PRODUCTION SUPPORT MANAGER

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Position Base
Riverside

Location
UCPath Center

UCPATH CENTER

At the University of California (UC), your contributions make a difference. A world leader producing Nobel and Pulitzer Prize recipients with over 150 years of groundbreaking research transforming the world. Choose a career where you can leverage your knowledge, skills and aspirations to inspire and support some of the greatest minds in the world, and those who will follow in their footsteps. Working at the University of California is being part of a unique institution, and a vibrant and diverse community. At the University of California, Office of the President, we propel our mission through impactful work locally, in government centers and systemwide. We are passionate people, serving the greater good.

The University of California, one of the largest and most acclaimed institutions of higher learning in the world, is dedicated to excellence in teaching, research and public service. The University of California Office of the President is the headquarters to the 10 campuses, six academic medical centers and three national laboratories and enrolls premier students from California, the nation and the world. Learn more about the UC Office of the President

The UCPath Center is the University of California's shared services center in Riverside, CA. The UCPath Center manages the payroll, benefits, and other human resources transactions for more than 200,000 UC employees working across ten UC campuses, six medical centers, three national labs and more. The staff at the UCPath Center work in a variety of areas including business operations, customer service, quality management, technology, training, human resources and communications. Learn more about the UCPath Center

POSITION SUMMARY

The Production Support Manager operates within the UCPath Center and reports directly to an Assistant Director of Production. This role provides strategic leadership and operational oversight to a multifaceted team responsible for resolving escalated inquiries across HR Benefits, Accrual and Payroll transactional functions. The Manager drives comprehensive end-to-end issue resolution, ensuring service excellence, alignment with UC policies, and consistent execution of standardized workflows that enable a seamless customer experience. The incumbent leads HR supervisors and associates in triaging, analyzing, and resolving high-impact cases, while reinforcing operational discipline, quality assurance, and performance accountability. As a senior subject matter expert, the Manager provides authoritative guidance on complex issues, steers cross-functional engagement, and ensures decision-making reflects regulatory requirements, enterprise standards, and best-practice operational principles.

Key Responsibilities

• 25% People Management & Team Leadership: Provides comprehensive leadership to supervisors and associates, setting a strong foundation for operational excellence, accountability, and high-performance team culture. Responsibilities include establishing priorities, managing workload distribution, and ensuring consistent adherence to established policy, procedures and service delivery standards. This function encompasses full-cycle people management, including strategic hiring, onboarding, and ongoing talent development. Delivers coaching, performance feedback, and mentorship to strengthen team decision-making, reinforce compensation control practices, and promote a culture of continuous improvement and customer-centric service.
• 35% Escalation Oversight & Case Resolution: Leads the end-to-end resolution of escalated transactional inquiries across HR, Benefits, Accruals, and Payroll, each involving significant policy, regulatory, and technical complexity. Applies advanced subject matter expertise to diagnose issues such as retroactive pay adjustments, benefits eligibility disputes, leave accrual discrepancies, and multi-unit employment scenarios. Ensures all resolutions align with UC policies, regulatory requirements, and established compensating controls while safeguarding data integrity and mitigating operational risk. High-impact escalations may require the Manager to develop and approve compensation adjustments, benefits and retirement corrections, manual calculations, data fixes, or system workarounds while ensuring all solutions align with UC policy, regulatory obligations, and operational standards. Through this oversight, the Manager ensures escalated cases are resolved comprehensively, with clear documentation, stakeholder communication, and adherence to service-level expectations. Works cross-functionally with COE, HR, Benefits, Payroll and technical teams to validate system behavior, determine corrective actions, and ensure accurate processing within UCPath. Provides authoritative guidance to supervisors and associates on evaluating case drivers, assessing system impacts, and executing compliant resolutions.
• 25% Process Optimization, Quality Assurance & Compliance: Leads inquiry forecasting, trend analysis, and root-cause investigations to drive workflow and process enhancements that elevate operational efficiency, data integrity, inquiry and transaction accuracy. Partners with teams to define system requirements within PeopleSoft, Salesforce, and within Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools. Validates configuration changes, supports testing activities, and ensures new or updated functionality that aligns with business process, compensating controls, regulatory obligations and UCPath operational standards. Actively participates in the prioritization of Salesforce fixes by assessing operational risk, customer impact, and compliance considerations, ensuring that high-impact defects and enhancements are addressed in alignment with UCPath priorities. Maintains and updates standard operating procedures, process maps, and knowledge resources to reflect evolving processes, policies and system enhancements. Simultaneously ensures escalated case handling adheres to UC policy, collective bargaining agreements, regulatory requirements, and internal compensating control protocols. Implements sustainable corrective actions to prevent recurrence. Upholds strict confidentiality practices, reinforces compliance posture, and proactively mitigates technical and operational risks that may affect HR and Benefit data integrity and payroll accuracy.
• 15% Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement: Partners with UC locations, central offices, and internal UCPath units to coordinate escalated case resolution, streamline processes, and strengthen end-to-end integration across functional and technical workflows. Communicates inquiry trends, system-related impacts and operational risks to stakeholders to ensure alignment and informed decision-making. Represents Production Support needs in business, technical working groups and cross-functional forums, ensuring system updates, policy changes, and process decisions incorporate operational requirements and reinforce compensating controls. Collaborates closely with COE, Retirement Service Center, HR, Payroll, Benefits, and technical teams to validate system behavior, determine corrective actions, and ensure accurate processing within UCPath. Provides authoritative guidance to supervisors and associates on evaluating case drivers, understanding system impacts, and executing compliant and technically sound resolutions.

Experience
Required Qualifications

• Min 8 years Progressive experience in HR, Payroll, Benefits or shared-services operations within a high-volume, customer-focused environment and/or equivalent education/training.
• Min 5 years Supervisory or managerial experience leading teams responsible for complex transactional processing or escalated case resolution.
• Min 2 years Direct experience working with PeopleSoft HCM or other enterprise HRIS platforms, including troubleshooting, data validation, and understanding downstream impacts.
• Min 2 years Hands-on experience with Salesforce or similar case management systems, including triage, analysis, productivity measurement, and workflow management.

Skills and Abilities
Required Qualifications

• Experience in leading teams, setting expectations, coaching and managing performance; has ability to build relationships.
• Demonstrated advanced knowledge of employer policies and procedures in large and complex institution; knowledge of various functional human resources, benefits administration and payroll areas and understands how operational work impacts other business areas.
• Knowledge of human resources and payroll concepts and regulations related to leaves of absences, retirement, compensation, labor relations, and other areas of HR.
• Knowledge of common HR/Payroll Management systems. Demonstrated understanding of data dependencies and downstream impact of system, policy, benefits and labor changes.
• Experience in making decisions regarding hiring, evaluating, and development of subordinates; determines the best way of achieving unit goals.
• Strong collaboration and teamwork skills. Demonstrated ability to lead in a collaborative environment, build consensus and promote the exchange of information among team members.
• Highly self-motivated and directed. Strong attention to detail and thoroughness in work product. Ability to prioritize, streamline and accomplish assigned projects.
• Ability to promote and implement changes to current practices and processes. Demonstrated excellent influencing, conflict management, and negotiation skills. Demonstrates ability to handle extremely difficult or volatile situations/individuals effectively. Demonstrates ability to delegate and oversee assignments to ensure successful and timely completion as well as to obtain the cooperation of others within and outside the unit.
• Ability to foster a sense of community among a diverse employee population through use of inclusive management practices.
• Excellent written, oral, presentation, facilitation, and interpersonal communication skills to convey technical and complex benefit program information in a clear and concise manner to all levels of the organization; may make oral or written presentations.
• Ability to handle ambiguity in a fast-paced environment with multiple concurrent tasks and changing priorities. Ability to maintain flexibility and quickly address changing priorities.
• Ability to accomplish assigned projects without compromising the integrity of the UCPath Center and/or University of California policies and procedures. Strong analytical, problem solving, critical thinking, organizational skills. Ability to appropriately handle confidential matters and material. Highly self-motivated and directed. Ability to provide excellent service with integrity. Intermediate skills with MS Office applications and related industry software.

Education
Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related field and/or equivalent experience/training.

Licenses and Certifications
Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR/SPHR) or
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC)

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The University of California, Office of the President, is required to provide a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This range takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be offered a salary at or near the top of the range for a position. Salary offers are determined based on final candidate qualifications and experience. The full salary range shows the growth potential for this position and the pay scale is the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position.

Job Title
HR Manager 1

Job Code
000624

Salary Grade
Grade 25

Payscale:
$132,000 - $153,000 - Salary offers are determined based on final candidate qualifications and experience.

Full Salary Range:
$103,100 - $196,300

Benefits: For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by UCPath Center visit: Benefits of Working for UC

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This position will work a hybrid schedule which includes a combination of working both onsite at UCPath in Riverside and remote in California.

HOW TO APPLY

Please be prepared to attach a cover letter and resume with your application.

JOB CLOSE DATE

For first consideration, please apply by: February 27, 2026

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Background Check Process: Successful completion of a background check is required for this critical position. Background check process at UCOP

Smoke Free Work Environment: The University of California, Office of the President, is smoke & tobacco-free as of January 1, 2014. UC Smoke & Tobacco Free Policy

As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs, as may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
  • UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
  • UC Anti-Discrimination Policy for Employees, Students and Third Parties
  • APM - 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment

EEO STATEMENT

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

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