Director, Global People Operations, Strategy, & Communications

Position Overview

This role plays a pivotal part in shaping and delivering the People Team’s global strategy, driving operational excellence, and fostering a culture of engagement, wellbeing, and innovation. Acting as a strategic partner to senior leadership, the Lead, Global People Engagement Strategy Operations. oversees critical HR initiatives from planning to execution, while leading the design and delivery of impactful communications that connect with employees across regions.

The ideal candidate combines strategic vision with creativity, strong project management with outstanding communication skills, and a passion for enabling people and teams to thrive.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Planning and Calendar Management

• Oversee the Annual Global People Calendar (including the functional Project Management solution, Monday.com) to ensure timely and cohesive execution of key HR initiatives, support activity planning and prioritization.
• Support the development and annual evolution of the Global People Strategy, ensuring HR priorities align with broader organizational goals.
• Based on the strategic priorities defined during the Annual Strategy Update, translate them into clear, actionable Connected Goals that guide People Team objectives and focus for the year ahead.
• Following Annual and Mid-Year Survey, support the Chief People Officer and Head of People4People in developing an Action Plan that highlights key opportunities, tracks progress, and outlines targeted solutions.

HR Change Management

• Lead HR technology change management initiatives to ensure smooth adoption and integration, including Workday implementation, technical integrations, and document digitalization.
• Partner with the People IT Team to ensure AI technologies are effectively embedded into HR processes, widely adopted, and leveraged to deliver measurable efficiencies and insights.
• Maintain and continuously enhance the database of the main AI tool containing all HR content to ensure accuracy, relevance, and accessibility.
• Collaborate with HR teams to implement and optimize cross-functional project roll-outs.

Engagement and Communication Strategy

• Develop and deliver CHRO and People4People engagement strategies to strengthen collaboration, transparency, and connectivity across the team:
• Lead all People Team communications, including newsletters, People Updates, video series, event invites and ad hoc messages.
• Plan and execute all HR-led meetings, such as Quarterly People Meetings and Global All Hands.
• Develop and implement new programs to drive the team’s engagement and enablement.
• Oversee People Enterprise communications in partnership with the Head of Employee Communication, ensuring clear, consistent, and impactful messaging;
• Manage all global employee communications related to People (HR) programs, activities, and updates.
• Ensure relevant People (HR) content is included in global communication channels, such as internal and leadership newsletters.

Experience, Skills & Knowledge

• Progressive communication roles and experience; internal communications experience is preferred.

• Hands-on experience executing effective communication for global internal stakeholder populations (office-based, retail, managers, etc.)

• Excellent verbal and written communications and editing skills, including interpersonal and presentation skills – PowerPoint plan development, talking points, executive briefing documents.

• Ability to prioritize and manage workload and to work collaboratively across a highly cross-functional global environment.

• Demonstrated ability to think ahead, engage proactively and take initiative.

• Strategic and execution oriented – must have the ability to deliver high quality initiatives to tight deadlines, in a pressurized environment.

• Established track record project managing large, matrixed projects.

• Self-starter and strong problem solver; ability to work through ambiguity and deliver results.

• Ability to handle confidential information with utmost integrity and discretion.

• Naturally curious and strong storyteller

• Passionate, confident, and self-sufficient team player with an interest in developing strong relationships with individuals across regions and functions

• Strong business acumen with demonstrated ability to connect business objectives and communications strategies

• Prior experience and knowledge developing communications strategies to bring about perception change and build understanding of new direction.

• Extensive knowledge of MS Office Suite (PPT, Word, Excel, SharePoint), with ability to quickly learn other applications, as necessary

• Minimal travel required.

Ralph Lauren will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the requirements of the law, including any applicable fair chance laws.