Workday Payroll Lead

Accenture; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Accenture is seeking a Workday Payroll Lead in Australia, guiding design, implementation, and delivery of payroll solutions for global clients. You will lead teams, engage senior stakeholders, and drive payroll transformation initiatives while ensuring compliance and data integrity across multiple deployments.

You will mentor cross-functional delivery teams, support pre-sales, solutioning, and commercial modelling, and contribute to the ANZ Workday practice with knowledge sharing and

Qualifications

• Experience leading Workday Payroll implementations or large Australian payroll projects.
• Strong end-to-end payroll process knowledge and compliance.
• Experience with integration and data migration in complex environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end Workday Payroll implementations and transformations, from solution design through deployment and hypercare.
• Own solution architecture and payroll process design, ensuring alignment with client business and compliance requirements.
• Oversee configuration of payroll elements (earnings, deductions, taxes) and ensure data integrity, validation, and reconciliation.
• Govern payroll testing strategy (SIT, UAT) and ensure quality delivery outcomes.
• Execute parallel payroll testing and co-ordinate remediation with customer payroll teams.
• Manage the migration of the payroll solution into a production environment.
• Support the payroll team with the transition onto the new payroll solution and the operational changes they will need to make.
• Act as the primary client interface for payroll workstreams, building strong relationships with senior stakeholders.
• Facilitate workshops and advise on payroll leading practices, transformation strategy, and optimisation opportunities.
• Provide governance, escalation management, and risk mitigation across engagements.
• Lead and mentor cross-functional delivery teams (functional, integration, and testing).
• Drive team performance, capability development, and Workday Payroll knowledge uplift.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and retention of Workday talent.
• Support sales pursuits, proposals, and RFP responses for Workday Payroll opportunities.
• Contribute to solutioning, effort estimation, and commercial modelling.
• Identify and drive add-on opportunities within existing clients (e.g., payroll optimisation, extensions, AMS services).
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders (e.g., Workday practice leads, sales teams) to grow pipeline.
• Contribute to ANZ Workday Payroll practice growth through asset development, accelerators, and reusable solutions.
• Stay current with Workday Payroll product updates and legislative changes.
• Support internal training, certification, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.

Skills

Workday Payroll

Payroll leadership

Stakeholder management

Pre-sales & solutioning

Data migration

Team leadership

Education

Workday Payroll Certification

Degree in HR, Finance, IT, or related discipline

Consulting experience

Job description

Accenture is a leading solutions and services company that helps the world’s leading enterprises reinvent by building their digital core and unleashing the power of AI to create value at speed across the enterprise, bringing together the talent of our approximately 786,000 people, our proprietary assets and platforms, and deep ecosystem relationships. Our strategy is to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients and to be the most client-focused, AI-enabled, great place to work in the world. Through our Reinvention Services we bring together our capabilities across strategy, consulting, technology, operations, Song and Industry X with our deep industry expertise to create and deliver solutions and services for our clients. Our purpose is to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity, and we measure our success by the 360° value we create for all our stakeholders. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Through Transformation Powered by Workday, we help HR and Finance define their strategy, technology and approach to become agile, strategic advisors that drive critical business outcomes and revenue. By automating day-to-day tasks, then uniting and orchestrating the data and planning abilities of Finance and HR in one seamless system, organizations can better align to business strategy and ensure that the right skills and resources are available when they are needed.

With in-depth specialization in more than 40 industries and an unmatched, global delivery network, Accenture is uniquely positioned to guide its clients in this transformation, tailoring each journey to your specific needs. For more information, please visit Accenture + Workday.

The Opportunity

As a member of one of the world’s largest Workday-certified teams, you’ll be part of a team of advisory professionals who deliver more than just technology. From rapid deployments to entire transformations, you’ll deliver integrated source to pay solutions that put organizations on the fast track to a better way to work.

Grow your career with leading-edge technologies, continuous learning opportunities and a global community with deep industry expertise that help to solve clients’ biggest challenges.

Now is the perfect time for you to join the Accenture Workday team, where you’ll:

• Assess, strategize and manage Workday deployments for organisations across the globe. Accenture has worked with more than 700 clients to deliver Workday deployments to unlock the potential of their organisations.
• Design and deliver future-ready Workday solutions to help organisations optimise their Finance functions and enhance their employees’ experiences.
• Join more than 3,200 professionals certified in Workday, collaborating to drive enterprise-wide transformational projects on a global scale.
• Expand your Workday skills and advance your career with unparalleled training and professional development opportunities.

Role Summary

As a Workday Payroll Lead, you will lead the design, implementation, and delivery of Workday Payroll solutions for clients. You will act as a trusted advisor, driving payroll transformation initiatives while managing teams, engaging senior stakeholders, and contributing to business growth.

Key Responsibilities

Delivery & Solution Leadership

• Lead end-to-end Workday Payroll implementations and transformations, from solution design through deployment and hypercare.
• Own solution architecture and payroll process design, ensuring alignment with client business and compliance requirements
• Oversee configuration of payroll elements (earnings, deductions, taxes) and ensure data integrity, validation, and reconciliation
• Govern payroll testing strategy (SIT, UAT) and ensure quality delivery outcomes
• Execute parallel payroll testing and co-ordinate remediation with customer payroll teams
• Manage the migration of the payroll solution into a production environment
• Support the payroll team with the transition onto the new payroll solution and the operational changes they will need to make

Stakeholder & Client Management

• Act as the primary client interface for payroll workstreams, building strong relationships with senior stakeholders
• Facilitate workshops and advise on payroll leading practices, transformation strategy, and optimisation opportunities
• Provide governance, escalation management, and risk mitigation across engagements

People Leadership

• Lead and mentor cross-functional delivery teams (functional, integration, and testing)
• Drive team performance, capability development, and Workday Payroll knowledge uplift
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and retention of Workday talent

Sales & Business Development

• Support sales pursuits, proposals, and RFP responses for Workday Payroll opportunities
• Contribute to solutioning, effort estimation, and commercial modelling
• Identify and drive add-on opportunities within existing clients (e.g., payroll optimisation, extensions, AMS services)
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders (e.g., Workday practice leads, sales teams) to grow pipeline

Practice & Capability Development

• Contribute to ANZ Workday Payroll practice growth through asset development, accelerators, and reusable solutions
• Stay current with Workday Payroll product updates and legislative changes
• Support internal training, certification, and knowledge-sharing initiatives

Key Skills & Experience

• Extensive experience in Workday Payroll implementations and delivery leadership OR extensive experience in Australian Payroll implementations on other core Payroll solutions
• Strong knowledge of end-to-end payroll processes and compliance frameworks
• Proven ability to lead large-scale transformation programs and client engagements
• Experience managing integration and data migration activities in complex environments
• Strong commercial acumen with experience in pre-sales and solutioning
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills

Qualifications

• Workday Payroll Certification (highly preferred)
• Degree in HR, Finance, IT, or related discipline
• Proven consulting experience in a client-facing environment

Nice to have

• Multi-country payroll deployment experience
• Exposure to Workday HCM modules (Core HCM, Time Tracking, Absence)
• Knowledge of AU/NZ payroll legislation and compliance requirements
• Experience working with third-party payroll providers and integrations

Mandatory Requirements

Australian Citizenship with current or ability to gain Baseline Security Clearance

All of our consulting professionals receive comprehensive training covering business acumen, technical and professional skills development. You’ll also have opportunities to hone your functional skills and expertise in an area of specialization. We offer a variety of formal and informal training programs at every level to help you acquire and build specialized skills faster. Learning takes place both on the job and through formal training conducted online, in the classroom, or in collaboration with teammates. The sheer variety of work we do, and the experience it offers, provide an unbeatable platform from which to build a career.

Candidates who are currently employed by a client of Accenture or an affiliated Accenture business may not be eligible for consideration.

Accenture Benefits

To view our Progressive Employee Benefits covering Health, Wellbeing, Progressive Leave Options, Sustainability click on the link below.

Progressive Employee Benefits – Australia

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