Team Lead, People Operations – Recruitment & Onboarding, AMS

It all started when engineer Fred Luddy wrote code that automated a tedious task for his coworker, Phyllis. She cried tears of joy. That moment inspired Fred to build a company that could do that for everyone—freeing people from busywork so they could focus on meaningful work. Today, ServiceNow is the AI control tower for business reinvention. Our ServiceNow AI platform brings together any AI, any data, and any workflow— helping 85% of the Fortune 500® work smarter, faster, and better. We're building an AI-native culture where technology and talent are unstoppable together. And we're just getting started.

Join us to put AI to work for people.

Our Global People organization is transforming how HR services are delivered at ServiceNow. Our ambition is to build a premier People Operations organization that combines exceptional employee experiences, operational excellence, simplified processes, and intelligent technology to make the world of work better for our employees. 

Our Costa Rica People Operations team plays a critical role in this transformation, supporting candidates, employees, managers, Talent Acquisition, and the broader People organization across the Americas. 

We are looking for a Team Lead, People Operations – Recruitment & Onboarding, AMERICAS to lead this team into its next chapter. This role requires a strong people and operational leader who can build an engaged, accountable, high-performing team while continuously improving how Recruitment and Onboarding Operations are delivered. 

The successful candidate will bring strong Recruitment and Onboarding process knowledge, exceptional people leadership capabilities, and a forward-looking mindset around simplification, automation, AI, and digital HR operations. 

What You’ll Do 

Lead, Develop and Inspire the Team 

People leadership is at the heart of this role. 

• Lead and develop a team of People Operations professionals in Costa Rica supporting Recruitment and Onboarding Operations across the Americas. 

• Create an inclusive, collaborative, high-performing environment built on trust, accountability, continuous learning, and ownership. 

• Coach and develop team members through regular feedback, 1:1s, career conversations, and meaningful development opportunities. 

• Set clear expectations and manage performance consistently, recognizing strong performance while constructively addressing performance, capability, or behavioral gaps. 

• Manage workload, capacity, prioritization, and coverage to ensure sustainable service delivery. 

• Lead the team effectively through transformation, ambiguity, changing priorities, and new ways of working. 

Own Recruitment & Onboarding Operations 

Lead operational delivery of Recruitment and Onboarding services across the Americas in close partnership with Talent Acquisition and other People teams. 

This role does not own recruiting strategy, sourcing, or candidate selection, which are managed by the Talent Acquisition COE. Instead, this role leads the operational processes that enable recruiting and onboarding to execute effectively at scale. 

• Ensure accurate, timely, compliant, and consistent execution of Recruitment and Onboarding services, supported by strong process governance and controls. 

• Manage operational performance including SLAs, case volumes, backlog, capacity, quality, and service trends. 

• Lead quality reviews, complex cases, escalations, and exceptions, ensuring effective resolution and stakeholder communication. 

• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for significant operational issues and recurring service gaps. 

• Serve as an operational point of contact for audits, ensuring appropriate controls and documentation. 

• Support Recruitment and Onboarding activities associated with M&A, including planning, offer readiness, quality reviews, onboarding coordination, and cross-functional execution. 

Lead with Technology, Automation and AI 

ServiceNow is an AI company, and our People leaders are expected to actively explore how technology can improve the way work gets done. 

• Champion an AI-first and digital mindset, encouraging curiosity, experimentation, and responsible adoption of emerging capabilities. 

• Identify opportunities to simplify workflows, eliminate manual work, automate repetitive activities, and improve decision-making through technology and AI. 

• Explore practical AI applications across case management, knowledge, quality, analytics, process documentation, and operational decision-making. 

• Build team capability and confidence to operate successfully in an increasingly AI-enabled HR environment. 

• Partner with HR Technology and process owners to translate operational pain points into scalable, technology-enabled solutions. 

Build Strong Stakeholder Partnerships 

• Develop trusted partnerships with Talent Acquisition leaders and teams across the Americas. 

• Partner closely with People Enablement, People Care, Global Mobility, HR Technology, People Partners, and other COEs. 

• Represent People Operations in cross-functional discussions involving Recruitment and Onboarding services, escalations, and transformation initiatives. 

• Communicate clearly and confidently regarding service performance, risks, process changes, and improvement opportunities while navigating competing priorities. 

What We’re Looking For 

We are looking for someone who combines strong people leadership, Recruitment Operations depth, and a transformation mindset. 

• Demonstrated success leading, coaching, and developing HR Operations, Recruitment Operations, Shared Services, or similar teams. 

• Strong emotional intelligence and a leadership style characterized by empathy, transparency, accountability, accessibility, and respect. 

• Ability to manage challenging performance and behavioral situations constructively and effectively. 

• Strong knowledge of end-to-end Recruitment and Onboarding Operations and the partnership between Talent Acquisition and Recruitment Operations. 

• Experience supporting complex, high-volume, multi-country or regional environments. 

• Demonstrated ability to simplify processes, improve service performance, and use operational metrics and insights to drive decisions. 

• Experience leading teams through technology implementations, transformation, or significant process change. 

• Experience leveraging technology, automation, or AI to improve productivity, processes, decision-making, or customer experience. 

• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and influencing capabilities within a matrixed organization. 

Required Qualifications:

• Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving. This may include using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI's potential impact on the function or industry.

• 7+ years of progressive experience in HR Operations, HR Shared Services, or a related field. 

• Demonstrated experience leading and developing teams in an operational environment. 

• Strong Recruitment and/or Onboarding Operations experience. 

• Experience supporting complex, multi-country or regional organizations; Americas experience strongly preferred. 

• Demonstrated experience in process optimization and operational/service excellence. 

• Experience with ServiceNow HR Service Delivery (HRSD), case management, and enterprise HR technologies. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Prior experience with Avature is highly desirable. 

• Workday or comparable enterprise HR platform experience. 

• Experience supporting HR Operations associated with mergers and acquisitions. 

• Experience implementing automation, generative AI, intelligent workflows, or emerging technologies within HR Operations. 

Leadership Expectations 

The person who succeeds in this role will be more than a process expert. They will develop people, create trust, raise standards, simplify work, embrace technology, and build a team capable of delivering exceptional service in an AI-enabled future. 

They will balance empathy with accountability, operational discipline with innovation, and regional ownership with a global mindset helping make Costa Rica a critical contributor to the future of ServiceNow People Operations and our ambition to deliver an exceptional candidate and employee experience. 

Work Personas

We approach our distributed world of work with flexibility and trust. Work personas (flexible, remote, or required in office) are categories that are assigned to ServiceNow employees depending on the nature of their work and their assigned work location. Learn more here. To determine eligibility for a work persona, ServiceNow may confirm the distance between your primary residence and the closest ServiceNow office using a third-party service.

Equal Opportunity Employer

ServiceNow is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity,  veteran status, or any other category protected by law. In addition, all qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with legal requirements.  

Accommodations

We strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are unable to use this online application and need an alternative method to apply, please contact [email protected] for assistance. 

Export Control Regulations

For positions requiring access to controlled technology subject to export control regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), ServiceNow may be required to obtain export control approval from government authorities for certain individuals. All employment is contingent upon ServiceNow obtaining any export license or other approval that may be required by relevant export control authorities. 

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