Vice President, Strategy and Enablement

Position: Vice President, People Strategy and Enablement
About Us:

Proofpoint is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity. We protect how people, data, and AI agents connect across email, cloud, and collaboration tools. Over 80 of the Fortune 100, 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations trust Proofpoint to stop threats, prevent data loss, and build resilience across their people and AI workflows. Our mission is simple: safeguard the digital world and empower people to work securely and confidently.

Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.

How We Work:

At Proofpoint you’ll be part of a global team that breaks barriers to redefine cybersecurity guided by our BRAVE core values:
Bold in how we dream and innovate

Responsive to feedback, challenges and opportunities

Accountable for results and best in class outcomes

Visionary in future focused problem-solving

Exceptional in execution and impactVP, People Strategy and Enablement The VP, People Strategy and Enablement is a senior executive role responsible for scaling the operational infrastructure of the People function.  Reporting to the Chief People Officer, this executive owns operations globally, overseeing all processes across the employee lifecycle—from onboarding through offboarding, including the responsible deployment of AI.  This is a builder role with a clear mandate: turn a collection of People systems and manual processes into a connected, measurable, AI-enabled platform that makes every People team and every people leader faster and better informed.

The role sits at the intersection of People, IT, Security, Privacy, and Legal, and calls for someone equally comfortable in setting architecture direction and shipping working programs quarter by quarter.

Strategy & Operations Architect the global People operating model, including systems, service delivery, and digital enablement.

Oversee People operations across the full employee lifecycle, ensuring consistency, quality, and scalability.

Lead the evolution of the People technology ecosystem to enable automation, self-service, and an improved employee experience.

Develop and execute roadmap to modernize and scale People shared services globally.

AI People Programs Define and own the AI strategy for the People function: where AI is applied and where it is deliberately not applied.

Build the governance framework for AI, covering use-case intake and approval, bias testing, human-in-the-loop requirements, explainability standards, vendor AI due diligence, and ongoing monitoring of deployed models.

Deploy and scale AI assistants and agents for employee and manager self-service, measuring deflection, accuracy, satisfaction, and time saved.

Lead AI fluency and enablement for the People organization so HR professionals can use these tools well and explain them credibly to the business.

Serve as the People function's voice in enterprise AI governance forums, and advise the CPO and executive team on the workforce implications of AI adoption.

People Analytics and Data Establish people analytics frameworks and key performance indicators (KPIs) to guide executive decision-making.

Advance the function from descriptive reporting toward predictive and prescriptive insight on attrition risk, skills supply and demand, and organizational health.

Ensure compliance with global employment laws, risk management standards, and data governance.

Process Enablement and Operating Model Redesign core People processes for simplicity and scale before automating them, holding a high bar for employee and manager experience.

Define the service delivery model across People operations, shared services, centers of excellence, and People business partners, with clear SLAs and escalation paths.

Build the annual People operating calendar…