Role Description
As the Project Implementation Manager - Sage People, you will lead the end-to-end delivery of the global Sage People implementation programme across the organisation. You will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and driving the successful design, deployment, and rollout of Sage People as the core global People system, ensuring the programme delivers against business, operational, data, and compliance objectives. The role is a contract position for a period of 12-18 months, with a possibility to extend further depending on the project.
This role will not only lead the technical implementation of Sage People but also drive the global transformation and standardisation of People processes, data structures, governance, and ways of working across the organisation. It will play a key role in aligning stakeholders, simplifying and harmonising processes with the organisation and People & Culture VPs, and embedding sustainable ways of working that enable long-term business value realisation.
This role will sit at the centre of the implementation, bringing together People & Culture, IT, Finance, Payroll, external implementation partners, and business stakeholders across multiple regions. You will be accountable for programme structure, delivery governance, milestone management, risk control, stakeholder alignment, and execution quality, ensuring the implementation is delivered on time, to scope, and to the required standard for a global and growing organisation.
Objectives / Key Deliverables
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Lead the global implementation of Sage People from mobilisation through design, configuration, testing, deployment, and hypercare.
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Build and manage the overall project plan, delivery roadmap, milestones, dependencies, critical path, and implementation governance.
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Define workstreams, roles, responsibilities, timelines, and decision-making forums to ensure effective programme control.
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Coordinate internal teams and external partners to ensure activities remain aligned, sequenced, and delivered to schedule.
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Monitor programme progress closely, escalating risks, delays, and decision points early and driving effective resolution.
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Own implementation budget tracking and cost control throughout the programme.
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Manage and hold accountable the implementation partner for delivery quality, timeline adherence, issue resolution, and commercial transparency.
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Ensure scope, change requests, and resourcing decisions are controlled against agreed budget and delivery objectives.
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Ensure the implementation remains aligned to business priorities, operating model requirements, and future scalability.
Requirements, Design & Delivery Coordination
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Partner with People & Culture, Finance, Payroll, IT, and regional stakeholders to gather, structure, and prioritise business requirements.
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Translate business needs into a clear implementation scope and structured delivery plan in partnership with Sage and implementation vendors.
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Oversee global process design across key employee lifecycle workflows including hire, job change, compensation, organisational structure, absence, performance, and offboarding.
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Lead global process harmonisation across People workflows, working closely with the organisation, People & Culture VPs, and functional leaders to standardise processes where possible, challenge local variation where not justified, and create scalable ways of working that can be sustained post-implementation.
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Ensure global design decisions balance standardisation with justified local requirements across jurisdictions.
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Challenge unnecessary process complexity and drive simplification where possible to support scalable system design.
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Ensure all requirements, decisions, design outputs, and configuration changes are documented and controlled.
Data, Migration & Integrations
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Oversee the approach to data cleansing, data mapping, migration planning, validation, and cutover readiness for the implementation.
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Ensure data standards and governance principles are established early so that Sage People launch with accurate, trusted, and well-structured workforce data.
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Coordinate integration delivery between Sage People and connected systems such as payroll, ERP, finance, ATS, benefits, and identity platforms.
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Work with technical teams and vendors to track interface design, dependencies, testing outcomes, and defect resolution.
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Ensure migration and integration activities are fully planned, tested, reconciled, and signed off before go-live.
Testing, Readiness & Deployment
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Own the overall testing strategy across system testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing, payroll parallel runs where relevant, and go-live readiness activities.
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Coordinate test planning, test script development, defect triage, retesting, and sign-off processes.
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Lead readiness planning for deployment, including cutover planning, training coordination, communications, support models, and hypercare structure.
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Ensure each phase or region is launched with appropriate operational readiness, issue management, and stakeholder support in place.
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Manage rollout sequencing across countries or business units, balancing pace with implementation quality and business readiness.
Governance, Risk & Compliance
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Establish strong project governance, reporting, RAID management, and decision-making processes across the implementation.
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Track budget, resourcing, project status, dependencies, and vendor delivery performance, ensuring transparency for senior stakeholders.
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Ensure the programme is delivered in line with GDPR, data protection expectations, and relevant regional employment and data handling requirements.
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Maintain clear audit trails for major decisions, scope changes, risks, and sign-off points.
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Identify where local legal, payroll, or process requirements may affect implementation design and coordinate appropriate review with subject matter experts.
Change Management & Stakeholder Engagement
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Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders across People & Culture, IT, Finance, Payroll, Legal, and business leadership.
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Drive stakeholder engagement throughout the programme, ensuring expectations are managed and key decisions are made at the right time.
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Partner with change and communications leads to support adoption, training, stakeholder readiness, and transition into business-as-usual operations.
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Act as the central point of coordination across all implementation parties, creating clarity, momentum, and accountability.
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Support handover into post-implementation support and platform ownership once the global rollout is complete.
Key Competences / Skills
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Highly structured, delivery-focused, and outcomes-driven.
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Calm under pressure and confident managing competing priorities.
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Strong communicator with the ability to bring clarity to complex programmes.
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Proactive, resilient, and comfortable operating across both strategic and detailed delivery issues.
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Collaborative in style, with a strong sense of accountability and ownership.
Qualifications & Experience
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Proven experience leading large-scale HRIS or enterprise system implementations in a project or strong experience delivering complex global implementations involving multiple stakeholders, vendors, and dependent systems.
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Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end implementation lifecycles including planning, design, testing, deployment, and hyper care.
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Strong understanding of HR processes, workforce data, and the operational dependencies between HR, payroll, finance, and IT systems.
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Experience managing data migration, system integration, and cross-functional delivery workstreams.
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Strong project management capability including governance, budgeting, RAID management, milestone tracking, and executive reporting.
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Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence, challenge, and align senior decision-makers.
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Strong organisational skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage complexity in a fast-moving environment.
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Previous Sage People implementation experience.
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Experience with HRIS platforms in global or high-growth environments.
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Familiarity with payroll, ERP, ATS, and identity management integrations.
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Knowledge of GDPR and core data governance principles in People systems implementations.
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Formal project management qualification or equivalent practical experience.
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English in speech as well as written; additional languages would be beneficial.
Business Travel
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International travel will be required.
