Associate Director HR Operations / Head HR Services

Associate Director HR Operations / Head HR Services – Americas

Location: San Jose, Costa Rica Lead a strategically important HR Operations function supporting employees and managers across the Americas. This role is responsible for delivering high-quality HR services, driving operational excellence, and leading the continued transformation of HR service delivery through process optimization, capability development, digital innovation, and AI-enabled ways of working. As the leader of one of Lonza's HR Capability Centers, you will be responsible for delivering high-quality HR services, driving operational excellence, and leading the continued transformation of HR service delivery through process optimization, capability development, digital innovation, and AI-enabled ways of working.

What you will get:

• An agile career and dynamic working culture.

• An inclusive and ethical workplace.

• Compensation programs that recognize high performance.

• A variety of benefits dependent on role and location.

What you will do:

• Provide leadership and direction to HR Services teams, fostering a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, collaboration, learning, and innovation.

• Lead Workforce Administration, Payroll and Time Management and HR Advisory services across the Americas, ensuring reliable service delivery and strong SLA performance.

• Drive the ongoing transformation of HR delivery through process simplification, standardization, automation, digital solutions, and AI-enabled capabilities.

• Build strong partnerships with site HR teams, business leaders, and regional stakeholders to deliver efficient and effective employee support.

• Partner closely with Payroll, HR, Digital HR, and Global Process Owner teams to enhance end-to-end employee lifecycle processes, payroll, and time management operations.

• Use service metrics, operational insights, and data to identify opportunities for continuous improvement and enhance employee experience.

• Lead the resolution of complex service delivery issues and escalations while maintaining stakeholder confidence and service quality.

• Support strategic and operational change initiatives across the HR Operations organization, ensuring effective adoption of new processes, technologies, and ways of working.

• Lead the ongoing evolution of the Americas HR Capability Center, strengthening organizational capabilities, enabling new ways of working, and ensuring the organization is positioned to meet future business needs.

What we are looking for:

• Proven experience leading HR Operations, Shared Services, or Employee Services teams in a complex, global organization.

• Strong expertise in workforce administration, employee lifecycle processes, payroll operations, and service delivery management.

• Demonstrated success leading transformation, building new capabilities, driving operational improvements, change management and service excellence initiatives.

• Excellent leadership, coaching, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across all levels of an organization.

• Strong analytical capabilities and experience using metrics and data to drive decision-making and performance improvements.

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent experience. Fluent English communication skills required.

• Experience with Workday, ServiceNow, healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or CDMO environments is a plus.

About Lonza

At Lonza, our people are our greatest strength. With 30+ sites across five continents, our globally connected teams work together every day to manufacture the medicines of tomorrow. Our core values of Collaboration, Accountability, Excellence, Passion and Integrity reflect who we are and how we work together. Everyone’s ideas, big or small, have the potential to improve millions of lives, and that’s the kind of work we want you to be part of.

Innovation thrives when people from all backgrounds bring their unique perspectives to the table. At Lonza, we offer equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you’re ready to help turn our customers’ breakthrough ideas into viable therapies, we look forward to welcoming you on board.

Ready to shape the future of life sciences? Apply now.