Associate Director, Product Owner - Time & Absence

About the Team: Enterprise Systems is the backbone of GSK’s internal operations in Digital & Tech, enabling GSK Global Functions teams such as Finance, Procurement, HR, Legal, Compliance, WREF, CGA and Corporate Secretariat to run seamlessly. This team designs and delivers cutting-edge digital platforms that power critical processes, ensuring efficiency, compliance, and scalability across the enterprise.         Our HR Digital & Tech team transforms how GSK attracts, develops, and retains talent through innovative technology solutions. From managing global HR platforms to delivering data-driven insights, this function ensures our people have the tools and experiences they need to thrive. Partnering closely with HR business teams, we create solutions that simplify processes, enhance employee engagement, and enable strategic workforce planning. If you’re passionate about technology that empowers people, this is where you can make an impact.   Job Purpose: The Associate Director, Product Owner -Time & Absence is responsible for maximising the value of their HR Product portfolio by translating business needs into a prioritised backlog and leading delivery across the HR product lifecycle, within strategic and financial guardrails set by the Senior Director People Services & Reward, and VP HR Digital & Tech. They work closely with business stakeholders to define outcomes and ensure delivered functionality is usable, secure, compliant, supportable, and aligned to product strategy. The Time & Absence Product Owner guides delivery and operational support teams to ensure requirements are clear, value-driven, and data-informed, while overseeing iterative delivery that improves product performance, adoption, and operational effectiveness. This role operates under GSK's "Performance with Choice" hybrid working approach, typically expecting 2–3 days per week in the office, with the specific pattern agreed between the successful candidate and their manager based on role and team needs.   Key Responsibilities: • Serve as the functional and technical SME for Workday Time and Absence , offering expert guidance on configuration, statutory compliance, and best practice. • Partner with business stakeholders to understand functional needs, refine requirements, and define product outcomes that support business priorities, within guardrails set by the Senior Director, People Services & Reward, and VP HR Digital & Tech. • Serve as the escalation point for HR Product teams and business users on functional product issues, guiding decisions within agreed financial, risk, and architectural guardrails set by the Director, Workday, Payroll & Time Product Manager and VP, HR Digital & Tech. • Own and manage the Product backlog (e.g. Jira, ADO etc), ensuring requirements (e.g., epics, features, user stories) are well-defined and supported by minimum data inputs (e.g., cost drivers, user volumes, risk/sensitivity, process impact, dependencies). • Make prioritisation decisions for the Product backlog based on value, cost, risk, business continuity, and resource capacity, escalating only where strategic trade-offs are required by the Senior Director, People Services & Reward, and VP HR Digital & Tech. • Lead the Product team’s delivery activities, guiding Engineers, Architects, and Testers to ensure solutions are fit-for-purpose, secure, compliant, supportable, and aligned to architectural standards. • Drive operational readiness by applying a delivery readiness checklist covering support model requirements, training needs, continuity planning, configuration/runbook documentation, release notes, and user onboarding. • Define and maintain the Product performance dashboard, tracking adoption, cycle time/throughput, stability/defects, UX signals (e.g., CSAT, SU