Senior People Technology Specialist

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP; Belfast City District; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP is seeking a senior Workday subject matter expert within its global People Technology team to provide technical leadership across active Workday modules.

You will lead design, configuration and delivery of large-scale Workday enhancements, mentor colleagues, and partner with senior stakeholders to translate priorities into scalable, automated solutions that improve user experience.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years' experience supporting, configuring and optimising Workday.
• Strong expertise in Workday Core HCM and Recruitment, plus two additional modules.
• Proven experience leading large-scale Workday optimisation projects from requirements gathering through deployment.
• Strong Workday reporting, calculated fields and dashboard development.
• Ability to translate business requirements into scalable, sustainable system solutions.
• Strong HR processes, data governance and practical application of technology to improve operations.
• Experience with Workday security concepts and role-based access controls.
• Excellent stakeholder management with senior leaders.
• Strong organisational skills and incident/service management experience.
• Mentor and coach team members to build capability.
• Clear and confident communicator across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across active Workday modules.
• Lead design, configuration and delivery of complex system enhancements.
• Serve as technical lead for Workday projects and ownership of solution design.
• Lead testing activities, develop test strategies, scenarios and scripts.
• Partner with senior stakeholders to translate priorities into scalable solutions.
• Build trusted relationships across People, Technology and the wider business.
• Contribute to the People Technology roadmap and maximise value from Workday.
• Lead escalation for complex issues and perform root cause analysis.
• Develop and maintain training materials and user guidance.
• Mentor team members and promote best practices.
• Evaluate bi-annual Workday releases and communicate impacts.

Skills

Workday Core HCM

Workday Recruitment

Workday Modules

Workday Reporting

RBAC Security

Stakeholder Management

Mentoring

Regression Testing

Excel Proficiency

Job description

Act as a senior Workday subject matter expert within the global People Technology team, providing technical leadership across active Workday modules.

Lead the design, configuration and delivery of complex system enhancements, optimisation initiatives and large-scale People Technology projects, ensuring alignment with business objectives, governance standards and best practices.

Serve as the technical lead for Workday projects and enhancements, owning solution design, impact assessments, configuration approach and delivery outcomes.

Lead testing activities for projects and system changes, including the development of test strategies, scenarios and scripts, whilst ensuring successful execution by business SMEs.

Partner with senior People, IT and business stakeholders to understand strategic priorities and translate them into scalable technical solutions that drive automation, simplification and self-service.

Build and maintain trusted relationships across People, Technology and the wider business, acting as a key advisor on People Technology solutions and capabilities.

Contribute to the development and prioritisation of the People Technology roadmap, identifying opportunities to enhance processes, improve user experience and maximise value from the Workday platform.

Act as the escalation point for complex issues, leading troubleshooting, root cause analysis and resolution activities across the People Technology estate.

Partner with internal Technology teams to assess downstream impacts, manage dependencies and support successful delivery of system changes.

Develop and maintain custom reports, calculated fields and dashboards to support operational and business needs.

Provide oversight and guidance on Workday security, governance and data integrity controls.

Develop and maintain training materials, knowledge articles and user guidance to strengthen Workday capability across the firm.

Mentor and support People Technology team members, promoting best practices and helping to build technical capability across the team.

Proactively seek opportunities to leverage new Workday functionality, industry best practices and Workday Community resources to improve platform effectiveness.

Lead the evaluation of bi-annual Workday releases, assessing new functionality, coordinating regression testing and communicating relevant impacts and opportunities to stakeholders.

Qualifications, skills and experience

• Minimum of 3 years' experience supporting, configuring and optimising Workday.
• Strong practical expertise in Workday Core HCM and Recruitment and at least two additional Workday modules such as Compensation, Advanced Compensation, Talent & Performance, Peakon, Time Tracking, Benefits or Payroll.
• Demonstrable experience leading large-scale Workday optimisation projects and complex system enhancements from requirements gathering through to configuration, testing and deployment.
• Strong understanding of Workday reporting, calculated fields and dashboard development.
• Experience analysing business requirements and translating them into scalable, sustainable system solutions.
• Strong understanding of HR processes, data governance and the practical application of technology to improve operational effectiveness.
• Experience working with Workday security concepts and role-based access controls.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with experience engaging and influencing senior business leaders and balancing competing priorities.
• Strong organisational skills, with experience operating incident and service management processes.
• Proven ability to mentor, coach and develop less experienced team members.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on identifying root causes and delivering sustainable solutions.
• Clear and confident communicator, capable of engaging effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences across global teams.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel.
• Ability to thrive in a global, fast-paced and often virtual working environment