Sr HR Product Project Manager

Job description

Department: People Our Company Promise We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer. Job Description: As a Sr HR Product Project Manager, you’ll help shape how Workday solutions are planned, prioritized, and delivered across Southwest’s HR technology portfolio. Serving as the central connection between HR Product, Technology, project Teams, and Business Leaders, you’ll turn Workday needs into a clear, sequenced roadmap and keep functional, technical, testing, and reporting changes aligned through deployment. You’ll oversee intake, portfolio health, release readiness, risks, dependencies, and adoption for Workday deployments, system enhancements, and ongoing production needs while bringing transparency to priorities, progress, and results. Working across US and India-based Teams and external partners, you’ll strengthen accountability, delivery quality, and consistency across the Workday portfolio. Through disciplined governance, thoughtful planning, and cross-functional influence, you’ll enable scalable, well-managed Workday solutions that better support Southwest Employees and Leaders and create lasting value across the Company. Additional Details The culture of Southwest Airlines means we value the camaraderie, collaboration, and innovation that occurs when we come together and interact face-to-face at our vibrant Corporate Campus. Due to the nature of this role, you would be required to work from our Dallas, TX Headquarters facility during business hours. U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available. We’re committed to fair hiring practices and to making employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other legally protected characteristics. Responsibilities Own the HR Product Management intake and the portfolio demand, capturing and triaging incoming requests and applying structured prioritization to produce a transparent, backlog that serves as a source of accuracy for portfolio status Run the cross-portfolio prioritization and roadmap delivery, sequencing work and influencing direction across a matrixed structure, and escalating unresolved cross-functional conflicts to HR Product Management and leadership Track intake and delivery status across the portfolio and facilitate the weekly tactical delivery sync, maintaining tracking documents and status reporting and driving alignment across the product team, product owners, and technology partners Review user stories and release-tracking documentation for completeness and readiness, confirming work is staged correctly across the tiered environment promotion path Support release management for the scheduled production release window, coordinating regression, validation, and migration readiness with the responsible teams and partners Produce and present portfolio and delivery metrics, including throughput, cycle time, and value-realization callouts, for recurring status and leadership reviews Lead increment and sprint planning preparation, targeting incoming demand, aligning delivery commitments, and confirming that team-level plans roll up to the portfolio roadmap Own user experience, change management, and adoption for HR Product releases, partnering with HR Product Management team to deliver communications, enablement, and adoption measurement Support access certification and audit-control activity during the release cycle under the accountability of HR Product Management leadership, maintaining audit-ready evidence Serve as liaison across multiple internal work teams and external partners, including application management services support, directing support intake, coordinating Workday review and research, and leading project planning for partner-supported work against the backlog and release calendar Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Knowledge of Workday HCM product capabilities and configuration concepts across core domains, sufficient to assess intake, scope work, and review functional design. Knowledge of product management practice, including intake governance, structured prioritization frameworks, backlog management, and roadmap development Knowledge of Agile and SAFe delivery methods, including sprint cadence, Program Increment planning, and release management within a tiered environment promotion path Knowledge of SOX and access-control governance sufficient to support certification activity and maintain audit-ready documentation Skill in building and presenting delivery and portfolio metrics that translate operational data into decision-ready status for leadership Skill in facilitation and stakeholder alignment across multiple product owners without direct reporting authority, driving consensus through governance and influence Skill in producing clear, executive-ready written status and governance communications Ability to review user stories, requirements, and release documentation for completeness, readiness, and traceability Ability to coordinate release activity and change management across functional and technical teams, including user experience, communications, and adoption Ability to operate within the Workday environment promotion path, supporting feature-release regression and the weekly production window Education Required: High School Diploma or GED Experience Required: Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional delivery and governance Required: Expert-level experience, expansive and far-reaching knowledge in: