Director, People Platforms (HRIS)

Director, People Platforms

The Director, People Platforms is the strategic and hands on lead for HR systems in partnership with the Technology team, serving as the organization's subject matter expert for Workday and ADP Workforce Now and other People Platforms. This role is responsible for the day-to-day administration, optimization, and long-term roadmap of HR technology without the support of a dedicated HRIS IT function.

The Director, People Platforms will lead system design and governance, build and maintain integrations and file feeds, manage system security and access, and translate business needs into scalable, org-wide solutions. The role requires technical proficiency, strong process orientation, and the ability to partner effectively with HR, Payroll, Finance, IT, and external vendors.

This role operates as a senior individual contributor with functional leadership responsibility for HRIS work delivered through People Operations support.

This is a hybrid role requiring regular in-person engagement. Applicants must live within a reasonable commutable distance to a Year Up United location in the Eastern or Central time zone.

Key Responsibilities

HR Systems Strategy & Partnership

• Serve as the primary People Operations partner to Technology for Workday and ADP Workforce Now, ensuring system stability, data integrity, and alignment with organizational needs.
• Partner with Technology to align HR systems architecture, integrations and technical standards with enterprise technology strategy.
• Develop and maintain the HRIS roadmap in collaboration with Technology, balancing immediate operational needs with long-term scalability and process improvement.
• Translate People, Payroll, Finance and Compliance requirements into system design and configuration in partnership with Technology.

Workday Administration & Functional Expertise

• Configure, maintain, and enhance Workday business processes, including end-to-end org-wide process flows (e.g. hire-to-retire, job changes, terminations).
• Build and maintain calculated fields, condition rules, validation logic, and reporting frameworks.
• Define security groups and partner with Technology for ongoing security administration.
• Lead Workday testing cycles, releases, and production deployments.

Integrations, File Management & Data Flow

• Design and define workforce integrations for HRIS systems.
• Partners with vendors to design, test, and deploy new integrations as organizational needs evolve.
• Ensure data accuracy, timeliness, and reconciliation across systems.
• Collaborate with Technology on integration design, architecture decisions, and troubleshooting to ensure secure and reliable data exchange across systems.

Payroll & Time System Partnership

• Serve as key Workday partner to ADP WFN, supporting data flow, payroll readiness, audits, and issue resolution.
• Collaborate with Payroll and Finance teams on system controls, reporting, and reconciliations.

Vendor & Partner Management

• Serve as the primary People Operations Team lead in managing relationships with HRIS-related vendors, in coordination with Technology and Procurement.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for vendor issue resolution, integrations, upgrades, and enhancement requests.
• Lead vendor governance activities such as service reviews, testing coordination, and roadmap alignment.
• Partner with Procurement and Finance, as applicable, to support contract renewals, service quality, and cost optimization.

Functional Leadership & Enablement

• Provide functional leadership and day-to-day work direction to the People Operations Analyst in support of HRIS administration, testing, data quality, and reporting.
• Prioritize, assign, review and provide technical guidance on HRIS related work to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and adherence to system standards.
• Act as the escalation point and technical authority for HR systems questions within People Operations.
• Build HRIS capacity within the People Operations team through documentation, training, and knowledge transfer.

Data Governance, Reporting & Compliance

• Establish HR data governance standards, documentation, and operating procedures.
• Build and maintain dashboards, standard reports, and ad-hoc analytics to support decision making.
• Support audits, compliance requirements, and risk mitigation related to people systems and data access.

Learning Community Member

• Serve as a mentor and coach for a small number of current students.
• Participate in weekly group sessions and learning community activities.
• Engage in staff meetings and professional development.

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of progressive HRIS with deep, hands-on Workday expertise in a complex organization.
• Demonstrated proficiency with ADP Workforce Now, particularly payroll-related integrations and data management.
• Advanced experience designing and supporting integrations, file feeds, and data exchanges across HR platforms.
• Proven ability to independently administer HR systems without dedicated IT support.
• Strong experience managing Workday security groups, roles, and access controls.
• Expertise in end-to-end business process design and documentation.
• Willingness to embrace, understand and upskill Artificial Intelligence.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to translate business needs into technical solutions.

Salary Range: $115,000 - $145,000

#LI-Hybrid

Working at Year Up United

Starting January 5, 2026, employees are expected to work on-site at least two days per week (Monday through Thursday dependent on job requirements). To be eligible for employment, candidates must live and work in a state (or an approved proximate state*) where Year Up United operates. For a list of eligible locations, please visit:

*Approved proximate states where Year Up United operates are: Connecticut, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina and Virginia.

Compensation & Benefits

• Year Up United has established salary ranges for each of our sites, which allows us to pay employees competitively, equitably and consistently in different geographic markets. For roles in which the location is listed as flexible, the range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Salary offers take into account a candidate's skills, experience, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.
• Benefits: Comprehensive healthcare options and dental coverage; 401(k) match for eligible participants.
• Vacation: Earn three weeks paid vacation in first year of employment; four weeks after initial year.

** This is an exempt role (paid on a salaried basis).

Organization Description

Year Up United is a national 501(c)3 workforce development organization committed to ensuring equitable access to economic opportunity, education, and justice for all young adultsno matter their background, income, or zip code. Employers face a growing need for talent while millions of talented young adults lack access to meaningful careers. These inequities only further perpetuate the opportunity gap that exists in our countrya gap that Year Up United is determined and positioned to close through three interconnected strategies: providing targeted skills training and connections to livable-wage employment for students and alumni; empowering others to serve and support young adults, and changing systems that perpetuate the opportunity gap. Year Up United's intensive training program utilizes a high expectations, high support model where students learn in-demand technical and professional skills and apply them during a corporate internship. Year Up United has directly served more than 40,000 young adults since its founding in 2000. Year Up United's nationwide presence includes Arizona, Austin, Bay Area, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, the National Capital Region, New York City/Jersey City, Pittsburgh, Puget Sound, Rhode Island, South Florida, Tampa Bay, and Wilmington.

Voted one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For in the country by The NonProfit Times, Year Up United is a rewarding and impactful place to work. Our staff is passionate, supportive, mission-driven, and committed to positive change and continuous learning. We set high standards for both ourselves and our students and live by a set of core values that reflect an unshakable