Global Programs Architect

About us:

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we’re on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We’re looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

What you'll do:

The Global Programs Architect is an individual contributor responsible for designing, building, and continuously improving the employee programs that exist outside the core lifecycle - the moments that matter most to employees and managers but don't fit neatly into onboarding, offboarding, or a standard HR transaction. Reporting to the People Experience Leader within People Operations, this role owns a portfolio of global programs and experiences that span reorganization support, performance management design, employee relations strategy, and other people-centered initiatives - including cross-functional programs tied to the organization's annual OKRs.

Where the Lifecycle Architect function owns the structured, process-driven moments that every employee passes through, the Global Programs Architect owns the connective tissue between them - the programs, campaigns, and experiences that sustain engagement, build culture, and reinforce the employee value proposition throughout the employment journey. The scope extends equally to strategically significant, cross-cutting initiatives: designing how the organization supports and communicates reorganizations, building the frameworks and experience architecture behind performance management, shaping employee relations strategy and tooling, and leading or co-leading global programs tied to the People team's OKRs in any given fiscal year. This is not a coordinator role. It requires someone who can think at the program architecture level: designing for scale, building for consistency, and making deliberate choices about where human touch is essential and where self-service or AI can deliver an equally - or more - effective experience.

A defining responsibility of this role is ensuring that all programs are delivered in a way that is globally consistent yet locally relevant, compliantly designed, and fully integrated into the service delivery model so that Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams can execute against them without reinventing the wheel in every market.

The day-to-day:

Global Program Design & Strategy

Design, build, and evolve global people programs across key domains:

Performance management

Reorganizations and organizational effectiveness

Employee relations frameworks and practices

PB&C policies and governance

Establish a “global-first” philosophy, ensuring consistency, scalability, and clarity while enabling targeted localization when legally or culturally required.

Shape and translate business strategy and People priorities into structured, actionable program roadmaps.

Program Delivery & Execution

Accountable for end-to-end program delivery, from concept to deployment, ensuring high adoption and impact.

Partner with regional People Solutions teams to operationalize and execute programs effectively in local markets.

Collaborate with PB&C Service Delivery and shared services teams to ensure seamless delivery, employee support, and issue resolution.

Develop clear playbooks, workflows, and documentation to enable consistent execution at scale.

Reorganizations & Organizational Effectiveness

Lead enterprise level operational and standardized approach to organizational design and restructuring initiatives, including workforce planning, partnering with senior business partners and business leaders to define strategic outcomes, drive execution and manage risk at scale.

Partner with PB&C Business Partners and business leaders to guide reorg strategy, implementation, and communication.

Ensure alignment with global frameworks while addressing regional compliance and risk considerations.

Employee Relations & Policy Governance

Define global employee relations philosophies, frameworks, and escalation models.

Partner with regional ER teams to ensure consistent case management approaches and equitable outcomes.

Design and maintain strategic oversight and governance of global HR policies, ensuring clarity, accessibility, and compliance, with localized adaptations where required, partnering with and delegating implementation with People Solutions function for full enablement.

Service Delivery Integration & AI-Enabled Delivery

Leverage AI tools, automation, and digital platforms to:

Streamline program delivery

Enhance employee and manager self-service

Improve decision-making through data and insights

Identify opportunities to reduce manual work, eliminate friction, and increase speed and accuracy in program execution.

Continuously assess program effectiveness and drive iterative improvements using data, feedback, and insights.

Cross-Functional Partnership & Influence

Act as a strategic partner to senior leadership, influencing and aligning stakeholders across a complex global matrix, including:

People Experience leadership

PB&C Business Partners

Regional People Solutions teams

Employee Relations and Legal

PB&C Service Delivery

Build strong stakeholder relationships to drive alignment, adoption, and accountability across a complex global matrix.

Change Management & Communications

Lead change management strategies for global program rollouts.

Develop clear, compelling, and consistent communications for employees, managers, and PB&C stakeholders.

Ensure stakeholders are equipped with the tools, training, and messaging needed for successful adoption.

What you'll need:

Experience and Education

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organization Development, or a related field (Master’s or MBA preferred).

8–12+ years of progressive experience in HR Operations, Business Partnering, People Strategy, or Global Program Leadership roles.

Proven track record of leading end‑to‑end, enterprise‑level strategic initiatives in a global remit, delivering measurable business impact.

Demonstrated experience operating across multiple regions in a complex, matrixed organization, with senior stakeholder accountability.

Experience in high‑growth, fast‑paced environments with significant organizational change.

Technical & Methodological Skills

Agile Expertise: Certification or deep practical experience in Agile/Scrum methodologies (e.g., Certified ScrumMaster, PMI-ACP) applied to non-technical environments.

Process Mapping: Experience with process mapping tools (e.g., Miro, Visio) and Design Thinking frameworks. Expertise in process design, process mapping, and design thinking methodologies.

HR Systems: Solid working experience with modern HRIS platforms (e.g., Workday, ), HR Case Management/Service Delivery tools (e.g., ServiceNow), AI tools, and Knowledge Management platforms.

Analytics: Ability to identify and source data needs and convert data analytics into meaningful insights connecting qualitative and quantitative data.

Core Competencies

Big-Picture Thinking with an Eye for Detail: Equally comfortable setting program strategy and reviewing the copy on a manager nudge email - understands that in experience design, the details are the strategy.

Global Mindset: Designs for diversity and inclusion from the start, anticipating how programs will land across cultures, geographies, and workforce segments rather than defaulting to a single-market perspective.

Bias Toward Simplicity: Instinctively asks whether a program needs to be more complex - and usually finds a cleaner, more scalable alternative that delivers the same or better employee outcome with less operational overhead.

Success Measures

Adoption and effectiveness of global programs across regions

Reduction in program complexity and operational friction

Consistency and fairness in employee experience and outcomes globally

Improved speed and quality of reorganization and ER processes

Measurable impact of AI and automation on HR efficiency and experience

Strong stakeholder satisfaction and alignment

What will help you on the job:

Experience as a program manager on a large scale