VP, People Operations

Driscoll's; Watsonville (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with employer match

Comprehensive benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

Driscoll’s is seeking a strategic VP of People Operations to design and scale the global employee service model, HR tech, and people analytics. You will partner with the Chief People Officer and regional teams to translate business priorities into practical operating models, data systems, and measurable outcomes.

You will lead a high-performing team, govern HR technology roadmaps (Workday), and drive automation to improve employee and manager experiences across the globe.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of HR operations, shared services, and analytics leadership.
• 8+ years leading global teams and external partners.
• Deep experience with Workday and AI-enabled capabilities (automation, intelligent workflows).
• Strong business acumen with executive-level influencing and presenting recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Set strategy and operating model for Global People Services, HR Technology, and People Analytics.
• Lead the global people services model with standards, governance, and continuous improvement.
• Own HR technology strategy and roadmap (Workday and related platforms).
• Lead People Analytics including data governance, dashboards, and insights.
• Partner with HR, IT, Finance, Payroll, Legal, and regional teams to deliver integrated solutions.
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team; oversee annual planning and budgets.
• Champion automation and self-service to improve employee experience and efficiency.

Skills

HR operations

People leadership

Workday

AI & automation

Data governance

Change management

Cross-functional collaboration

English

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Advanced degree / certifications

Tools

Workday

Job description

The VP of People Operations is a strategic and hands-on leader responsible for designing, delivering, scaling, and continuously improving the global employee service model, the HR technology ecosystem, and the people analytics capability. This role leads the strategy, governance, and execution required to deliver excellent employee and manager experiences, trusted people data, and technology-enabled HR processes at global scale. The role serves as a key partner to the Chief People Officer, People Leadership Team, Finance, IT, Legal, and regional teams to translate business priorities into practical operating models, service delivery standards, systems roadmaps, data insights, and measurable outcomes. Equally important, the role requires strong people leadership, change leadership, sound judgment, and a strong commitment to building internal capability across service delivery, HR systems, and analytics.

Key Success Indicators

• Global People Services standards, service levels, and employee experience measures are defined, governed, and consistently achieved.
• HR Technology roadmap, release management, and system enhancement priorities are accurate, reliable, and aligned to business needs.
• Global people data is trusted, governed, and increasingly leveraged for decision-making through meaningful dashboards, insights, and analytics.
• Processes across GPS, HR Technology, and People Analytics are standardized where appropriate and locally relevant where necessary.
• Vendor spend, technology spend, and project budgets are actively managed and delivered at or under plan while critical work is completed.
• Internal coordination improves through clear ownership, strong intake and governance, and effective cross-functional partnership with IT and HR leaders.
• Execution support models for major annual people programs are in place and operating effectively (for example compensation cycles, performance, talent, benefits, onboarding, and organization changes).

Key Responsibilities

• Set the strategic direction and operating model for Global People Services, HR Technology, and People Analytics, ensuring alignment to organizational priorities, people strategy, and the needs of employees, managers, and HR stakeholders globally.
• Lead the global people services model, including service delivery standards, case management, employee-facing knowledge and content, process governance, operational controls, escalation paths, and continuous improvement.
• Own the HR technology strategy and roadmap in partnership with HR, IT, and vendors, including Workday and related platforms, employee service delivery tools, system architecture governance, release management, and major enhancements.
• Lead the People Analytics capability, including the people data strategy, reporting governance, dashboard development, metric standardization, data quality practices, and delivery of actionable workforce insights to leaders.
• Together with HR Leadership, define and analyze business requirements, prepare business cases, prioritize work, and ensure those needs are translated into effective operating systems, and analytics solutions.
• Establish governance for intake, prioritization, investment decisions, vendor utilization, project execution, and change management across the global portfolio of GPS, HR Technology, and analytics work.
• Ensure data integrity, process discipline, and appropriate controls across employee transactions, organizational data, position data, security roles, integrations, and critical annual HR cycles.
• Partner closely with IT, Finance, Payroll, Total Rewards, Talent, Legal, and regional HR teams to deliver integrated solutions and a reliable, compliant, and scalable people infrastructure.
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team, clarifying roles and accountabilities across shared services operations, systems administration, employee experience platforms, project management, and analytics / reporting expertise.
• Oversee annual planning, budget management, vendor contracts / statements of work, resource planning, and performance tracking for the function.
• Develop and sustain the annual global HR planning calendar and support model for major people programs and change initiatives.
• Champion simplification, automation, self-service, and service innovation that meaningfully improve employee experience, manager effectiveness, operational efficiency, and decision quality.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive experience across HR operations, shared services, HR technology, and/or people analytics, including significant experience leading complex global transformations and operations, including the evaluation and adoption of new technologies such as AI, automation and digital solutions to improve efficiency and employee experience.
• 8+ years of people leadership experience, including leadership of managers, matrixed teams, and external partners / vendors.
• Deep experience with Workday and related HR service delivery, case management, and employee experience platforms; and emerging AI-enabled capabilities (e.g. automation, virtual agents, intelligent workflows) experience with reporting and dashboard enablement strongly preferred.
• Strong business acumen with experience influencing senior leaders and presenting recommendations, tradeoffs, and insights to executive audiences.
• Experience designing and implementing global processes, governance models, service models, and scalable support structures.
• Demonstrated success in building or maturing a people analytics capability, including metric governance, self-service reporting, and insight generation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and concisely to technical and non-technical audiences.
• English language required, Spanish is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree and/or relevant certifications such as PMP, Prosci, Workday, or analytics-related credentials are a plus.
• Demonstrated experience leading global or multi-region teams across shared services / people operations, HR Technology, and people analytics or reporting functions.
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex, cross-functional, global environment; resolve issues; influence without direct authority; and foster strong collaboration.
• Strong knowledge of HR processes, HR service delivery models, HR systems, employee data governance, case management, and reporting / analytics practices.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize, organize, and track multiple strategic and operational initiatives with varying timelines, dependencies, and stakeholders.
• Advanced understanding of operating model design, project and program management, vendor management, process excellence, and change management methodologies.
• Ability to translate business needs into service models, technical requirements, data requirements, scalable processes, and pragmatic solutions.

Compensation and Benefits

The following information is provided in good faith as a general description of the salary range and benefits for the position posted. The actual compensation offered to the successful candidate is dependent upon experience, skills, education, work location, internal pay equity, and other objective job-related factors.

Salary Range estimated for the VP, People Operations role: $250,000.00/year to $300,000.00/year.

Driscoll’s is committed to a culture of care and offers an attractive benefits package that includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, life insurance, and disability coverage for positions working more than 30 hours per week. Other benefits include: 401(k) with employer match, profit-sharing participation, paid sick time, paid vacation, paid personal and family care leave, and a free Employee Assistance Program (EAP). More detailed information regarding the benefits package will be shared during the application process.

About the Company

Driscoll’s is the global market leader for fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. With more than 100 years of farming heritage and hundreds of independent growers around the world, Driscoll’s is passionate about growing fresh, beautiful and delicious berries. Our values of humility, passion and trustworthiness have guided our mission to delight consumers around the world.

Driscoll’s exclusive patented berry varieties are developed through years of research using only natural breeding methods - meaning, no GMOs.

Driscoll’s is the trusted brand for Only the Finest Berries.

*This job description is intended to describe the general nature of the work performed by employees in this job. It is not an exhaustive list of all the job's responsibilities. At Driscoll’s, all of our jobs include broad responsibilities for continually improving the processes we use to develop our products.