HR Technology Operations Manager

Workday HRIS Lead Specialist - Hybrid or Remote within the UK

ICON is a global healthcare intelligence and clinical research organisation united by a mission to bring new medicines and treatments to patients faster.

As a values-driven organisation, integrity, collaboration, agility, and inclusion are at the heart of how we work and interact with each other, customers, patients and suppliers.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced HR Technology Operations Manager to join our global HR Technology team at ICON.

In this role, you will lead a team responsible for the reliable day-to-day operation of Workday and related HR systems, delivering high-quality Tier 1 support, managing operational activities and driving continuous service improvement.

You will own the delivery of Tier 1 HR Technology services, ensuring that employee and HR queries, incidents and requests are resolved efficiently or appropriately triaged to Functional and Integrations specialists. You will also establish and continuously improve the service standards, processes and ways of working that enable consistent, scalable operations across our global organisation.

Combining people leadership with operational and service management accountability, you will play a key role in ensuring HR Technology services are reliable, responsive and continuously evolving to meet business needs.

What You’ll Do

• Lead, coach and develop a team of HR Technology Analysts, fostering accountability, collaboration and high-quality service delivery.
• Own the day-to-day delivery of Tier 1 HR Technology support, ensuring timely resolution of queries, incidents and service requests within agreed service levels.
• Establish effective triage, escalation and handoff processes with Functional and Integrations teams, ensuring clear ownership and end-to-end coordination of complex issues.
• Develop and continuously improve the HR Technology Operations service model, including service standards, SLAs, support processes, knowledge management and operational procedures.
• Ensure the stability, reliability and operational continuity of Workday and related HR systems, proactively identifying and mitigating operational risks.
• Oversee incident and problem management, coordinating resolution of critical issues, root cause analysis and preventative actions to reduce recurring incidents.
• Plan and manage operational capacity across business-as-usual support, cyclical activities, system releases and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Coordinate operational readiness for business-critical activities, including Workday releases, payroll-related events, benefits enrolment and annual HR processes.
• Define and monitor operational performance metrics, using service data, incident trends and stakeholder feedback to drive improvements in service quality and efficiency.
• Identify and deliver opportunities for process standardisation, automation, self-service and knowledge management to improve the employee experience and reduce operational demand.
• Ensure adherence to data governance, information security, compliance and audit requirements across operational activities.
• Partner closely with HR Operations, HR Technology Functional and Integrations teams, and IT stakeholders to ensure effective service delivery and smooth transition of system changes into ongoing support.

Your Profile

• Typically 6–9 years of experience in HR Technology, HRIS, enterprise application support or related technology operations roles.
• Strong experience supporting enterprise HR platforms, specifically Workday, within a complex, global organisation.
• Previous people management or team leadership experience.
• Proven experience managing technology support operations, including incident management, service requests, escalations and service performance.
• Experience establishing or improving service management processes, operating procedures, SLAs and support frameworks.
• Strong understanding of HR processes, enterprise HR systems and the operational dependencies between functional areas and integrations.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, operational risks and service continuity in a dynamic business environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience using operational metrics and performance data to drive continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across technical and non-technical teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Human Resources, Business Administration or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience. Fluency in English is required.

Desirable Experience

• Hands-on experience with Workday HCM across a range of HCM modules.
• Familiarity with IT service management platforms such as Workday Help, ServiceNow or Jira Service Management.
• Experience implementing knowledge management, self-service or automation initiatives within a global support environment.

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What ICON can offer you:
Our success depends on the quality of our people. That’s why we’ve made it a priority to build a diverse culture that rewards high performance and nurtures talent.

In addition to your competitive salary, ICON offers a range of additional benefits. Our benefits are designed to be competitive within each country and are focused on well-being and work life balance opportunities for you and your family.

Our benefits examples include:

• Various annual leave entitlements
• A range of health insurance offerings to suit you and your family’s needs.
• Competitive retirement planning offerings to maximize savings and plan with confidence for the years ahead.
• Global Employee Assistance Programme, LifeWorks, offering 24-hour access to a global network of over 80,000 independent specialized professionals who are there to support you and your family’s well-being.
• Life assurance
• Flexible country-specific optional benefits, including childcare vouchers, bike purchase schemes, discounted gym memberships, subsidized travel passes, health assessments, among others.

Visit our careers site to read more about the benefits ICON offers.

At ICON, inclusion & belonging are fundamental to our culture and values. We’re dedicated to providing an inclusive and accessible environment for all candidates. ICON is committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please let us know or submit a request here

Interested in the role, but unsure if you meet all of the requirements? We would encourage you to apply regardless – there’s every chance you’re exactly what we’re looking for here at ICON whether it is for this or other roles.

Are you a current ICON Employee? Please click here to apply