.).
• Understanding of HR data models, workflows, integrations, and compliance.
• Exposure to AI-based platforms and ability to manage AI/ML initiatives.
• Experience in managing multi-technology landscapes and enterprise-scale platforms.

Project Management Skills

• Proven delivery experience for large-scale HR or enterprise projects.
• Proficiency in project management methodologies—Waterfall/Agile/Hybrid.
• Ability to manage project budgets, risks, dependencies, and vendor relationships.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and presentation skills.

Leadership & Behavioral Skills

• Ability to inspire, mentor, and lead teams with diverse skill sets.
• Positive mindset with strong ownership, initiative-taking, and problem-solving capability.
• Structured thinking, analytical ability, and decision-making confidence.
• High level of adaptability, learning agility, and openness to emerging technologies.

1. 4. Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Technology/IT (MBA HR/Systems is a plus).
• 10–15 years of total experience with at least 4–5 years as a Project Manager.
• Certifications like PMP / PRINCE2 / Agile / Scrum Master are preferred.

1. 5. Nice-to-Have

• Experience in digital HR transformation programs.
• Experience in RPA/automation projects.
• Exposure to multi-country/multi-business HR implementations (advantageous but not mandatory).