Senior Programme Lead

Organizational context: The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives and building a pathway to peace and prosperity. WFP is committed to achieving zero hunger and is undergoing a significant digital transformation, including the implementation of a unified payroll system. This role is within the Technology Digital Services unit, supporting this critical initiative.

Job purpose: The Senior Programme Lead
- One Payroll (SAP S/4HANA) will spearhead the end-to-end delivery of WFP's strategic One Payroll Programme. This involves leading the phased implementation of a consolidated SAP-based payroll solution, aligning with the S/4HANA upgrade and HR/Finance systems. The role requires strong leadership in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment to ensure the successful deployment of a high-quality, scalable, and sustainable payroll system.

Key responsibilities
include driving project execution across all phases, managing risks, dependencies, and organizational change, and ensuring alignment between strategic objectives and operational delivery. The incumbent will foster collaboration among TEC, HR, CFO, and Country Offices, manage programme governance, and oversee change management to ensure user readiness and adoption, ultimately contributing to improved efficiency and service delivery across WFP.

Responsibilities:
The Senior Programme Lead
- One Payroll (SAP S/4HANA) at the World Food Programme (WFP) is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the One Payroll Programme. This strategic digital transformation initiative aims to consolidate payroll systems into a single SAP-based solution, aligning with the ongoing SAP S/4HANA upgrade and HR solutions. The role involves leading workstreams, ensuring the successful phased rollout of SAP, and managing the migration of populations. Key accountabilities include driving project execution across all phases, from design to post-go-live stabilization, and ensuring deliverables meet business requirements and technical standards. The Programme Lead must foster strong stakeholder engagement and governance, coordinating effectively with Technology, HR, Finance, and Country Offices. This includes managing communication, change management, and user readiness. Furthermore, the role requires meticulous planning, scope management, and delivery oversight, including data migration, testing, and cutover. Proactive risk, issue, and dependency management are crucial, as is financial and resource management to ensure the programme stays within budget and on schedule. The ultimate goal is to establish a sustainable, centralized payroll operating model that enhances efficiency, compliance, and service delivery across WFP.

Education:
An advanced university degree in IT, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field is required. A PMP, PRINCE2, Agile, or equivalent certification is desirable.

Work

experience:
Requires 10-12 years of progressive project/programme management experience, with proven success in large-scale ERP/SAP implementations. Experience managing global, multi-stakeholder programmes is essential. Experience with Workday, HR/payroll, or shared services transformation is highly desirable. A strong understanding of how technology can optimize geographically distributed teams is also needed, along with familiarity in international working environments.

Skills:
Project Management, SAP S/4HANA Implementation, Change Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Risk Management, Financial Management, Team Leadership, Digital Transformation, Payroll Systems, ERP Systems

Required languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic

Desired languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic