Sr Manager GBS HR Services (Porto, 13, PT)

Adidas; Porto; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Adidas Porto seeks a Senior Manager for GBS HR Services Workforce Administration to lead end-to-end employee lifecycle delivery—from hiring to offboarding—across the scope. You will drive governance, data quality, compliance, and strong business partnership with Payroll, Talent Acquisition and HR CoEs.

You will manage a multi-level team, set KPIs, and promote a culture of proactive decision-making, continuous improvement and scalable processes aligned with market needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, business administration or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in HR Operations/Services.
• Proven experience in people management and leading managers.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end Workforce Administration services across the assigned scope.
• Ensure processes, controls, and SLAs for data quality, timeliness, compliance, and employee experience.
• Act as senior escalation point for complex/high-risk cases.
• Maintain governance through performance reviews, metrics, root-cause analysis.
• Build partnerships with HR Business Partners, Payroll, Talent Acquisition, and others.
• Lead workforce planning, capacity, skills development, succession.
• Drive compliance, data quality, and process improvements across GBS.
• Represent GBS Porto HR Services in regional and global forums.

Skills

Workforce Administration

Business partnering

People leadership

Stakeholder management

English communication

Data-driven decision making

Change management

HR Analytics

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/Business

Tools

SAP/SuccessFactors

Job description

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization

The Senior Manager GBS HR Services Workforce Administration will be accountable for the end-to-end delivery, governance, and continuous improvement of Workforce Administration services delivered from GBS Porto.

Reporting to the Director GBS HR Services, this role leads teams responsible for the employee lifecycle from hiring through offboarding, including employee lifecycle activities, while ensuring accurate, timely, compliant, and employee-focused service delivery.

This role plays a critical role in combining people leadership, operational ownership, and strong business partnership (HR Business Partners, Payroll, Talent Acquisition, specialist functions, and market stakeholders) translating business needs into clear service priorities and sustainable operational solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Workforce Administration Operations Ownership

• Own and oversee end-to-end Workforce Administration services across the assigned scope, covering hiring, onboarding, employee data and organizational changes, contract and employment documentation, personal and job changes, leave and absence administration support, and offboarding.
• Ensure consistent execution of global and local processes, policies, controls, and service-level expectations, with a strong focus on data quality, timeliness, compliance, and employee experience.
• Act as the senior operational escalation point for complex, sensitive, high-risk, or cross-functional cases, ensuring clear ownership and appropriate resolution.
• Maintain effective operational governance through performance reviews, service metrics, case trends, root-cause analysis, and structured follow-up on risks and actions.

Business Partnership & Stakeholder Management

• Build trusted partnerships with HR Business Partners, Payroll, Talent Acquisition, HR Centers of Excellence, Legal, Finance, Data Privacy, HR Transformation & Solutions, and market stakeholders.
• Understand business priorities and workforce needs, translate them into practical service solutions, and align stakeholders on responsibilities, dependencies, risks, and expected outcomes.
• Influence across functions and geographies without relying on formal authority, managing competing priorities while protecting service quality and compliance.
• Represent GBS Porto HR Services in regional and global forums and contribute with an operational perspective to policy, process, system, and organizational decisions.

People Leadership & Team Management

• Lead and develop a multi-level Workforce Administration organization, setting clear direction, priorities, performance expectations, and decision rights.
• Set clear performance goals, priorities and KPIs aligned with HR Services objectives.
• Create an accountable, collaborative and customer-focused culture; coach team leaders and subject matter experts in critical thinking, proactive decision-making and stakeholder management.
• Own workforce and capacity planning, skills development, succession, knowledge management and business continuity.
• Conduct regular performance reviews, coaching conversations, and development planning sessions.

Compliance, Data Quality & Improvement

• Ensure compliance with employment requirements, internal policies, data protection, records management and internal controls; oversee risk mitigation, audit readiness and remediation.
• Drive data quality and preventive controls across the employee lifecycle, addressing root causes and downstream impacts.
• Lead process standardization, simplification, automation and digital enablement; use service data and stakeholder feedback to prioritize and sustain improvements across GBS.

Key Relationships

• GBS HR teams including Payroll, Time management, Enablement & Solutions
• Employees, HR Business Partners and market HR leadership
• HR Transformation & Solutions
• HR CoEs: Rewards, Mobility, Talent, Learning
• Legal and Finance, and External authorities, and suppliers where applicable

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Deep knowledge of Workforce Administration and employee lifecycle operations is mandatory
• Strong business partnering capability: understands stakeholder needs, challenges constructively, aligns interests and converts requirements into executable solutions.
• Proven people leadership experience, including leading team leaders or multi-level operational teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, and communication skills, including engagement with senior leaders.
• Ability to read, write and communicate in English in a business setting Strong analytical and critical-thinking skills, with the ability to use data to identify patterns, make decisions, and prioritize action.
• Continuous improvement, change leadership and growth mindset.
• Ability to operate effectively in a global, matrixed, fast-changing environment and to balance strategic priorities with operational delivery.
• Good knowledge of HR Systems including SAP / SuccessFactors, development tools, performance tools, etc.

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business Administration or related field preferred
• 8+ years of overall work experience in HR Operations/Services
• Proven experience in people management and operational leadership, with proven ability to manage a medium-sized team and experience in managing managers (team leaders/supervisors)