The R&D Sr. Director will provide local leadership for the R&D teams supporting the development of the Human Capital Management products, platforms and tools to deliver ADP products and services in the UK & Ireland markets.
Leverages experience in P&L management, organisation management and talent development, while working effectively with other organisations to deliver solutions exceeding client expectations, service and implementation quality expectations.
The Senior Director R&D will be a key member of the UK business influencing and directing the strategy and operations of the business and delivering HCM solutions and services to the local markets.
Key Responsibilities
Provide broad functional and technical expertise in the design and development efforts, including but not limited to architectural direction; user interface/user experience leadership; development standards and best practices with implementing leading edge innovation in a software-as-a-service model.
Be a critical change agent, developing strong relationships with other business leaders to drive a transformation to an innovative product culture.
Oversee the development and maintenance of multiple large and complex applications
Effective interaction with multiple business units i.e. Quality Assurance, Marketing, and Client Services in the development of specifications and the creation, testing and implementation of system products
Provide leadership in Agile methodologies
Concurrently manage business critical initiatives
Direct the development of procedures and policies related to applications development and maintenance
Drive continuous improvement processes within the organisation
Oversee projects to meet time and budget constraints while ensuring that specifications are achieved and high quality products are delivered
Maintains and further develops highly qualified and high performance teams
Leadership Expectations
(ADP's leadership behaviours)
The ability to balance technical, operational and financial issues with business and strategic focus is critical for this position. The position requires an extremely high level of autonomy, judgment and decision making given the nature of the role.
The position also requires a high degree of business, market and client knowledge in the HR, Talent & Payroll domains to deliver differentiated market leading solutions.
Complex technical issues are continually balanced against financial, business and client priorities in which the decisions for such have far reaching impacts on ADP and its clients.
Deep understanding of market and client requirements is leveraged to deliver competitive and leading HR & Payroll solutions.
Business risks are constantly evaluated and contingency plans are created in a timely fashion to mitigate those risks and prevent or minimize the negative impact on the organization.
Communications of and the mapping of corporate strategies into tactical plans are a cornerstone of this position. Creativity and innovation are often utilized to ensure that vision, goals, and objectives are aligned and plans are executed to success.
Sound judgment and decision making are constantly exercised to support day to day operations.
Empathy and confidence in solving problems are frequently displayed in dealing with both internal and external customers to maximize customer satisfaction.
Consensus building and cooperative negotiating are often called upon to find common ground with other organizations to balance priorities and issues to do what's best for the business. A commitment to seek a win-win scenario without compromising the integrity of the solutions is critical.
Often, new policies or standards have to be created to lay the foundations for future efforts both inside and outside the team.
Business Leadership
Strategy and Planning: Answers the question "Where are we going?"
Results Accountability: Focuses on ensuring we execution and attaining objectives
Financial Management: Applies understanding of ADP financial levers to achieve business results
People Leadership
Impactful Communication: Flexes Communication methods to engage with people acting as a change agent for the strategies of the business
Building Talent: Deliberately builds capability for short and long term
Relationship Building: Develops internal and external relationships required for success
Market Leadership
Client Focus: Explicitly factors client perspective into decision making
Outside - In Perspective: Understands and acts upon trends in the external market
Bias for Growth: Takes bold action to strengthen business results
Experience, Skills, Academic:
Experience (essential/desired)
Significant leadership experience with multiple high-performing teams required in a matrix organisation; preferably in a customer centric environment, with focus on customer/client interaction and engagement.
Proven delivery of innovative software solutions in a Software as a Service or Cloud model.
Substantial software development experience
Extensive delivery of commercially successful enterprise class web products, preferably in a SaaS environment; experience in managing through people i.e. managers
Considerable offshore management experience
Strong Agile software development and management experience to include TDD, CI and Agile Project Management Tools e.g. Jira, Version 1, Rally, etc
Proven delivery of optimal business returns, by prioritising projects and managing scope, while satisfying customer/client expectations
Development and deployment of large database (Oracle, MS SQL, NoSQL) applications
Strong collaborative working style with an ability to work within a cross functional executive team in a hands-on capacity to achieve individual, team and organisational goals
Executive level presentation skills
Ability to analyse operating results of the organisation and its centres versus approved plans and objectives, taking proactive and immediate action when results are not as expected.
Proven financial and commercial acumen, strong creative problem solving and strategy to maximise the impact of ADP products, services and activities
Qualifications / Professional/Technical Skills
Requires a bachelor's degree in computer science or other related degree or an equivalent in education and experience
Possesses in-depth knowledge of current technologies
A Master's Degree in Computer Engineering, Computers (MSEE, MSCS, etc.) or an MBA is preferred
Scrum Master Certification and other agile certification would be advantageous
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