Director of Workforce Strategy and Skills

About the Role

The Director of Workforce Strategy and Skills is a strategic leader within the People Experience organization and serves as the head of the Workforce Strategy and Skills Center of Excellence (COE). This role is a key enabler of HARMAN NEXT, the company’s enterprise strategy focused on a relentlessly focused portfolio, a culture built for speed and scale, and making bold moves to win in rapidly evolving markets. As HARMAN operates in a fast changing, highly competitive environment with rising expectations for innovation, speed, and access to critical skills, this role plays a central part in enabling the company’s next phase of growth. This role partners with senior leaders, Centers of Excellence, and People Enablement to reexamine how work is performed today and to define how the workforce operating models and must evolve to remain competitive.

This role leads the shift toward a skills-based organization, moving beyond traditional role and job-based models to more agile, skills driven approaches to workforce planning, talent deployment, and development. By leveraging digital platforms, AI, advanced analytics, and human centered design, the Director translates business strategy into actionable workforce solutions that increase organizational agility, unlock internal talent, and improve speed to capability. Through enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, this leader shapes how work gets done, how talent is developed and mobilized, and how culture evolves to support sustained innovation and performance in a rapidly changing landscape.

What You Will Do

Strategic Leadership, Workforce Transformation and Skills

• Partner with business and HR leaders to leverage workforce analytics, employee insights, and labor market data—co‑developing strategies that drive future‑ready workforce outcomes.
• Co‑lead complex, cross‑functional transformation initiatives by engaging stakeholders in operating model design, restructuring, reskilling, and location strategy, ensuring solutions are jointly designed, aligned, and adopted across the enterprise.
• Collaborate with digital, technology, and functional teams to embed digital platforms, AI‑driven solutions, and experimentation into skills intelligence, strategic workforce planning, and broader workforce transformation efforts—fostering shared ownership and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a change agent for skills‑based workforce planning and future‑of‑work initiatives, enabling HARMAN NEXT by evolving workforce models, skills, and operating practices to support speed, scale, and sustained innovation.

Workforce Planning, Career Architecture & Skills-Based Design

• Collaborate with business and HR partners to co‑design and implement enterprise career architecture—including job structures, skills frameworks, and proficiency expectations—to ensure clarity, consistency, and shared ownership across the organization.
• Partner with business leaders, Finance, and People Analytics to jointly lead long‑term workforce planning efforts aligned with strategic priorities, future skills, and growth needs, using predictive analytics to shape forward‑looking talent decisions.
• Co‑create and collaboratively govern enterprise talent and capability programs that support skills enablement, workforce readiness, and internal mobility, ensuring programs are business‑aligned and co‑championed by stakeholders.
• Design and scale an internal Opportunity Marketplace (projects, gigs, roles, mentorship) that matches employees to work based on skills and aspirations, enabling faster talent deployment, internal mobility, and capability building across the enterprise.
• Maintain and continuously evolve skills frameworks, taxonomies, and capability models in partnership with functional leaders to ensure they remain consistent, relevant, and reflective of emerging business needs.

AI-Enabled Talent & Skills Platforms                  

• Collaborate with leaders and cross‑functional partners to co‑interpret workforce and skills data, equipping them with shared, data‑driven insights that guide talent decisions and workforce planning.
• Partner closely with HR Technology, People Analytics, and external vendors to jointly scale and enhance digital talent platforms, ensuring solutions are user‑centric, business‑aligned, and built through collective input.
• Lead the strategy, governance, and adoption of an Opportunity Marketplace platform by partnering with HR Technology and business leaders to define use cases, integrate skills and talent data, and drive a strong, user‑centric employee experience.
• Work with business and HR stakeholders to translate workforce and skills data into actionable, co‑developed insights that inform investment decisions, prioritization, and long‑term capability building across the enterprise.

Inclusive Talent Practices & Early Career Pipelines

• Partner with HR, business leaders, and talent acquisition teams to co‑embed inclusive, skills‑based hiring and onboarding practices across the enterprise, ensuring shared ownership of equitable talent processes.
• Collaborate with functional leaders, early career programs, and learning partners to strengthen early career, apprenticeship, and reskilling pipelines through jointly designed, equitable talent identification and development approaches.
• Apply inclusive, human‑centered design principles in partnership with employees, leaders, and cross‑functional teams to co‑create workforce initiatives that reflect diverse needs and enhance the overall employee experience.

Talent Assessment, Selection & Legal Defensibility

• Collaborate with HR, business leaders, and cross‑functional partners to co‑design and govern enterprise skills and aptitude assessments for hiring, development, and reskilling, ensuring tools meet shared needs and support equitable talent practices.
• Partner with Legal, Compliance, and People Analytics teams to ensure assessment programs collectively meet legal, ethical, validity, and adverse‑impact standards, fostering transparent, defensible, and inclusive decision‑making.
• Advise and consult with HR and business leaders across all levels to co‑develop assessment strategies that align with organizational goals, enhance talent selection quality, and support consistent, fair, and data‑informed talent decisions.

Program Leadership, Governance & Agile Delivery

• Guide and co‑develop high‑performing teams by using agile methods, shared OKRs, and transparent KPI‑based accountability, fostering a culture of partnership, learning, and continuous improvement.
• Collaboratively manage portfolios of workforce transformation initiatives by engaging cross‑functional partners in prioritization, solution design, and value realization to ensure outcomes are jointly owned and sustained.
• Partner with senior leaders to deliver executive‑level updates, insights, and recommendations, ensuring decisions are informed by shared understanding, co‑created strategies, and alignment across key stakeholders.

What You Need

• Demonstrated expertise in career architecture and skills‑based workforce design, including job structures, skills frameworks, and proficiency‑based expectations that enable internal mobility and targeted development.
• Experience leading long‑term workforce planning aligned to future skills needs and growth targets, leveraging analytics, predictive modeling, and digital workforce platforms.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in skills intelligence, strategic workforce planning, workforce strategy and/or workforce transformation (including HR transformation) within complex, global organizations or management consulting.
• Hands‑on experience with AI‑enabled talent and skills solutions, including advanced analytics or emerging technologies to support workforce insights, learning, and career development.
• Strong partnership experience across Talent Acquisition, Culture and Belonging, People Analytics, Finance, Operations, and HR Technology to embed inclusive, skills‑based talent practices.
• Experience designing or governing talent assessment and selection strategies, with understanding of validity, adverse impact, and legal considerations.
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree (MBA or related field) preferred. 

Preferred Skills 

• Strategic thinker with operational rigor, able to connect skills intelligence, strategic workforce planning, and workforce transformation initiatives to business outcomes and drive measurable impact. 
• Skilled in cross-functional collaboration and influence, partnering effectively across HR, Operations, Finance, Technology, and executive leadership. 
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving enterprise-wide change in dynamic, global environments. 
• Experience in global or matrixed organizations, with a global mindset and cultural fluency 
• Strong analytical, facilitation, and executive communication skills; adept at financial modeling, business case development, and data-driven decision-making. 
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional, enterprise-wide transformation programs, including operating model design, organizational restructures, mergers & acquisitions, and location strategy.
• Innovative and experimental approach to workforce strategy, with a commitment to continuous improvement and value realization. 
• Passionate about inclusive leadership, coaching, and developing high-potential talent. 
• Strong business acumen and ability to influence at the executive level. 

What Makes You Eligible

• Be willing to travel up to 10%, domestic and international travel.
• Be willing to work remotely and occasionally in an office located in US.

• Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background investigation and drug screen.

#Remote

HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.