Capability Architecture Speciliast

Fortive; Everett (WA); On-site; USD 62,000 - 103,000; Full time

Job summary

Fortive is seeking a Capability Architecture Specialist to own and maintain the enterprise skills taxonomy, starting from an external library and adapting it to Fortive’s language and strategic capabilities. You will govern metadata, maintain version history, and drive change management with clear stakeholder collaboration across Talent Partners and HR stakeholders.

The role emphasizes data stewardship, taxonomy integrity, and enablement of HR teams through practical guidance and templates,

Qualifications

• Experience maintaining structured data, controlled vocabularies, catalogs, taxonomies, master data or similarly governed content.
• Strong data-management discipline, including attention to detail, data validation, documentation, version control and process compliance.
• Ability to explain decisions clearly and challenge unsupported changes while remaining pragmatic.

Responsibilities

• Own the enterprise skills taxonomy structure including domains, categories, skills, definitions and metadata.
• Maintain authoritative taxonomy records and apply data-quality controls for duplicates, conflicting definitions and missing metadata.
• Coordinate intake, review, and version-control processes; establish baseline, migration plan and release schedule.
• Design and operate practical intake processes for taxonomy changes across stakeholders; communicate outcomes with transparency.
• Promote consistent use across HR processes and platforms; monitor adoption and data quality.

Skills

Data stewardship

Taxonomy

Governance

Change management

Vendor management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in human resources, business, information management, data management or related field

Job description

The Capability Architecture Specialist establishes and administers Fortive's enterprise skills taxonomy, beginning with an externally acquired library and adapting it to the language, roles and strategic capabilities that matter across Fortive. The role is accountable for taxonomy integrity, metadata quality, governance workflows, version control, disciplined change management, and vendor management.

This is a hands-on data stewardship role with meaningful stakeholder influence. The Specialist partners with Talent Partners, HRBPs, HR Operations, HR Technology and subject matter experts to evaluate requests, resolve ambiguity and protect enterprise consistency. The role must be able to explain decisions clearly and challenge unsupported changes while remaining pragmatic and service oriented.

OPERATING MODEL

1 ARCHITECTURE & INTEGRITY| 2 GOVERNANCE & CHANGE| 3 ENABLEMENT & ADOPTION

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Own the skills taxonomy structure, standards, metadata and quality.| Run transparent intake, review, approval and version-control processes.| Help HR teams use the architecture consistently in talent decisions and systems.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN THE ENTERPRISE CAPABILITY ARCHITECTURE

• Stand up Fortive's enterprise skills taxonomy from the ground up using an externally acquired skills library as the starting point.
• Define the architecture, including domains, categories, skills, definitions, aliases, proficiency descriptors, relationships and required metadata.
• Create clear design principles and naming standards that balance external market language with Fortive-specific business relevance.
• Partner with Talent Partners, HRBPs and functional subject matter experts to validate priority skill families and translate business needs into scalable taxonomy updates.
• Establish the initial baseline, migration approach and release plan, including the treatment of duplicates, legacy terms and local variants.

ADMINISTER TAXONOMY DATA & QUALITY

• Maintain the authoritative taxonomy record and execute additions, revisions, and archival decisions with precision.
• Apply data-quality controls to identify duplicates, conflicting definitions, inconsistent levels, missing metadata and broken relationships.
• Maintain documentation, decision logs, version history and release notes so changes are traceable, explainable and auditable.
• Coordinate scheduled refreshes using vendor updates, internal demand signals, emerging technology and changing business capability requirements.
• Prepare clean, structured data files and requirements for configuration or integration by HR Technology and platform owners.

GOVERN REQUESTS & MANAGE STAKEHOLDERS

• Design and operate a practical intake, triage, review and approval process for taxonomy changes across enterprise and OpCo stakeholders.
• Evaluate requests against agreed criteria, evidence and enterprise standards rather than stakeholder seniority or local preference.
• Resolve conflicting requests, recommend the best enterprise solution and elevate only where a genuine policy or strategic decision is required.
• Respond confidently and constructively to challenge from senior HRBPs and leaders, explaining trade-offs and protecting the usability of the enterprise architecture.
• Set clear expectations on scope, decision rights, service levels and release timing, and communicate outcomes with transparency and respect.

ENABLE CONSISTENT USE & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

• Create practical guidance, templates and self-service resources that help HR teams select and apply skills consistently.
• Support Talent Partners and HRBPs with taxonomy queries and recommendations for workforce planning, talent reviews, capability assessment, career architecture and development use cases.
• Partner with HR Operations, HR Technology, Talent Acquisition, and Learning to promote consistent use across processes and platforms.
• Monitor adoption, recurring queries, exception patterns and data-quality indicators to identify opportunities to simplify and improve the architecture.
• Apply Fortive Business System principles to make governance faster, clearer and more scalable over time.

SCOPE & DECISION RIGHTS

OWNSINFLUENCESDOES NOT OWN

• Enterprise skills taxonomy data and metadata
• Taxonomy design and naming standards
• Change intake, quality controls and version history
• Recommendations on add, change, merge and retire decisions

|

• Priority capability and skill families
• How skills are represented in HR processes and systems
• External library and vendor requirements
• Adoption, usability and stakeholder understanding

|

• Business or OpCo capability strategy
• Final business decisions about capability investment
• HR platforms, integrations or technical configuration
• Job architecture, compensation architecture or learning content

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in human resources, business, information management, data management or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Three or more years of experience in HR Operations, HR data management, HR technology support, job or skills architecture, learning operations, talent operations, knowledge management or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience maintaining structured data, controlled vocabularies, catalogs, taxonomies, master data or similarly governed content.
• Strong data-management discipline, including attention to detail, data validation, documentation, version control and process compliance.
• Ability to learn complex frameworks quickly, identify patterns and translate ambiguous requests into precise, scalable data solutions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the judgment and confidence to explain decisions, hold boundaries and manage disagreement with senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated customer orientation and practical problem solving, balancing enterprise standards with legitimate business needs.
• Experience working with a commercial skills library, skills intelligence platform or job architecture is preferred but not required.

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Fortive Corporation Overview

Fortive’s essential technology makes the world safer and more productive. We accelerate transformation in high-impact fields like workplace safety, build environments, and healthcare.

We are a global industrial technology innovator with a startup spirit. Our forward-looking companies lead the way in healthcare sterilization, industrial safety, predictive maintenance, and other mission-critical solutions. We’re a force for progress, working alongside our customers and partners to solve challenges on a global scale, from workplace safety in the most demanding conditions to advanced technologies that help providers focus on exceptional patient care.

We are a diverse team 10,000 strong, united by a dynamic, inclusive culture and energized by limitless learning and growth. We use the proven Fortive Business System (FBS) to accelerate our positive impact.

At Fortive, we believe in you. We believe in your potential—your ability to learn, grow, and make a difference.

At Fortive, we believe in us. We believe in the power of people working together to solve problems no one could solve alone.

At Fortive, we believe in growth. We’re honest about what’s working and what isn’t, and we never stop improving and innovating.

Fortive: For you, for us, for growth.

We Are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Fortive Corporation and all Fortive Companies are proud to be equal opportunity employers. We value and encourage diversity and solicit applications from all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or other characteristics protected by law. Fortive and all Fortive Companies are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. Individuals who need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment application process, please contact us at [e-mail].

Bonus or Equity

This position is also eligible for bonus as part of the total compensation package.

Pay Range

The salary range for this position (in local currency) is 61,500.00 - 102,700.00