Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.
We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world's most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
Role description:
The GPSS Team Leader is responsible for leading day-to-day delivery of People Shared Services operations across a multi-country (Australia, Philippines, US and Canada) portfolio within a global shared services model. The role ensures consistent, timely, and compliant service delivery across assigned People processes (e.g., employee lifecycle, case management, data management, payroll coordination and absence management), drives operational excellence through SLAs and KPIs, and manages escalations across stakeholders. The Team Leader coaches and develops GPSS Specialists, ensures standardization and continuous improvement of processes, and maintains a strong controls and audit-ready environment. The role partners closely with People Business Partners, COEs, Local HR/Payroll, Finance, and People Technology team to ensure seamless end-to-end employee experience and operational stability.
Role accountabilities:
Service Delivery
- Own end‑to‑end delivery of assigned People Shared Services operations, ensuring service quality, timeliness, and consistency across supported countries.
- Monitor, track, and report on SLAs, KPIs, and operational metrics.
- Act as the primary escalation point for complex employee or stakeholder issues, coordinate resolution across GPSS teams, COEs, Local People/Payroll, Finance, and vendors.
- Oversee case management channels (e.g., ticketing systems/queues), ensuring effective prioritization, turnaround times, and resolution quality.
People Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, coach, and performance‑manage a team of GPSS Specialists; conduct regular 1:1s, goal setting, reviews, and development planning.
- Foster a collaborative, high‑performing team culture focused on service mindset, accountability, and continuous learning.
- Drive cross‑training, knowledge sharing, and consistent adherence to SOPs/WIs across the team.
- Plan capacity, coverage, and resourcing to support BAU operations, cyclical peaks, and transition activities across time zones.
Payroll Operations Oversight
- Oversee validation and payroll inputs/outputs, variance checks, reconciliations
- Review complex transactions and ensure interface integrity across HCM and other payroll systems.
- Partner with Timekeeping, People Operations, Compensation & Benefits, Finance, and local payroll to close processing gaps and reduce rework. Compliance,
Controls & Audit Readiness
- Maintain a strong controls environment, ensuring compliance with internal policies, data privacy requirements, and local regulatory obligations.
- Ensure appropriate approvals, documentation, evidence, and segregation of duties are consistently applied.
- Support internal and external audits by maintaining audit‑ready documentation and leading timely remediation of findings.
Vendor & Stakeholder Management
- Build strong working relationships with People Partners, COEs, Local People/Payroll, Finance, and Technology teams.
- Lead or contribute to regular operational reviews to align on priorities, risks, and upcoming changes.
- Assist in reviewing performance of third‑party vendors supporting People operations, tracking SLAs, defects, and improvement actions.
Reporting, Analytics & Insights
- Review and validate operational reports (e.g., SLA performance, case volumes, error trends, headcount/data changes) and translate insights into actions.
- Ensure data integrity across HR systems by driving data quality checks, exception monitoring, and corrective actions.
- Provide clear, actionable updates to leadership/management team on operational performance and themes.
Process Improvement, Change & Transition
- Lead standardization and continuous improvement initiatives for GPSS processes to improve employee experience, reduce cycle times, defects, and manual effort.
- Maintain, review, and update SOPs, WIs, and knowledge articles to support scalable service delivery.
- Support transitions, expansions, and service migrations into GPSS, including UAT, training readiness, change impacts, and stabilization support.
Qualifications & Experience:
- Bachelor's degree in any field.
- 5–7+ years of progressive people operations experience in corporate, shared services, or multi-country environments (US/CA/AU/PH preferred).
- At least 2 years of people leadership experience in payroll or shared services operations.
- Proficient with major HRIS and payroll systems (Oracle HCM preferred), ticketing tools such as ServiceNow, and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams.
- Advanced Excel skills with strong reporting and reconciliation capability.
- Deep understanding of payroll regulations, HRIS integrations, and dependencies with Timekeeping, Compensation & Benefits, and Finance.
- Strong controls and compliance orientation, with proven audit readiness.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, able to explain complex payroll topics with clarity.
- Demonstrated problem-solving, sound decision-making, and a commitment to service excellence.
- Skilled in coaching, developing talent, and setting clear performance expectations.
- Fosters collaboration, accountability, and psychological safety within the team.
- Adaptable and resilient during payroll cutoffs, month-end cycles, and shifting priorities.
- Champions continuous improvement, standardization, and knowledge management.
Success Measures
- Accuracy and timeliness of people operations delivery across supported markets.
- Achievement of SLAs/KPIs and reduction of backlogs and escalations.
- Strong audit and compliance outcomes.
- Employee and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Process improvements and team capability development.
Why Arcadis
We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It's why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.
You'll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you'll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.
Together, we can create a lasting legacy.
Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day, which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. At Arcadis, you will have the opportunity to build the career that is right for you. Because each Arcadian has their own motivations, their own career goals. And, as a people first business, it is why we will take the time to listen, to understand what you want from your time here, and provide the support you need to achieve your ambitions.
