Spotlight of the Month: Sia Pourzeynali

Our Spotlight series is an opportunity to meet our team at HRchitect. Every month, we shine a spotlight on a member of our team for you to learn more about. Get to know all about Sia Pourzeynali, Implementation Manager, in this month’s Spotlight.







Sia Pourzeynali joined HRchitect in November of 2022 as an HCM Implementation Consultant, and with his deep UKG implementation experience, quickly was promoted to Implementation Manager within the UKG Pro practice in June of 2023. Certified in Core/HR, BI reporting, and data conversion, Sia has a proven track record in implementing technology solutions for mid-market and enterprise businesses. With his exceptional organizational and communication skills combined with his expertise in data analysis and modeling with SQL and Python, Sia has successfully led his team, projects, and clients.







Hometown:   Talesh, Iran



Alma mater: Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario



All-time favorite restaurant: SARA, Toronto, Canada



Last book you read: I enjoyed re-reading How to Win Friends and Influence People last month. It just has something new every time I read it!



Favorite movie: It’s hard to pick a favorite movie. I’ll give you my top 5. These are the ones I will happily watch and get excited about each time: 1) Any Lord of the Rings movies, 2) The Matrix (1999), 3) Any of The Godfather Trilogy, 4) Dune: Part One (I have not watched Part Two just yet), 5) Either Gangs of New York or Inglourious Basterds – hard to decide between these two!



Favorite TV series: That is easy. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are my top two choices. I would choose Game of Thrones if the last season had not been so terrible.



What do you do when you’re not working?  When I am not working, you can find me working out at my kickboxing gym or lifting weights. I aspire to become a kickboxing fighter (at least an amateur), so everything unrelated to work revolves around that at this stage of my life. I also enjoy watching a lot of YouTube videos and hanging out with friends.



How did you find out about HRchitect, and what made you join the company?   It’s hard not to hear about HRchitect when you work in the Human Capital Management (HCM) space. Raven Intelligence was probably the first place I came across HRchitect’s name, and it made me curious why there are numerous good reviews. I then reached out to a few people at HRchitect, and it all made sense after speaking with them! What did the trick was the culture, the people, and their diverse backgrounds and knowledge. Our teams and practices combined offer an immense amount of knowledge in the HCM and workforce management (WFM) space, which makes working at HRchitect an incredible knowledge-sharing opportunity for our clients and ourselves.



How has your background impacted your experience as a consultant?  My previous background in engineering has been very helpful in my role as a consultant. Although learning the HR/payroll concepts was quite challenging, the consulting part was never difficult. The problem-solving skills I acquired in my engineering journey enabled me to look at problems from different angles and come up with creative solutions accordingly for my team and our clients. That is a very fulfilling part of my job!



In your own words, what do you do at HRchitect?  I assist our clients with their HCM software transformation and ensure they get the highest return on their investment (ROI). As an Implementation Manager, I can pave the way for our other talented consultants to be able to do the same for their clients.



What’s a typical workday like for you?   There is no typical workday in HCM. Every day is different! However, I usually have client meetings scheduled where we discuss their pain points and devise solutions. I could be working on custom reports for another client or helping them with an assessment of their system. Depending on the phase of my projects, I could be deep into configuration and testing as well. I also participate in leadership meetings and activities where we ensure our projects are moving forward smoothly and our consultants have everything they need to perform at their highest level.



Tell me about a project you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of.  I am proud of all the projects I have worked on, as I had the chance to learn something new with each project. But if I had to pick one, it would be a very complex report I worked on for a substantial retail client. As always, when we encounter a situation where the system has limitations, we don’t surrender. We came up with creative workarounds, and that’s what I did for this client. This was a report they had issues with when working with their previous vendor, and we pulled it off! The creative workaround transformed into a more seamless GL process and eliminated a lot of manual work.



What’s been one of your favorite destinations to travel to for a client site visit/Partner conference/HRchitect event?  Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to travel with HRchitect due to scheduling constraints, but the leadership team has visited our team in Toronto a couple of times, which was awesome.




Sia enjoying dinner with the Leadership team in Toronto.




As part of a team that works 100% virtually, what technology or collaboration tools do you use to make your work life easier?   Working 100% virtually can present some challenges, particularly around connecting with colleagues and clients. We use all sorts of tools, including but not limited to Slack, Zoom, Teams, Notion, SnagIt, Adobe Reader, and Microsoft 365, to make sure we stay connected with the team and our clients. We also use some of the same platforms to plan interactive activities, share photos, and play trivia, which makes us more connected.



What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day?   My family and my co-workers are my motivation. I love to take care of my family and enjoy connecting with my co-workers and helping them with their projects. When I said there is no typical day in the HCM space, I meant it. That’s what keeps it interesting. There is something new to be learned every day.



Which employee perk that HRchitect offers do you enjoy the most? Why?  It’s hard to pick one. But my choice would be to be able to work remotely. Working remotely allows me to work from the comfort of my home or the ability to work even when I’m traveling.




Learn more about Sia on LinkedIn

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