Director, People Experience & Services

We are seeking a strategic and operationally excellent leader to head our Global People Experience & Services Centre of Excellence (CoE). This role owns the design, governance, and continuous improvement of enterprise-wide HR frameworks, policies, technology, and data standards - enabling consistent, compliant, and employee-centric experiences across all regions. You will report to VP, People Strategy & Transformation and have 4-6 direct reports in Global Process Excellence, Master Data Management, Compliance & Governance.

You will partner closely with regional People Experience / People Operations leaders to ensure global standards translate into locally effective delivery, while also serving as a trusted advisor to other People Centres of Excellence (Talent, Reward, etc.) on process excellence and service design.

This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who thrives at the intersection of operational rigour, digital enablement, agile delivery, and human‑centred design, and who consistently connects People initiatives to business outcomes and measurable value.

What Success Looks Like

• People services operate with high reliability, clear governance, and strong stakeholder trust.
• Measurable improvements in efficiency, compliance, job architecture adherence, data quality, and employee experience driven through technology, automation, and process optimisation.
• A clear, prioritised People tech and process roadmap delivered through an agile operating model (sprints + quarterly planning).
• High compliance to global standards, with transparent reporting and strong local accountability.
• A team culture that is relentlessly business‑value driven, outcome‑oriented, and accountable for measurable impact.

Key Responsibilities

1) Process Excellence & Continuous Improvement (Value‑Driven)

• Lead a global process excellence function, embedding Six Sigma and measurable continuous improvement across People operations.
• Define and track operational KPIs, SLAs, quality, and employee experience metrics; drive accountability for improvements.
• Identify and prioritise value‑creating opportunities (simplification, standardisation, automation) with quantified benefits (revenue uplift, time saved, risk reduction, improved experience).
• Advise and enable other People CoEs (Talent, Reward, Learning, etc.) on process design, service optimisation, and scalable operating models.

• Critical mindset expectation: You will champion and embed a culture where teams consistently ask: “What business outcome are we driving—and how will we measure value?”

2) People Technology Roadmap, Automation & AI Enablement

• Actively influence the People technology roadmap with Digital & Technology, ensuring platforms (HRIS, payroll, case management, employee portals) deliver business outcomes and a seamless employee experience.
• Drive adoption of automation and self‑service, including workflow orchestration and case deflection, to improve efficiency and user satisfaction.
• Identify and implement responsible AI use cases with clear governance, risk assessment, and measurable benefits.
• Ensure robust change management, training, communications, and adoption strategies for technology rollouts.
• Establish governance for prioritisation, benefits tracking, technical debt reduction, and product lifecycle management across People systems.

3) Agile Delivery & Roadmap Management

• Run the CoE operating cadence using agile delivery principles, managing work through short sprints and a transparent backlog aligned to business outcomes.
• Maintain a quarterly planning view (priorities, capacity, dependencies, and outcomes), while developing a longer‑term multi‑quarter roadmap co‑developed with stakeholders.
• Lead cross‑functional delivery governance - ensuring clarity of scope, decisions, risks, and dependencies across People & Planet, D&T, Finance, Legal, and business teams.
• Drive predictable delivery by defining success measures, and benefits realisation tracking.

4) People Master Data Governance & Analytics Enablement

• Establish and enforce global data governance standards - accuracy, integrity, security, privacy, and compliance.
• Partner with People Analytics to ensure reliable data underpins workforce insights, reporting, and decision-making.
• Own People data architecture principles and integration standards across platforms; drive root-cause fixes for recurring data issues.
• Ensure master data standards and permissions support job architecture adherence and prevent uncontrolled local deviations.

5) Governance, Compliance, Risk Management & Business Continuity

• Own and drive the global People risk management framework, business continuity planning, and crisis response strategy - ensuring resilience across people-related services (payroll, HR operations, systems).
• Collaborate with Internal Audit, Enterprise Risk, Data Privacy, Legal, and Security to maintain compliance with labour law, GDPR, and audit requirements.
• Partner with relevant functions on multidisciplinary topics (e.g., health & safety, compliance frameworks, and operational controls) to ensure integrated and practical execution.
• Maintain strong audit readiness and lead remediation plans to closure with clear accountability and timelines.

6) Stakeholder Partnership & Enterprise Collaboration

• Serve as the primary partner on People services to regional People leaders - aligning on priorities, resolving escalations, and sharing best practices.
• Act as a trusted advisor to People CoE leaders on service design, process excellence, digital enablement, scalability, and governance.
• Represent Global People Services in enterprise-wide initiatives (e.g., transformation programs, integrations, shared services evolution), ensuring People outcomes and risks are visible and managed.

7) Team Leadership & Culture

• Build, develop, and inspire a high-performing global team, fostering clarity of ownership, strong governance, and high delivery standards.
• Coach team to manage work through outcome‑based prioritisation and benefits tracking.
• Foster a culture of customer-centricity, business-value focus, continuous learning, and calm, effective execution during high-pressure periods.

Qualifications

• Proven track record designing and scaling global People frameworks, policies, and service delivery models across multiple regions.
• Strong experience influencing and governing People technology ecosystems (e.g., Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ServiceNow, ADP, Dayforce, or equivalent), including optimisation and integration.
• Demonstrated leadership of governance frameworks (e.g., job architecture adherence, data governance, access controls, compliance).
• Hands-on experience driving measurable operational improvements through Lean/Six Sigma, automation, and service design.
• Experience operating in an agile delivery model (sprints, backlogs, quarterly planning, product/roadmap governance).

Skills & Attributes

• Strategic and outcome-driven: translates vision into roadmaps with measurable value and ROI.
• Strong business acumen: consistently connects People initiatives to commercial drivers and organisational outcomes.
• Influential leader: builds trust and drives alignment across functions and regions - influence without authority.
• Executive communicator: concise, confident, and comfortable engaging senior leadership and front-line teams.
• Resilient, pragmatic, and energised by complexity and ambiguity; able to lead calmly through incidents and change.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA, Master’s in HR/OD) preferred.
• Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt), CIPD, or equivalent certifications a plus.

Did we get your attention? 

We hope you got all your questions answered and feel confident applying for this position. If you see yourself in the position and would like to become a part of Pandora’s future, please do not hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

We process applications on a continuous basis, which is why we encourage you to send your application as soon as possible. You can also read more about Pandora on our corporate site www.pandoragroup.com. 

About Pandora

Pandora is the world's largest jewellery brand, specialising in the design, crafting and marketing of accessible luxury jewellery made from high-quality materials. Each piece is created to inspire self-expression, allowing people to share their stories and passions through meaningful jewellery. Pandora jewellery is sold in more than 100 countries through 7,000 points of sale, including more than 2,800 concept stores.

Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Pandora employs around 39,000 people worldwide and crafts its jewellery with 100% recycled silver and gold. Pandora is committed to leadership in sustainability and has set out to halve greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2030. Pandora is listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange and generated revenue of DKK 32.5 billion (EUR 4.4 billion) in 2025.