People Global Process Owner (GPO)

CBRE; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

CBRE is seeking a People Global Process Owner (GPO) in London to drive standardized, scalable HR processes across regions. You will own end-to-end design, governance, and change control, working with Platform Product Leads to ensure technology supports process needs and a consistent employee experience globally.

The role requires experience in global HR process governance, strong stakeholder leadership, and the ability to balance global standards with local variations in a fast-moving

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in HR process design, business analysis, or HR operations within a global organisation.
• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, IT, or related field; advanced degree or professional certifications preferred.
• Proven experience owning end-to-end HR process governance in a complex, matrixed environment.
• Strong understanding of HR platforms and systems and ability to evaluate technology impacts on processes.
• Experience navigating global-to-local governance models with local policy variation.

Responsibilities

• Document and maintain end-to-end process design, integrations, handoffs, and data flows.
• Ensure global standards with necessary local variations and alignment to employee experience goals.
• Partner with Platform Product Leads to ensure platform capabilities support workflow needs.
• Lead governance, change control, and documentation updates for process and platform changes.
• Drive operational excellence with KPIs, SLAs, and continuous improvement in collaboration with regional teams.

Skills

HR process design

Governance & compliance

Change management

Stakeholder management

Documentation

Analytics & metrics

Global to local governance

Cross-functional collaboration

Process governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business/IT

Lean / Six Sigma / CIPD (preferred)

Tools

Workday

PeopleSoft

ServiceNow

Job description

Job Title: People Global Process Owner (GPO)

Location: London

The Global Process Owner (GPO) serves as the accountable owner of one or more assigned global People processes. The GPO ensures processes are standardized, scalable, compliant, and aligned with People strategy and business needs, while respecting local policy ownership. The role is responsible for process governance, performance, documentation, and evaluating the impacts of product (technology) changes for the processes they are responsible for. The GPO operates in a fast-moving, evolving environment and must balance long-term process governance with the agility to respond to organizational and platform changes. The GPO owns end-to-end process design and partners closely with Platform Product Leads to ensure technology capability supports process needs. The GPO plays a formal role in change governance for both process and platform changes that affect their assigned processes — no change may progress without GPO involvement and sign-off. The role collaborates across People Services, COEs, HRBPs, Legal, Compliance, regional People teams, and Platform Product Leads to drive global adoption, continuous improvement, and a consistent employee experience across a diverse, global workforce spanning multiple regions and cultures.

What You Will Be Doing

Process Strategy and Design

• Document and maintain end-to-end process design, integrations, handoffs, and data flows.
• Ensure global standards are met while identifying necessary and approved local variations.
• Align processes with employee experience goals and the target operating model.
• Ensure all assigned processes follow established global design principles.

Governance, Compliance & Change Control

• Use existing change governance forums for approvals, change evaluation, and decision-making across assigned processes.
• Ensure all documentation (process maps, RACIs, SOPs, standards, collateral) is current and maintained.
• Initiate impact assessments for any process or technology change affecting assigned processes.
• Provide mandatory sign-off before changes progress to build or deployment stages.
• Partner with Local Policy Owners and country HR teams to ensure alignment with local regulations and requirements.
• Maintain a global-to-local framework to clarify mandatory vs. optional steps and manage approved variation logs.

Technology & Digital Enablement

• Define and prioritize business and process requirements for technology enablement.
• Partner with Platform Product Leads to ensure platform capability supports workflow needs.
• Participate in backlog refinement, sprint reviews, UAT, and release planning.
• Review platform enhancements and assess end-to-end process impacts.
• Ensure technology changes are reflected in updated process documentation.
• Support change readiness activities for all technology releases.

Operational Excellence

• Execute KPIs, SLAs, and performance measures for assigned processes.
• Monitor operational performance and partner with People Services to address issues.
• Ensure operational documentation (SOPs, workflows, knowledge articles) is maintained.
• Drive simplification and automation initiatives in partnership with the AI/Automation Platform team.
• Support root cause analysis for process breaks or system defects.

Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Serve as the global escalation point for assigned processes.
• Partner with Local Policy Owners and regional People teams to ensure local needs are considered.
• Collaborate with People Services, COEs, HRBPs, Legal, Compliance, and Platform Product Leads, holding these teams accountable for involvement in solutioning and operational readiness.
• Ensure strong adoption and establish feedback loops across regions.
• Proactively champion and embed global process design principles across relevant stakeholder groups, translating standards into practical guidance that regional and functional partners can adopt and sustain.

Change Leadership (Process & Product)

• Lead end-to-end impact assessments for process and technology changes impacting assigned processes.
• Provide mandatory approval for any process-related product impacts (changes affecting workflows, data, roles, or user experience).
• Ensure changes are reflected in updated documentation, training materials, and communications.
• Ensure readiness and change adoption activities are completed prior to go-live.
• Participate in release planning and support post-release validation and performance review.

What You Will Need To Apply

• Hands on experience in HR process design, business analysis, or HR operations within a global organisation.
• Bachelor's degree (BA/BS) in Human Resources, Business, IT, or a related field; advanced degree or professional certifications (e.g. Lean, Six Sigma, CIPD) preferred.
• Proven experience owning end-to-end HR process governance in a complex, matrixed environment.
• Strong understanding of HR platforms and systems (e.g. Workday, PeopleSoft, ServiceNow, or equivalent); ability to evaluate and articulate technology impacts on business processes.
• Experience navigating global-to-local governance models, including managing local policy variation within a standardized framework.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver change governance, including impact assessments, stakeholder sign-off, and change readiness.
• Strong documentation skills across process maps (L1-L4), SOPs, RACIs, KPI/SLA frameworks, and training materials.
• Proven ability to influence and align senior stakeholders without direct authority, with a track record of embedding process standards and driving adoption across complex, matrixed global organisations.
• Analytical mindset with experience using data and performance metrics to drive continuous improvement.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, evolving environment where priorities may shift; able to manage ambiguity while maintaining delivery standards and team momentum.
• Continuous improvement mindset with a demonstrated habit of identifying and eliminating unnecessary complexity — not just maintaining processes but actively seeking new ways to simplify and streamline.
• Cultural fluency and demonstrated experience working across multiple regions, time zones, and cultural contexts; able to build trust and adapt communication style to diverse audiences while maintaining consistent global standards.
• Experience working within a Shared Services or centralised operating model for a global company is highly desirable. Note: this role does not carry direct people management responsibility; leadership is exercised through process authority, governance accountability, and cross-functional influence.

Why CBRE

When you join CBRE, you become part of the global leader in commercial real estate services and investment that helps businesses and people thrive. We are dynamic problem solvers and forward-thinking professionals who create significant impact. Our collaborative culture is built on our shared values — respect, integrity, service and excellence — and we value the diverse perspectives, backgrounds and skillsets of our people. At CBRE, you have the opportunity to chart your own course and realize your potential. We welcome all applicants.

Applicant AI Use Disclosure

We value human interaction to understand each candidate's unique experience, skills and aspirations. We do not use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to make hiring decisions, and we ask that candidates disclose any use of AI in the application and interview process.