System VP, People Connections Experience & Optimization

Inspired by faith. Driven by innovation. Powered by humankindness. CommonSpirit Health is building a healthier future for all through its integrated health services. As one of the nation’s largest nonprofit Catholic healthcare organizations, CommonSpirit Health delivers more than 20 million patient encounters annually through more than 2,300 clinics, care sites, and 137 hospital-based locations, in addition to its home-based services and virtual care offerings. CommonSpirit has more than 157,000 employees, 45,000 nurses, and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice providers across 24 states and contributes more than $4.2 billion annually in charity care, community benefits, and unreimbursed government programs. Together with our patients, physicians, partners, and communities, we are creating a more just, equitable, and innovative healthcare delivery system.

The VP, People Connections Experience & Optimization is a strategic leadership role responsible for driving the functional excellence and continuous improvement of Human Capital Management (HCM) across Commonspirit’s footprint. This role is focused on reimagining the HR experience - from hire to retire.  Responsible for defining the vision and championing the functional excellence of CommonSpirit’s people experience, this is a strategic business owner who bridges the gap between & "Business Reality" and system execution. This role drives the full employee lifecycle, advocates for HR Shared Services excellence, and governs the functional strategy of HR technology as a business-owned capability. The VP serves as CommonSpirit's foremost authority on people operations, ensuring that HR processes, programs, and digital tools are shaped by deep human capital expertise and a relentless commitment to employee experience.  This leader serves as the primary liaison to the IT team, collaborating to ensure HR technology is optimized to support a future-ready workforce.  The VP will lead the centralized HR Shared Services function (People Connections) to deliver high-quality, scalable services, leveraging automation and AI as strategic enablers to drive operational efficiency and free up HR Business Partners for high-value work.

Leading the centralized HR Shared Services function (People Connections), this executive will elevate service quality, build organizational capability, and leverage automation and AI as strategic enablers —always anchored in the goal of freeing HR Business Partners to do high-value, human work. This role demands a thought leader with deep HR domain expertise, strong organizational instincts, and the ability to create clarity and simplicity within complexity.

Essential Key Job Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Project Management:

• Oversee and coordinate the execution of key departmental projects and initiatives, developing an integrated approach across the various COEs to effectively drive projects to completion and remove roadblocks.  
• Business Requirements: Act as the primary lead in defining business requirements for all HCM functional areas. Participate in updates, releases, and the rollout of new features to ensure HR technology evolves with business needs; serve as the lead functional partner to IT leadership, collaborating to translate business needs into technology solutions that enhance the employee journey.

Experience Strategy:

• Develop and implement the strategic roadmap for the Shared Services team, ensuring a seamless, cohesive, and modernized experience for all team members.

Optimization & Service Delivery:

• Service Advocacy: Oversee the end-to-end delivery of HR services, ensuring they are consistent, high- quality, and meet established Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Process Optimization: Act as a departmental change agent to proactively identify opportunities for process simplification and standardization.
• Digital Enablement: Champion the adoption of intuitive digital tools—such as Al-powered self-service and chatbots—to provide personalized support and reduce administrative friction

Insights & Governance:

• Strategic Insights: Direct the report-writing to transform data into impactful insights that drive solutions to complex organizational problems.
• Data Strategy: Develop a long-term strategy to mature HR data capabilities, implementing a data-driven approach to human capital management.
• Compliance & Stewardship: Ensure all operations comply with labor laws and data privacy regulations (e.g., HIPAA/HITECH) while managing the departmental budget

Continuous Improvement:

• Automate manual processes to mitigate risk of human error, enhance overall efficiency, and improve the employee experience by leveraging technology as an enabler of the business.
• Development and management of departmental roadmaps & coordination of new initiatives.

Team Engagement and Leadership:

• Partner effectively with IT, Finance, Legal, and other business units to ensure seamless integration and alignment of the Shared Services technology initiatives. Act as a strategic advisor to HR leadership.
• Provides leadership and guidance to staff, fostering an environment that encourages employee participation, development, teamwork, continuous improvement, and communication.
• Creates a positive team culture and directs team goals, priorities, and career development, focusing on the development and growth of the capabilities of all team members.
• Interview and selection of new employees, promotions, staff development, performance evaluations, compensation changes, resolution of employee concerns, corrective actions, terminations, and overall employee morale.

Reporting and Analytics:

• Developing a long-term strategy to mature our capabilities and implement a data-driven approach to human capital management.
• Manage the functional department’s budget by monitoring monthly spending trends and understanding variances to the budget.

Industry Insight:

•  Maintain current knowledge of industry trends, best practices, and regulations related to Total Rewards. Anticipating future trends for the enterprise and business units and collaborating with HRBPs and other stakeholders to recommend breakthrough programs.

Minimum Knowledge:

Required Education and Experience:

• BS/BA in Business Administration, HR, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field (HR experience, consulting experience is a plus)
• (12) Twelve years of progressive leadership roles. Minimum of five (5) years of leadership experience at the Director level or above

Required Licensure and Certifications:

• Project Management Professional (PMP)® Certification is a plus (or related certifications such as Agile/Scrum, Platform Certifications, etc.)
• Familiarity with working within or the implementation of the Workday Platform is a requirement of this position.

Required Minimum Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Training :

• HR Lifecycle: A fundamental grasp of end-to-end processes, including recruitment, onboarding, compensation, benefits, and payroll.
• Emerging Tech & AI: A conceptual understanding of AI, machine learning, and automation (such as RPA and chatbots) and how to apply them to HR.
• Data Governance: Knowledge of data integrity, security, and the distinction between transactional and analytical data.
• Compliance: Familiarity with data privacy regulations (like HIPAA/HITECH) and cybersecurity best practices relevant to sensitive HR data.

Minimum Skills :

• Team Leadership & People Management: Ability to motivate, coach, and manage a team of administrative or service delivery professionals. 
•  Demonstrates courage to challenge "status quo" and drive continuous improvement.
•  Excellent project management skills, ability to multitask, work independently, balance competing priorities, and work to deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to listen effectively and express thoughts and opinions clearly and concisely.
• Ability to translate data into impactful insights that drive solutions to complex problems across the organization.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (verbal, written, and presentation), including the ability to communicate and present complex ideas in a clear & simple way, with the ability to resonate with a diverse audience.
• Demonstrate flexibility and work collaboratively across all levels in the organization.
• Strong technology skills, including Excel and PowerPoint, and strong analytic abilities required.
• Excellent analytical, quantitative, and qualitative skills to facilitate effective decision-making.

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