SR Project Manager

We are striving to meet rising demand for metal-based technologies and recycling, cleaner mobility solutions, and the advanced materials needed for energy, electronics, space exploration, and more. Leveraging decades of expertise in materials science, metallurgy, chemistry, and metals management, we are powering the cars of today and tomorrow, reducing harmful emissions and are giving new life to used metals. Umicore is creating materials for a better life.

Department description and responsibilities

The role sits within Umicore’s People & Organisation (P&O) landscape, working closely with the Total Rewards Center of Expertise, P&O Operations, P&O Technology & Operation Excellence. The team’s objective is to increase automation, data availability, and efficiency in compensation processes globally, enabling faster and more reliable insights for decision‑making and reward governance.

Project description

Umicore is expanding its use of SAP SuccessFactors from basic Employee and Organisational data towards a global Compensation solution. The programme contains three major blocks:

• Compensation data in SAP SuccessFactors (moving salary/pay‑related data from local systems into SuccessFactors)
• Implementation of SuccessFactors Compensation / Compensation Review (to replace current PowerBI & and Excel‑driven bonus & merit increase processes with automated planning and governance)
• Payroll integration with local payroll systems, including decisions on integration approach and data ownership per country/site, focusing on bigger countries like Belgium, Germany, China, Korea, Brazil, US, Poland.

A key complexity is the global footprint and strong country/location impact on data migration and integration decisions. In parallel, Umicore needs to review and potentially redesign hierarchical/matrix structures and access models (e.g., differences between leave approval authority vs. compensation visibility).

The Project Manager will bring structure and governance into a programme that currently has no fully embedded governance model yet, and will guide the organisation through requirements definition, expectation management, vendor selection (RFP), and delivery oversight through to successful implementation.

Primary Tasks and responsibilities

• Establish and drive an end-to-end project approach for the global SuccessFactors Compensation initiative (scope, plan, milestones, RAID, dependencies, communications).
• Lead requirements definition with business stakeholders, ensuring clarity, completeness, and prioritisation; challenge assumptions and manage expectations (not everything can be implemented at once).
• Facilitate and structure workshops to capture current state, pain points, and future‑state needs, including process, data, and governance topics.
• Coordinate the RFP process for implementation partner selection: prepare RFP inputs, align evaluation criteria, manage vendor Q&A, support shortlist and selection governance.
• Drive decisions on data migration scope: define what compensation/pay data will be moved into SuccessFactors vs. remain local, country by country; ensure documentation and sign‑off.
• Ensure alignment and design decisions for:
  • Compensation data model (salary elements, allowances, bonus‑related data, eligibility rules)
  • Compensation review cycles (bonus/merit increase) to replace PowerBE & Excel‑based processes
  • Integration principles between SuccessFactors and local systems (where applicable)
  • Payroll integration approach and sequencing per country/site
• Lead stakeholder management across P&O, Total Rewards, Operations, P&O Technology and towards external vendors; escalation where required.
• Put in place pragmatic governance: decision forums, steering cadence, status reporting, actions tracking, and clear RACI (even if governance is not yet mature).
• Track progress and ensure delivery quality through testing phases (SIT/UAT readiness), cutover planning, and go‑live preparation with vendors and business owners.
• Build and maintain project documentation (plans, logs, minutes, decision records, scope statements) and provide transparent reporting on timeline, risks, and budget assumptions.

Technical Profile Requirements

• Proven Project Management experience in HR technology / HRIS programmes in an international context.
• Strong functional understanding of SAP SuccessFactors from a business perspective (not a technical configuration specialist).
• Mandatory: experience with SuccessFactors Compensation (and/or Compensation Review / compensation planning cycles).
• Strong knowledge of SF Employee Central (Workday / PeopleSoft acceptable if paired with a clear ramp‑up ability, but Compensation experience remains essential).
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