Senior Workday HCM & Payroll BA - HR Transformation Lead

Desda Group; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Desda Group is seeking a Senior Business Analyst to lead Workday HCM & Payroll initiatives for Australia. You will translate HR, payroll and compliance needs into clear requirements, challenge the integrator, and ensure traceability from requirements through testing to go-live.

You will map as-is processes, own acceptance criteria, and drive design workshops with the Workday partner, prioritizing standard design and Australian payroll nuances.

Qualifications

• 8+ years as a BA in enterprise HR/payroll implementations.
• At least one full-lifecycle Workday HCM implementation; Workday Payroll for Australia preferred.
• Deep knowledge of Australian payroll and awards interpretation.
• Hands-on with parallel runs, data migration reconciliation and UAT.

Responsibilities

• Map current-state HR and payroll processes and build pay rules inventory.
• Own requirements, acceptance criteria and traceability across HCM and payroll scope.
• Lead design workshops with Workday partner, favouring standard design over customization.
• Define Australian payroll requirements including awards, SP2, and payday rules.
• Define integration and data migration requirements, support testing and cutover.
• Produce future-state processes and support BAU handover.

Skills

Workday HCM

Workday Payroll AU

Australian payroll

BA/Business Analyst

Stakeholder management

Requirements tracing

Job description

Senior Business Analyst — Workday HCM & Payroll

Leading Australian super fund · People & Payroll Transformation (Workday) · Sydney or Melbourne, hybrid · 12-month contract with possible extension

The role

Our client, a leading Australian super fund, is replacing its legacy HR and payroll platforms with Workday HCM and Workday Payroll for Australia. You'll be the business's voice in design: turning HR, payroll and compliance needs into clear requirements, challenging the integrator, and keeping the line from requirement to test intact through go-live.

What you'll do

• Map current-state hire-to-retire and time-to-pay processes and build the pay rules inventory.
• Own requirements, acceptance criteria and traceability across HCM and payroll scope.
• Lead design workshops with the Workday partner, favouring standard design over customisation.
• Specify Australian payroll requirements: awards and the enterprise agreement, STP Phase 2, super guarantee and Payday Super, payroll tax and long service leave.
• Define integration and data migration requirements, then support testing, parallel runs and cutover.
• Produce future-state processes and support change, training and BAU handover.

What you'll bring

• 8+ years as a BA, including senior roles on enterprise HR and payroll implementations.
• At least one full-lifecycle Workday HCM implementation; Workday Payroll for Australia strongly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of Australian payroll and award interpretation.
• Hands-on experience with parallel runs, data migration reconciliation and UAT.
• The confidence to challenge a systems integrator, and the clarity to brief a steering committee.
• Superannuation or APRA-regulated experience and Workday certification are a plus.

What success looks like Requirements are baselined and signed off early, every requirement traces to a passed test, parallel runs reconcile, and the first live pay lands with no material errors.