HR Business Partner III

Job Description: Job Purpose:The Principal Absence Management Consultant will provide hands-on leadership and execution support for the transition of Absence Management services from an external management vendor to an internally managed operating model. The role will focus on transition from vendor-managed data/processes and supporting the internal Absence Management Team during User Acceptance Training (UAT), training, Go-Live, and Hyper Care.This is a delivery-oriented role requiring someone who can move comfortably between business process design, system testing, data validation, vendor governance, training, cutover planning, issue resolution, and executive-ready status reporting.The contractor must be willing to work directly in project details while maintaining visibility into cross-functional risks, dependencies, and decisions.Core Responsibilities: Supports External Vendor Unwinding and Transition Management:Develop and maintain a detailed transition plan for moving Absence Management responsibilities from the external management vendor to the internal team.Define the sequencing and ownership of activities required before vendor services can be reduced or discontinued.Coordinate the transfer of active leave and absence information, historical records, documentation, reporting requirements, and operational knowledge.Facilitate process walkthroughs and knowledge-transfer sessions with the external vendor.Track transition commitments, due dates, decisions, risks, and open questions.Establish clear escalation paths and decision rights for issues that could affect employee pay, leave administration, compliance, or the Go-Live schedule.Reconciliation and validation activities to confirm that required information has been received and is usable by the internal team.Develop a transition closeout checklist to confirm that vendor responsibilities have been fully transferred, formally retained, or otherwise resolved.Produce a final vendor exit and transition-readiness assessment.Supports Absence Management Process and Operating Model Readiness:Future-state Absence Management processes, including the handoffs between employees, leaders, the Absence Management team, HR, Payroll, Operations, and system support teams.Identify process gaps, duplicative steps, unclear ownership, manual workarounds, and operational risks.Develop or refine process maps, standard operating procedures, desk guides, role definitions, RACI documentation needs, escalation paths, and decision matrices.Confirm that the RACI model clearly defines case intake, case maintenance, time and absence entries, approvals, employee communications, documentation, exceptions, reporting, and issue resolution.Help establish sustainable operating routines for the internal Absence Management team, including case reviews, workload monitoring, issue escalation, quality checks, and cross-functional coordination.Ensure operational procedures align with the approved Workforce Software ACT configuration and agreed business decisions.Supports Workforce Software ACT Functional Readiness:Serve as the Absence Management functional lead for readiness activities involving Workforce Software ACT.Partner with business and technical resources to validate that configured workflows reflect approved Absence Management requirements.Validate connections of leaves and absence events to applicable timekeeping, payroll, scheduling, accrual, employee visibility, and leader visibility outcomes.Identify process gaps that could create downstream payroll, compliance, data, or employee-experience issues.Working sessions with Absence Management subject matter experts.Support the development of practical workarounds or interim processes when a system change cannot be delivered before Go-Live.Maintain traceability among business requirements, test scenarios, defects, decisions, training materials, and final procedures.Help confirm operational ownership for ongoing ACT administration, production support, reporting, and enhancement intake.User Acceptance Testing:Develop and manage an Absence Management-focused UAT strategy and detailed test plan.Create end-to-end test scenarios based on actual roles, leave types, business rules, employee populations, integrations, and exception conditions.Ensure test coverage includes standard transactions as well as complex, negative, retroactive, interrupted, overlapping, and correction scenarios.Coordinate test data, tester assignments, prerequisites, access, test execution, and evidence requirements.Prepare UAT scripts that include expected results, downstream impacts, and validation checkpoints.Coach testers on distinguishing among configuration defects, integration failures, data issues, security or access problems, training needs, and process-design gaps.Lead daily or recurring defect review and triage sessions during UAT.Document defects with sufficient detail for technical teams to reproduce and resolve the issue.Track defect severity, ownership, target resolution, retesting, and closure.Monitor scenario completion, pass rates, unresolved defects, and readiness risks.Establish and monitor UAT entry and exit criteria.Provide an evidence-based recommendation regarding Absence Management readiness for deployment.Ensure deferred defects and workarounds have documented owners, controls, communications, and post-Go-Live resolution plans.Supports Absence Management Team Training and Knowledge TransferConduct training needs assessment for Absence Management roles.Develop a role-based curriculum covering future-state processes, ACT system activities, decision points, exception handling, escalations, documentation standards, and cross-functional handoffs.Create facilitator guides, participant materials, job aids, quick-reference guides, process maps, demonstrations, practice exercises, and knowledge checks.Use realistic case scenarios so team members can practice complete workflows before Go-Live.Coordinate training environments, system access, test employees, supporting data, and training schedules.Deliver instructor-led training in person or virtually, as required.Support Train-the-Trainer activities when internal team members will deliver or sustain future training.Track attendance, completion, knowledge gaps, and additional coaching needs.Incorporate UAT findings, finalized configuration, and approved procedures into the training materials.Establish a process for maintaining job aids and procedures after configuration or process changes.Provide structured knowledge transfer to the individuals who will own ACT and Absence Management processes after the contractor engagement ends.Cutover and Go-Live Readiness:Develop the Absence Management cutover plan in coordination with the broader implementation plan.Identify all pre-Go-Live, Go-Live, and post-Go-Live activities, owners, dependencies, timing, validation steps, and rollback or contingency requirements.Coordinate open-case conversion, data loads, interfaces, access, reports, communications, job aids, support coverage, and operational handoffs.Define case and data reconciliation procedures for converted or newly created records.Establish readiness criteria for people, process, data, technology, integrations, training, communications, vendor transition, and support.Conduct readiness reviews and identify items that could prevent or materially affect Go-Live.Maintain a cutover command checklist and decision log.Prepare concise status reporting for leadership, including key risks, critical decisions, defect exposure, contingency plans, and recommendations.Participate in Go-Live decision discussions and provide an objective assessment of Absence Management readiness.Go-Live and Hyper Care Support:Provide hands-on support during deployment and the initial production stabilization period.Establish an Absence Management Hyper Care model that defines intake channels, support coverage, severity levels, escalation paths, response expectations, and daily operating routines.Lead or participate in daily Hyper Care triage meetings.Coordinate issue investigation across Absence Management, Payroll, Time and Attendance, HR, Technology, Workforce Software, and other implementation partners.Ensure production issues are documented, prioritized, assigned, communicated, resolved, retested, and formally closed.Identify recurring issues and determine whether they reflect configuration, integration, data, process, security, or training problems.Monitor high-risk scenarios that could affect employee pay, absence status, case administration, manager visibility, or regulatory obligations.Maintain known-issue documentation and approved workarounds.Track stabilization metrics and unresolved risks.Transition ongoing support responsibilities to the appropriate internal owners.Recommend when the organization is ready to exit Hyper Care and move into normal operational support.Essential Functions of Role:External vendor unwinding and transition planActive-case and historical-data transition approachKnowledge-transfer plan and completion trackerFuture-state process mapAbsence Management operating model and RACIWorkforce Software ACT requirementsUAT strategy, schedule, scripts, and evidence standardsDefect tracker and triage processUAT completion and readiness assessmentRole-based Absence Management training curriculum support including job aids, desk procedures, and quick-reference materialTraining completion and readiness trackerCutover plan and command checklistGo-Live readiness assessmentHyper Care support model and issue dashboardKnown-issues and workaround documentationStabilization and Hyper Care Exit recommendationQualifications: Required Education: Education Level Education Details:Bachelor's Degree Bachelor of Science, Business AdministrationRequired Experience: Experience Details:5 plus years SAP, WorkForce SoftwareCase Data MigrationUAT & Go-Live ReadinessThird-Party to Internal TransitionTraining & OnboardingSuperior facilitation and presentation skills.Note:Bill Rate: $102.00 to $168.68 Hourly OT40Could you please confirm the below as wellIs this position limited to office/home-based professional or administrative duties with no driving or field work?Description: Answer Yes only if the position is limited to professional or administrative duties performed in a traditional office or remote-home setting (vs. field work, in a plant/warehouse, etc.) and the worker does not operate a motor vehicle for any job duty, other than ordinary commuting to and from work. [ ] No [ X] YesPay Range: $XXX - $XXX The specific compensation for this position will be determined by a number of factors, including the scope, complexity and location of the role as well as the cost of labor in the market; the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; and other conditions of employment. Our full-time consultants have access to benefits including medical, dental, vision and 401K contributions as well as any other PTO, sick leave, and other benefits mandated by appliable state or localities where you reside or work.Type: ContractCategory: Professional(Other) | Professional(Other)Date Posted: 2026-09-30