Senior Specialist, Workday HCM

University of Ottawa; Stewart; On-site; CAD 96,000 - 121,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Ottawa is seeking a Business Systems Analyst to translate business requirements into technical specifications for HR systems, with emphasis on Workday HCM and Payroll. You will configure, maintain and test cloud HR modules and develop reporting and analytics to support operations.

Responsibilities include change management, training, user guides, and collaboration with stakeholders to optimize HR processes.

Qualifications

• University Degree in Commerce, Administration, Business Technology Management or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum 5 years of experience supporting business units and their system needs.
• Experience supporting Workday HCM and Payroll (configurations, business process, reporting, AI components…).
• Thorough knowledge and experience of HR business processes, rules, policies, priorities, and regulations related to Human Capital Management, compensation and/or pension and benefits.
• Experience in project and change management.
• Knowledge of the administrative operations of public institutions.
• Experience with Microsoft Excel, Business Intelligence, or other data management tools to manipulate, convert, clean, and present complex data.
• Knowledge of computing principles and the configuration and development of HR technical applications.
• Experience conducting client needs assessments and prioritizing business requirements.
• Experience writing and maintaining business and technical documentation, and providing training.
• Experience coordinating operational services for clients with diverse needs.
• Ability to negotiate and influence clients in accepting solutions that align both the strategic goals of the University and short- and long-term client requirements.
• Strong analytical skills to convert business requirements into functional specifications, as well as the ability to conceptualize individual requirements and create links between different stakeholders’ needs.
• Ability to adapt to ever-changing requirements and processes, challenge ideas, and accept new methods and procedures.

Responsibilities

• Business and technical support: understands customers’ operational and strategic needs and provides expert advice to improve procedures or system configurations.
• Business process & system maintenance: maintains and modifies business processes, workflows, naming conventions, and data masters; assigns security roles and develops custom reports.
• Change management: supports continuous improvements and change management efforts across the University and ensures smooth transitions from current to desired practices.

Skills

Workday HCM

Payroll

HR business processes

Change management

Project management

Client needs assessment

Analytical skills

Negotiation

Bilingualism (EN/FR)

Documentation

Training

Education

Bachelor's degree in Commerce/Administration/Business Technology Management or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Business Intelligence

Job description

Posting Reason: Replacement of a temporary position Job Type: Employee Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments): 12 Job Family: Business Systems Analysis # of Open Positions: 1 Faculty/Service - Department: HR Systems Team, FIN-HR Applications and Support Campus: Main Campus Union Affiliation: SSUO Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD): 2026/08/20 Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD): 2026/09/28 Hours per week: 35 Salary Grade: SSUO Grade 11 Salary Range: $95,594.00 - $120,750.00

Position purpose: Reporting to the Senior Manager, HR Applications and Support, provides guidance and support to clients by translating business requirements into technical specifications particularly in relations to Human Capital Management, such as compensation, talent management, recruitment, time and absence, payroll, HR AI Components. Configures, maintains, and develops Workday (and similar cloud applications in the HR application ecosystem) modules on Human Capital Management and supports their comprehensive testing. Performs data analytics, develops reporting, and supports process optimization initiatives. Works closely with units across campus and possesses a solid understanding of business operations, policies, regulatory requirements, systems, and priorities in relations to Human Capital Management. Possesses a customer-centric mindset and directly supports stakeholders and product owners on their requests. Delivers training, develops user guides, and supports change management initiatives. Its work directly contributes to administrative efficiency and service quality. Supports management with insights conducive to strategic and impactful decision-making. Maintains the effectiveness and efficiency of its systems to meet business objectives and reporting obligations.

*The position will remain posted until the role is filled.

Responsibilities

• Business and technical support: Intimately understands customers’ operational and strategic needs and provides expert advice to improve procedures or system configurations. Offers a simple, seamless, and collaborative stakeholder experience to customers. Reviews system capabilities and workflows and identifies ways to simplify the client’s experience. Addresses inefficiencies or configuration issues and escalates as necessary. Assists clients in the evaluation of their current processes and identifies new techniques to take full advantage of system capabilities. Keeps apprised of evolving industry tools and business processes and recommends improvements.
• Business process & system maintenance: Maintains and modifies business processes, workflows, naming conventions, and data masters in accordance with approved design principles, governance frameworks, and institutional business rules, procedures, and policies. Assigns security roles and develops custom reports. Identifies and resolves quality problems and troubleshoots and fixes bugs. Monitors master data relationships, ensures master data integrity (by addressing record duplications, format inconsistencies, incompleteness, inaccuracies, etc).
• Change management: Supports continuous improvements and change management efforts across the University and ensures smooth transitions from current to desired business practices.

What you will bring

• University Degree in Commerce, Administration, Business Technology Management or/and an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum 5 years of experience supporting business units and their system needs.
• Experience supporting Workday HCM and Payroll (configurations, business process, reporting, AI components…)
• Thorough knowledge and experience of HR business processes, rules, policies, priorities, and regulations related to Human Capital Management, compensation and/or pension and benefits.
• Experience in project and change management.
• Knowledge of the administrative operations of public institutions.
• Experience with Microsoft Excel, Business Intelligence, or other data management tools to manipulate, convert, clean, and present complex data.
• Knowledge of computing principles and the configuration and development of HR technical applications.
• Experience conducting client needs assessments and prioritizing business requirements.
• Experience writing and maintaining business and technical documentation, and providing training.
• Experience coordinating operational services for clients with diverse needs.
• Ability to negotiate and influence clients in accepting solutions that align both the strategic goals of the University and short- and long-term client requirements.
• Strong analytical skills to convert business requirements into functional specifications, as well as the ability to conceptualize individual requirements and create links between different stakeholders’ needs.
• Ability to adapt to ever-changing requirements and processes, challenge ideas, and accept new methods and procedures.
• This position can be called upon working with different teams and projects within the department.
• Professional designation is an asset (HR or Business Analysis)
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).

Key Competencies at uOttawa

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.

Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.

Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.

Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [e-mail] to communicate the accommodation need.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.

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The University of Ottawa is the largest bilingual (English-French) university in the world. Located at the heart of Canada’s capital, we have ready access to the great institutions of our country. Our advances in social sciences, health, engineering, science and the humanities make uOttawa a unique place to learn, grow and excel. The University of Ottawa aspires to employing a staff that fully represents the diversity of Canada's population. As a result, it is committed to employment equity principles and aims to provide an inclusive and barrier-free workplace. The University of Ottawa offers a generous pay and benefits package that includes a competitive salary, a defined benefit pension plan, group insurance coverage and an employee and family assistance program.