Director, Product Owner - Payroll & Time Digital & Tech

Director, Product Owner - Payroll & Time Digital & Tech 

 

Why Us!

At GSK, we unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We are a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We’re proud to be leading a healthcare revolution, and we’re looking for people who can help us deliver on our ambition

 

Job Purpose 

The Director, Payroll and Time lead a group of related HR Products (i.e. Payroll and Time & Attendance Systems including workday, SAP and others) within the HR Digital & Tech Domain, ensuring they deliver measurable value, support business processes, and are continuously improved. They work closely with the VP, Global HR Digital & Tech to translate functional goals into product roadmaps and provide direction to Product Owners on prioritisation, delivery focus, and product performance. The Director ensures Payroll & Time-related Products are usable, compliant, secure, and efficient to operate, while fostering a culture of agile delivery, value realisation, and continuous improvement across their Product group. 

 

Key Responsibilities 

• Translate functional strategies provided by the VP, HR Digital & Tech into actionable product roadmaps and delivery priorities across Payroll & Time-related group of Products. 

• Provide direction and coaching to Product Owners, ensuring requirements are well-defined, business cases for investment are robust, backlogs are prioritised to support business goals, architectural guidance, compliance needs, data-driven decisions, FinOps considerations, and domain ecosystem dependencies through cross-functional partnering. 

• Partner with business stakeholders to understand pain points, process challenges, and improvement needs, shaping product enhancements and technology-enabled opportunities. This includes both short term improvement but also long term strategy and key projects definition 

• Partner with HR function and AI function to define, delivery and embed the use of agentic to simplify and improve the payroll processes  

• Oversee delivery execution across the People Services product group, ensuring the quality, usability, stability, and supportability of released features and services. 

• Promote agile and iterative delivery practices (e.g. SaFe, Scrum), supporting incremental value release, transparency of priorities, and improved collaboration with business users. 

• Act as the escalation point for critical product performance, delivery issues, and dependency conflicts, addressing risks and facilitating decisions. 

• Champion the adoption of user-centred improvements, business process optimisation, and automation opportunities that reduce cycle time and enhance user experience. 

• Ensure effective risk, security, privacy, and compliance management (e.g. SOX controls) across the Payroll & Time product group, embedding relevant controls in partnership with security and compliance SMEs. 

• Support Solution Architects in shaping cross-product and cross-platform solutions, ensuring Product Owners manage dependencies to deliver integrated outcomes. 

• Track and report performance against agreed KPIs for the product group, driving continuous improvement activities to maximise value for the HR Digital & Tech Domain. 

• Provide financial oversight of the domain, including product budgets and internal/external team resourcing costs, to inform strategic decision‑making and ensure alignment with GSK’s financial objectives.
• Lead your team in using approved AI tools to improve productivity and ways of working, role-modelling responsible use and follow GSK’s Responsible AI, privacy and security requirements.

 

 

Why You!

We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals:

 

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Information Technology, or Engineering), or equivalent experience 

• Industry certifications highly desirable (e.g. Agile Methodologies, CPM)

• Extensive experience overseeing end-to-end product delivery, including prioritisation, backlog management, solution design support, testing oversight, and value-focused release planning. 

• Proven track record in overseeing the definition and execution of valuable Product strategies for HR Systems, realising tangible benefits for the Business. 

• Deep experience in concurrently overseeing multiple Product teams across the full delivery lifecycle, from requirements elicitation through to release. 

• Proficient in conveying complex technology ideas to non-conversant audiences. 

• Very strong analytical and problem-solving skills for developing Product use cases and determining their associated value. 

• Highly experienced team leader that can effectively manage small to medium IT delivery teams). 

• Very strong communication skills and ability to influence senior stakeholders, aligning on competing priorities and guiding Business teams on the feasibility of requests vs. technology constraints. 

• Knowledge of workday payroll and SAP payroll 

 

 

Other Job-Related Skills/Background 

• Ability to work in a very fast-paced and fluid environment  

• Comfortable with ambiguity and change 

• Strong communication and influencing skills, able to guide prioritisation decisions, resolve delivery conflicts, and align multiple stakeholders around shared product outcomes. 

• Skilled in coaching and developing Product Owners, fostering a culture of user-centred design, value-based delivery, and continuous improvement. 

• Able to interpret business processes, regulatory needs, and operational insights to identify optimisation and automation opportunities that enhance product performance and user experience. 

• Comfortable working within structured governance, security, and compliance constraints, ensuring product changes are well controlled, supportable, and aligned to organisational standards

 

 

Interested in Joining the Team?
If this role excites you, please submit your CV and a brief message about why you want to join. We welcome candidates from a wide range of backgrounds. We look forward to learning how you can help us unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

(Please take a personal copy of the Job Description, as this will not be available online post closure of the advert)

Closing Date:  31st October 2026

 

 

Working Pattern
This role is a hybrid role, with a min of 2/3 days a week onsite at our central London HQ. Fully remote working is not available.

 

 

#AGTech

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Skills

Agile Methodology, Backlogs, Cross-Functional Teamwork, Design Thinking, DevOps, Process Diagrams, Product Strategies, Project Management, Requirements Gathering, Services Management, Software Development, User Experience (UX), User Research, User Story

 

 

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive.

We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

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