IT HR Principal Engineer

Role Summary

Principal Engineer for HR Technology, you will be a technical thought leader shaping the strategy that powers Elanco’s end‑to‑end supervisor lifecycle and hire‑to‑retire experience. You will design the digital backbone across Workday, ServiceNow HR Service Delivery, SuccessFactors, ADP, and SAP so managers and employees can complete critical actions quickly and confidently—from onboarding and job changes to performance, compensation, leave, and offboarding. You will define the architectural vision and long‑term roadmap for the Manager and Employee Experience, ensuring it is robust, compliant, and aligned with our “One Elanco” experience ambitions.

Responsibilities

• Architectural Leadership: Own the architectural roadmap for Elanco’s enterprise HR platforms (Workday, ServiceNow HRSD, SuccessFactors, SAP). Ensure scalability, resilience, and a consistent cross‑platform user experience for managers and employees.
• Experience Design & Process Optimization: Lead re‑engineering of critical HR processes (e.g., onboarding, job change/move, compensation cycles, performance reviews, leave of absence, terminations). Target improved cycle time, first‑day readiness, data integrity, and self‑service adoption.
• Technical Governance and Mentorship: Establish engineering standards and design patterns for HR integrations and configurations (e.g., Workday EIB/Studio, ServiceNow flow/orchestration, SAP interfaces). Serve as the technical escalation point and mentor, fostering a culture of engineering excellence.
• Global Integration Strategy: Define the integration strategy across Workday HCM, SuccessFactors (Training Plans), SAP (e.g., Cost Centers/Banking), and ServiceNow HRSD to create a seamless “digital thread” of the employee record. Emphasize event‑driven integrations, canonical data models, and strong MDM practices.
• Controls, Privacy & Compliance Strategy: Develop and oversee validation, privacy, access, and audit‑readiness approaches for HR systems. Ensure role‑based access, segregation of duties, and consistent evidence for audits and internal controls.
• Influence Senior Leadership: Translate complex technical capabilities into clear business cases, demonstrating the ROI and strategic value of HR technology investments (e.g., faster manager actions, reduced cost‑to‑serve, improved employee satisfaction).
• Innovation and Technology Scouting: Identify and evaluate emerging HR tech trends (e.g., guided AI experiences for managers, case deflection via knowledge/virtual agents, skills graphs, advanced analytics). Lead proofs‑of‑concept to assess impact on experience, quality, and efficiency.

Qualifications

• Educational Background: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Required Experience: 8+ years leading the design, implementation, and lifecycle management of complex HR platforms and integrations in a global enterprise environment.
• Platform Mastery: Expert‑level knowledge of one or more core platforms—Workday (e.g., HCM, Absence, Compensation, Security, Reporting/Prism, EIB/Studio), ServiceNow HRSD (Case, Knowledge, Portal, Orchestration), SuccessFactors (Performance, Goals, Learning), and other systems and services—and how they are applied to HR service delivery and manager workflows.
• HR Process Leadership: Deep expertise in HR processes across the supervisor lifecycle (organizational management, hiring/onboarding, mobility/changes, performance, compensation, leave, offboarding) with strong data quality and governance practices.
• Architectural and Strategic Thinking: Proven ability to develop multi‑year technology roadmaps that align with business priorities and deliver measurable improvements in cost, quality, speed, and experience.
• Technical Mentorship and Leadership: Track record mentoring engineers, leading complex programs, and serving as the definitive subject matter expert for HR technology.

Skills

• DevSecOps: CI/CD, Git‑based SCM, automated testing, observability for HR SaaS configurations; Infrastructure‑as‑Code (e.g., Terraform) and containerization where applicable to integration or analytics platforms.
• Cloud Platform Proficiency: Practical experience with Azure and/or GCP, including automation and integration services (e.g., Azure Logic Apps, serverless functions, messaging/event services).
• Controls and Validation Expertise: Familiarity with privacy, access, audit, and internal control requirements for HR systems, including designing evidence‑based, “audit‑ready” processes.
• Communication and Influence: Ability to articulate a compelling HR technology vision to diverse audiences—from HR operations and managers to senior executive leadership.

Education

• Educational Background listed in Qualifications

Additional Requirements

• Location: Global Headquarters - Indianapolis, IN (Hybrid environment)
• Travel: Minimal