Product Manager, HR Technology

Job Description

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description

Ares is seeking a Product Manager, HR Technology to join Corporate Technology, reporting to the Product Lead, HR (who reports to the Head of Corporate Technology).

This role will shape and execute the product strategy, roadmap, and delivery for Total Rewards platforms (Compensation, Benefits, Payroll adjacencies) with Core HR as the foundational system of record within our global HR Technology portfolio. This role sits at the intersection of HR, Technology, and cross‑functional operational teams, shaping the long‑term evolution of our foundational Core HR data models and process automation required to support scalable Total Rewards capabilities across Workday HCM and adjacent systems.

This role requires an adaptable, detail-oriented and trustworthy professional who can operate successfully across various phases of a dynamic project and can multi-task and transition quickly as business priorities shift.

The ideal candidate combines deep Total Rewards and HR domain expertise, with strong understanding of how Core HR enables compensation, benefits and payroll outcomes as well as strong product management discipline — translating complex HR and operational needs into scalable technology solutions that enable accurate employee data, consistent global processes, regulatory alignment, and an outstanding employee experience.

Strong understanding of Workday HCM functionality, best practices, and data structures with the ability to guide solution design — configuration experience is beneficial but not required. This includes the ability to evaluate solution options, articulate tradeoffs, and partner with Workday configuration experts to deliver scalable, compliant designs. In addition, strong understanding of broader HR applications and adjacent enterprise systems, including how platforms interoperate through integrations, data flows, APIs, and downstream dependencies within a global technology ecosystem

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Product Strategy & Roadmap Ownership

• Own roadmap for Total Rewards capabilities, including compensation programs, benefits administration, payroll integrations, and their Core HR dependencies, ensuring alignment with HR and enterprise technology strategy.
• Translate business objectives into clear product initiatives with defined outcomes, KPIs, and a prioritization framework that balances short‑term needs with long‑term platform evolution.
• Serve as the primary product owner for Total Rewards capabilities, ensuring Core HR data, security, and lifecycle events correctly support downstream pay and benefits outcomes.

HR Domain Leadership

• Partner closely with Total Rewards and HR Operations leaders as the technology enabler, translating program strategy and requirements into scalable, compliant platform capabilities.
• Understand business processes and opportunities for process improvement, automation, and simplification across HR processes and technical workflows.
• Operate as a thought leader, and advocate for change, in implementation and maintenance of HR applications such as Workday HCM, HRSoft, Workday Prism, analytics tools such as Visier, and others.

Solution Design & Delivery

• Collaborate with architecture and integration teams to ensure Core HR platforms integrate reliably with downstream applications (payroll, time, benefits, finance, analytics). Ensure solution designs account for downstream dependencies, data quality impacts, and cross‑platform integrations across key HR and enterprise systems.
• Ensure solution designs account for downstream dependencies, data quality impacts, and cross‑platform integrations across key HR and enterprise systems.
• Own end‑to‑end product lifecycle from discovery and design through implementation, testing, deployment, and post‑launch iteration.
• Drive modern, resilient solution design leveraging Workday configuration best practices and scalable data models.

Continuous Improvement & Operational Excellence

• Ensure consistent execution of testing, training, deployment governance, and support processes.
• Maintain strong vendor relationships and evaluate new platform capabilities with Workday and other HR technologies.
• Coordinate cross-platform dependencies and sequencing with other HR Technology product owners and platform teams to ensure end-to-end process outcomes.
• Collaborate with Enterprise Architecture and Information Security to ensure solutions align with architectural standards, resiliency requirements, identity/access controls, privacy, and data governance expectations.
• Provide executive-ready reporting and decision support: roadmap progress, risks/issues, dependencies, KPIs, and clear recommendations with appropriate context.
• Oversee vendor/consulting resources as needed, ensuring delivery quality, documentation standards, and alignment with Ares’ operating model.
• Maintain delivery discipline and transparency through strong tool usage and hygiene, including Jira, Confluence, and Smartsheet (plans, milestones, RAID, status).

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computing, HR, Information Systems or related fields

Experience Required:

• 10+ years of progressive experience across HR technology, Total Rewards, or related HRIS domains, with demonstrated ownership of complex, cross‑functional platforms and outcomes (e.g., compensation programs, benefits administration, payroll readiness), grounded in strong Core HR foundations.
• In‑depth knowledge of HR business processes with a strong emphasis on Total Rewards, including compensation, benefits, and payroll dependencies, as well as employee lifecycle events and Core HR data structures such as supervisory organizations, cost centers, and custom organizations.
• Demonstrated experience acting as a product owner or product manager for enterprise HR technology platforms, ideally Workday HCM.
• Proven track record of delivering technology initiatives end‑to‑end using modern product development practices (Agile, discovery, iterative delivery).
• Exceptional leadership and communication, capable of influencing decisions and fostering a collaborative team environment.
• Analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a focus on delivering results and improving processes.
• Working knowledge of agile principles and tools such as Jira and Confluence.

General Requirements:

• Attention to detail a must
• Adaptable, ability to manage multiple priorities, organized, and independent
• Strong/concise communication skills, experience providing support to end users
• Strong documentation skills of process, steps, methodology
• Strong team player
• High energy level
• Familiarity with alternative manager or investment management industry/Corporate HR business functions is a plus
• Consulting background is a plus.

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

$170k - $200k

There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active.