Project Manager, Employee Experience & HR Technology Director - (B6)

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Applied Materials is the global leader in materials science and engineering solutions that are at the foundation of virtually every new semiconductor chip and advanced display in the world. The equipment that we create and service is essential to advancing AI and accelerating the commercialization of next-generation semiconductor chips. Join us and push the boundaries of materials science and engineering in a company at the foundation of the electronics industry. The work we do together advances the world’s technology.

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The Director, Employee Experience Portfolio & HR Technology Delivery serves as the strategic portfolio leader responsible for driving execution excellence across the HR function's most critical transformation, employee experience, and HR technology initiatives. Operating at the intersection of HR Centers of Excellence (COEs), Global Information Services (GIS), and HR leadership, this role provides enterprise-level portfolio oversight, governance leadership, and strategic planning support to ensure initiatives align with business objectives and deliver measurable outcomes.

As a senior individual contributor, this role influences without direct authority, bringing executive-level rigor, visibility, and accountability to the HR investment portfolio. The Director partners closely with the HR Technology Leader, COE executives, and the VP of Employee Experience to establish strategic priorities, guide investment decisions, identify organizational risks, and drive alignment across a complex portfolio of initiatives.

This role does not directly manage project execution teams but serves as the senior leader responsible for ensuring that appropriate governance, planning disciplines, prioritization frameworks, and delivery mechanisms are in place to enable successful outcomes.

The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in portfolio management, HR transformation, enterprise technology delivery, and organizational change leadership, with the executive presence necessary to influence senior leaders and navigate highly matrixed environments.

Enterprise Portfolio Strategy & Governance

• Lead the strategic governance and oversight of the HR transformation and HR technology portfolio, ensuring initiatives align with enterprise priorities, resource capacity, and business outcomes.
• Establish portfolio prioritization frameworks, investment criteria, and governance standards used to evaluate and sequence HR initiatives.
• Provide executive-level visibility into portfolio health, dependencies, risks, resource constraints, and delivery outcomes across the HR function.
• Facilitate portfolio-level decision making among HR leadership, COEs, and GIS partners, balancing competing priorities and organizational needs.
• Drive portfolio reviews with senior stakeholders, ensuring alignment on strategic objectives, delivery commitments, and investment tradeoffs.

Executive Partnership & Strategic Advisory

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the VP of Employee Experience and HR leadership team on portfolio strategy, delivery health, risk management, and organizational readiness.
• Partner closely with HR Technology leadership to align technology investments, roadmap priorities, and transformation objectives across the HR ecosystem.
• Anticipate and proactively address portfolio-level risks that may impact business objectives, adoption outcomes, or delivery timelines.
• Influence executive stakeholders and functional leaders to drive alignment and accountability across complex cross-functional initiatives.
• Provide recommendations regarding investment decisions, prioritization changes, resource allocations, and mitigation strategies.

HR Transformation & Roadmap Leadership

• Lead the development and ongoing evolution of the multi-year HR transformation roadmap in partnership with HR leadership and GIS stakeholders.
• Facilitate strategic planning processes that translate business priorities into executable HR and technology initiatives.
• Evaluate interdependencies across programs and identify opportunities to consolidate efforts, improve efficiency, and maximize organizational impact.
• Ensure roadmap priorities are supported by appropriate governance, resource plans, and change readiness strategies.
• Drive annual and quarterly portfolio planning cycles, supporting executive decision-making and investment prioritization.

Enterprise Delivery Excellence

• Champion adoption of portfolio management disciplines, governance frameworks, and delivery standards across HR.
• Assess organizational delivery maturity and identify opportunities to improve consistency, predictability, and execution effectiveness.
• Establish executive reporting mechanisms and success metrics that provide meaningful insight into portfolio performance and business value realization.
• Lead lessons learned reviews and continuous improvement efforts to strengthen portfolio execution capabilities across the HR organization.
• Identify systemic obstacles impacting project delivery and recommend structural improvements to increase organizational effectiveness.

Change Leadership & Organizational Readiness

• Oversee portfolio-wide change readiness strategies across HR transformation initiatives.
• Partner with COE leaders, HR Business Partners, and communications teams to ensure coordinated adoption and change management approaches.
• Assess organizational readiness for major HR technology and employee experience initiatives.
• Guide senior leaders through change impacts, stakeholder considerations, and adoption risks associated with strategic programs.
• Promote best practices in change leadership, stakeholder engagement, and organizational adoption.

What We're Looking For

Experience & Background

• 10-15+ years of progressive experience in portfolio management, enterprise PMO leadership, HR transformation, HR technology, or large-scale business transformation initiatives.
• Experience leading enterprise portfolios or PMO functions supporting complex, cross-functional organizations with multiple concurrent strategic initiatives.
• Demonstrated success partnering with executive leadership teams, influencing strategic decisions, and driving alignment across matrixed organizations.
• Significant experience overseeing HR technology transformations, including Workday, HRIS, employee experience platforms, or enterprise-wide system deployments.
• Experience developing and governing enterprise roadmaps, investment portfolios, and strategic planning processes.
• Background in Employee Experience, HR Operations, HR Transformation, Digital HR, or Workforce Technology strongly preferred.
• Experience operating within large, global organizations undergoing significant transformation.

Strategic & Functional Expertise

• Deep expertise in portfolio governance, program management, resource planning, risk management, and organizational change leadership.
• Strong understanding of HR processes, employee lifecycle programs, HR operating models, and supporting technologies.
• Ability to evaluate complex organizational dependencies and align business, process, technology, and people considerations.
• Experience building executive dashboards, portfolio reporting frameworks, and investment prioritization methodologies.
• Familiarity with Agile, Product Delivery, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery frameworks at scale.

Leadership & Executive Influence

• Executive presence with the ability to influence senior leaders and drive action without formal authority.
• Strong business acumen and strategic thinking, capable of connecting portfolio decisions to broader organizational goals.
• Exceptional facilitation and stakeholder management skills across executive, functional, and technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity, competing priorities, and organizational complexity.
• Proven track record of building alignment across diverse stakeholder groups and driving enterprise-wide outcomes.
• Exceptional communication skills, including executive presentations, roadmap storytelling, and strategic recommendations.
• High degree of accountability, judgment, and organizational influence.

Additional Information

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The salary offered to a selected candidate will be based on multiple factors including location, hire grade, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and with consideration of internal equity of our current team members. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, candidates may be eligible for other forms of compensation such as participation in a bonus and a stock award program, as applicable.

For all sales roles, the posted salary range is the Target Total Cash (TTC) range for the role, which is the sum of base salary and target bonus amount at 100% goal achievement.

Applied Materials is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

In addition, Applied endeavors to make our careers site accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact us via e-mail at Accommodations_Program@amat.com, or by calling our HR Direct Help Line at 877-612-7547, option 1, and following the prompts to speak to an HR Advisor. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.