People Project Manager

White & Case Global Operations Center Manila; Manila; Hybrid; PHP 1,000,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Job summary

White & Case Global Operations Center Manila is seeking a People Project Manager to lead cross-functional People systems initiatives, including HRIS/HCM implementations and data reporting. You will collaborate with legal, technology, and vendor teams to translate strategy into actionable project plans while protecting employee data privacy and security.

The role requires 7+ years in project leadership across People processes and systems, with hands-on Workday or similar HRIS experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Project Management, or a related field preferred.
• PMP, PRINCE2, Agile, or equivalent project management certification strongly preferred; HRIS or People systems certification (for example Workday) is an advantage.
• 7+ years of experience managing projects, including People or People systems initiatives, with responsibility for complex, cross-functional, or enterprise-level programs.
• Hands‑on experience delivering HRIS or HCM projects, such as Workday, as well as payroll, benefits, learning, time and absence management, or People data and reporting initiatives is an advantage.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects with multiple People and technical teams, business stakeholders, vendors, budgets, risks, and dependencies.
• Experience delivering projects for professional services, financial services, legal services, or another complex global organization is beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex People function and People systems projects from initiation and planning through execution, implementation, transition, and closure.
• Manage projects across the People portfolio, including HRIS and HCM platforms, benefits systems, talent acquisition and learning technology, people analytics and reporting, module upgrades, and data or system migrations.
• Partner with People functional leaders, business sponsors, and Technology partners to define project objectives, scope, success measures, governance, and delivery expectations.
• Translate People process and system requirements into structured project plans, schedules, milestones, and workstreams.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams that may include People centers of excellence, People operations, payroll, application owners, information security, data and reporting teams, business analysts, change management resources, procurement, legal, and external vendors.
• Establish appropriate project governance, decision-making processes, escalation paths, and stakeholder engagement models following the People PMO governance.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

HRIS/People systems

Data analytics

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration or Information Systems

PM certification (PMP/PRINCE2)

Tools

Workday

Smartsheet

Excel/BI tools

Job description

Our Global Operating Center located in Manila is pivotal to enhancing the Firm’s operational efficiency and streamlining legal and business services support across our global network. Our center provides comprehensive administrative, financial and operational services across office operations, compliance and new business, finance, technology, human resources, innovation and marketing. By centralizing these critical functions, the center ensures consistency and quality in service delivery while reducing operational costs. Through its integrated approach, our Global Operating Center enables the Firm to focus on its core legal services, drive global growth and maintain high standards of client service across all offices.

Position Summary

The People Project Manager is a member of the People Portfolio team, responsible for leading complex, cross-functional People systems and process initiatives from initiation through implementation and closure. The role manages projects across the People function and its supporting technology, including HRIS and HCM platform implementations, and benefits integrations, talent acquisition and learning systems, people data and reporting initiatives, module upgrades, and system migrations.

The People Project Manager provides structured leadership across the full project lifecycle, ensuring that project objectives, scope, schedules, budgets, resources, risks, and dependencies are effectively managed. This position works closely with People functional leaders, business sponsors, Technology partners, vendors, and other stakeholders to translate people strategy priorities into executable project plans and measurable outcomes, while maintaining strict confidentiality of employee data.

General Responsibilities

• Lead complex People function and People systems projects from initiation and planning through execution, implementation, transition, and closure.
• Manage projects across the People portfolio, including HRIS and HCM platforms, benefits systems, talent acquisition and learning technology, people analytics and reporting, module upgrades, and data or system migrations.
• Partner with People functional leaders, business sponsors, and Technology partners to define project objectives, scope, success measures, governance, and delivery expectations.
• Translate People process and system requirements into structured project plans, schedules, milestones, and workstreams.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams that may include People centers of excellence, People operations, payroll, application owners, information security, data and reporting teams, business analysts, change management resources, procurement, legal, and external vendors.
• Establish appropriate project governance, decision-making processes, escalation paths, and stakeholder engagement models following the People PMO governance.
• Manage project budgets, forecasts, resource requirements, vendor commitments, and financial performance.
• Identify and manage risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, and constraints that may affect project delivery.
• Facilitate timely decisions and escalate material concerns with clear recommendations and potential impacts.
• Ensure project deliverables align with People and business objectives, technology and data standards, data privacy and security requirements, operational expectations, and applicable governance processes.
• Ensure projects involving employee data meet data privacy, records retention, and applicable local employment law requirements, working with Legal, Information Security, and regional People teams.
• Provide clear and timely reporting on project status, accomplishments, risks, decisions, financials, and upcoming milestones.
• Support operational readiness, implementation planning, knowledge transfer, adoption, and transition to support teams.
• Ensure projects are formally closed with completed deliverables, documented outcomes, lessons learned, and appropriate stakeholder acceptance.

Project Management Responsibilities :

• Develop and maintain integrated project plans covering scope, schedules, resources, budgets, milestones, deliverables, and dependencies.
• Lead project initiation activities, including development of project charters, delivery approaches, governance structures, and stakeholder plans.
• Manage multiple workstreams and ensure dependencies between People process, technical, vendor, data, security, payroll cycle, and operational activities are understood and coordinated.
• Facilitate project meetings, steering committee discussions, working sessions, risk reviews, and executive status updates.
• Establish delivery baselines and manage changes to project scope, schedule, resources, and budget through appropriate change-control processes.
• Monitor project performance and take corrective action when delivery is at risk.
• Develop recovery plans for projects experiencing schedule, resource, financial, or delivery challenges.
• Maintain accurate project documentation, decisions, action items, risks, issues, and change records.
• Manage vendor deliverables, contractual milestones, statements of work, invoices, and performance expectations in partnership with Procurement and project sponsors.
• Coordinate configuration reviews, user acceptance testing, parallel payroll or data validation testing, implementation, migration, deployment, and stabilization activities as applicable.
• Ensure business readiness, communications, training, support, and adoption requirements are incorporated into project plans.
• Apply PMO standards, methodologies, templates, reporting requirements, and governance processes.
• Use Smartsheet to create and maintain project schedules, dashboards, reports, risk and issue logs, resource views, and stakeholder communications.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of PMO delivery practices, tools, templates, and project management standards.
• Provide guidance and delivery leadership to project team members and less-experienced project managers when appropriate.
• Clarify how the solution works, what employee data it uses, where that data flows, how integrations with payroll, finance, and downstream systems are designed, and what dependencies exist.
• Explain risks, options, trade-offs, and recommendations in a way that supports informed decision-making.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Project Management, or a related field preferred.
• PMP, PRINCE2, Agile, or equivalent project management certification strongly preferred; HRIS or People systems certification (for example Workday) is an advantage.
• 7+ years of experience managing projects, including People or People systems initiatives, with responsibility for complex, cross-functional, or enterprise-level programs.
• Hands‑on experience delivering HRIS or HCM projects, such as Workday, as well as payroll, benefits, learning, time and absence management, or People data and reporting initiatives is an advantage.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects with multiple People and technical teams, business stakeholders, vendors, budgets, risks, and dependencies.
• Experience working within a PMO or structured project governance environment preferred.
• Experience delivering projects for professional services, financial services, legal services, or another complex global organization is beneficial.

Essential Job Requirements

• Ability to understand complex technical and People process information and communicate its business impact to non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong executive communication, presentation, negotiation, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to influence outcomes, resolve conflict, facilitate decisions, and maintain accountability without direct authority.
• Strong judgment and the ability to identify delivery concerns, evaluate alternatives, and recommend practical solutions.
• Experience working with global and geographically distributed teams.
• Working knowledge of core People processes and data across the employee lifecycle, including recruiting, onboarding, payroll, benefits, performance, learning, and offboarding.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams, and other project collaboration and reporting tools.
• Familiarity with Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid project delivery approaches.
• Strong organizational, analytical, problem‑solving, and written communication skills.
• Sound judgment and discretion in handling confidential and personal employee information.

Other

• Hybrid (Minimum 3 days onsite)
• This role follows UK business hours: 4:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., depending on UK daylight saving time
• This role reports to Senior Manager, People Portfolio

This role reports to

Project Management Senior Manager

Equal Opportunities

White & Case is committed to creating a fair workplace. It is our Firm’s policy to recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, religion, creed, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law. If you require assistance and/or adjustment to participate in our application and/or interview process, please email us. We will be happy to work with you.

The Firm may modify and amend any job description at any time in its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

The above is only a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

Note to Recruitment Agencies

Our internal Recruitment team manages all aspects of lateral hiring. All agencies must have signed terms of business—specific to the relevant office—before submitting any candidates. CVs or applications sent directly to White & Case partners or employees will also not be considered formal introductions. If you have questions, please contact the relevant Recruitment team. We work with our preferred suppliers when engaging agencies.