HR Digital Strategy Manager
Human Resources
Johnston, Rhode Island; Stamford, Connecticut; Westwood, Massachusetts
Description
The HR Technology Strategy Manager provides strategic business oversight and business objectives for all technology supporting Human Resources within a financial services organization. This role serves as the primary liaison between HR leadership and enterprise technology teams, ensuring that HR technology investments align with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and enterprise architecture standards.
The role does not operate or administer HR systems; system ownership and delivery remain with IT and platform owners. Instead, this position focuses on strategy, governance, advisory support, and forward-looking capability development across the HR technology landscape.
Key Responsibilities
HR Business Strategy and Capability Oversight
Build and manage a multi-year HR digital strategy and investment roadmap, aligning HR’s transformation priorities with enterprise architecture, mandatory work, and resource capacity constraints.
Provide business oversight of the HR technology ecosystem, including HCM, talent, payroll, learning, workforce analytics, and employee experience platforms.
Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, and compliance through optimized use of existing HR and enterprise technologies.
Define what “great” looks like for HR digital experiences, leveraging the Citizen’s experience-owner model while bringing consistency, usability standards, and cross-functional alignment.
Business–Technology Partnership
Act as the primary point of contact between HR leadership and enterprise IT, architecture, cybersecurity, data, and vendor management teams.
Act as the single HR business counterpart to the HR Technology team to inform on HR strategy; clarity on business priorities, requirements, sequencing, and expected outcomes.
Translate HR business objectives and regulatory needs into technology requirements and strategic initiatives.
Advisory & Consulting Support
Advise HR leaders on optimal approaches to achieving business outcomes using current HR and enterprise technology capabilities.
Evaluate requests for new HR tools and solutions, recommending reuse, enhancement, or rationalization where appropriate.
Support development of business cases, investment proposals, and multi-year roadmaps for HR technology initiatives.
Market Intelligence & Emerging Capability
Monitor emerging HR technology trends, vendor offerings, and industry best practices within financial services.
Assess new capabilities such as AI-enabled talent tools, workforce analytics, automation, and employee experience platforms.
Provide strategic recommendations on when and how emerging technologies should be piloted or adopted.
Governance, Risk & Compliance
Ensure HR technology initiatives adhere to financial services regulatory requirements, data privacy standards, and information security policies.
Participate in enterprise governance forums, architecture review boards, and HR/IT steering committees.
Support vendor risk management, data governance, and lifecycle planning in partnership with IT and compliance teams.
Data, Analytics & Value Measurement
Define and track OKRs to measure value realization, adoption, efficiency, and employee experience improvement.
Use data insights to refine digital priorities and optimize investments.
Provide dashboards and reporting to executive stakeholders on digital transformation progress.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Business, Human Resources, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
7+ years of experience in HR Business strategy and a solid grounding in digital capability and technical acumen.
Strong understanding of HR functional domains (e.g., core HCM, talent management, payroll, learning, workforce analytics).
Experience working in financial services or other highly regulated industries.
Proven ability to influence across multiple business groups --HR, IT, Risk, Legal, and Compliance.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with major HR platforms (e.g., Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM) in a strategic or advisory capacity.
Familiarity with financial services regulatory and data privacy requirements impacting HR systems.
Key Competencies
Strategic thinking and HR business acumen
Technology fluency without operational ownership
Risk-aware decision-making in a regulated environment
Executive communication and stakeholder alignment
Influence without direct authority
Data-Driven Decision Making
Digital Literacy & Product Mindset
To thrive as a colleague at Citizens, candidates must demonstrate a strong customer-centric mindset, exhibit persistence and resilience in the face of challenges, and embrace continuous learning to adapt and grow in a dynamic environment.
Hours and Work Schedule: (4 days in office, 1 day remote)
Hours per Week: 40
Work Schedule: Monday-Friday
Pay Transparency
The salary range for this position is $158,000-$200,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn an annual discretionary bonus. Actual pay is based on various factors including but not limited to the work location, and relevant skills and experience.
We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more. Note, Citizens’ paid time off policy exceeds the mandatory, paid sick or paid time-away policy of every local and state jurisdiction in the United States. For an overview of our benefits, visit https://jobs.citizensbank.com/benefits .
Citizens will not sponsor an applicant for a work visa, such as an H-1B, for this position.
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Some job boards have started using jobseeker-reported data to estimate salary ranges for roles. If you apply and qualify for this role, a recruiter will discuss accurate pay guidance.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Citizens, its parent, subsidiaries, and related companies (Citizens) provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all colleagues and applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, citizenship, physical or mental disability, perceived disability or history or record of a disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, genetic characteristic, marital or domestic partner status, victim of domestic violence, family status/parenthood, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, pregnancy/childbirth/lactation, colleague’s or a dependent’s reproductive health decision making, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by federal, state and/or local laws. At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables all colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day and everyone is expected to be treated with respect and professionalism. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, performance and capability.
Background Check
Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the candidate successfully passing a background check, which may include initial credit, motor vehicle record, public record, prior employment verification, and criminal background checks. Results of the background check are individually reviewed based upon legal requirements imposed by our regulators and with consideration of the nature and gravity of the background history and the job offered. Any offer of employment will include further information.
Benefits
We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more.
View BenefitsAwards We've Received
Glassdoor Best Place to Work in Consulting, Finance & Insurance
The Banker's
US Bank of the Year
Dave Thomas Foundation’s Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace
Disability:IN Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion
Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index 100 Award
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