Cohort Lead (Two Positions)

State of Washington Office of Financial Management; Olympia (WA); Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and Bel"

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life

12 paid holidays

14 paid vacation days

12 sick days per year

State retirement programs

Job summary

State of Washington Office of Financial Management seeks a Cohort Lead to guide agencies through Workday implementation and enterprise transformation. You will unify business, technical, data, and organizational change teams to drive readiness, navigate competing priorities, and advance transformation initiatives.

You will lead cross-agency collaboration, manage staff performance, and participate in recruitment and readiness activities, ensuring alignment with One Washington standards and

Qualifications

• Experience leading ERP implementations and complex transformations.
• Proven ability to drive business process reengineering and change management.
• Strong stakeholder engagement across multiple agencies and teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional cohort teams through Workday implementation and readiness activities.
• Coordinate matrixed resources and ensure alignment with One Washington program roadmap.
• Provide leadership, feedback, and performance management for cohort staff.

Skills

ERP concepts

Business process reengineering

Future-state operating models

Workflow design

System functionality

Organizational readiness

Team leadership

Cross-agency coordination

Stakeholder engagement

Change management

Communication

Education

Organizational change management certification

Tools

Microsoft 365

Teams

SharePoint

Smartsheet

Azure DevOps

Job description

Please note: The starting salary offer will be determined based on the successful candidate’s qualifications within the budgeted salary range of $125,000 - $150,00 annually. However, there is the potential for longevity, growth, and salary progression for the individual once employed.

Hybrid:

Our physical office is in Olympia, WA. We offer flexible work schedules and locations. This is a hybrid position where most of the work allows for telework. However, you will need to travel to in-person activities, meetings, and events according to business needs.

Why work for OFM

The Office of Financial Management (OFM) serves as the backbone of Washington state government. Our mission is to make our state a better place by connecting people, budgets, policies, data, and systems for state agencies and the Legislature. Our team includes budget advisors, researchers, and other experts, all dedicated public servants working towards an equitable future for every Washingtonian.

If you want to play a key role in enhancing how state government serves its citizens, you’ve found the right place. Join us in making a meaningful difference for every Washingtonian!

The job opportunity

We are hiring Cohort Leads to help guide state agencies through One Washington’s enterprise transformation and Workday implementation. In this role, you’ll bring people together across business, technical, data, and organizational change teams to support agency readiness, navigate competing priorities, solve problems, and advance implementation efforts. Your leadership will help agencies adapt to new ways of working and achieve shared goals.

We welcome candidates with experience in ERP implementations, business process improvement, organizational change, project management, or cross-agency collaboration. Experience with Workday or comparable systems and tools such as Microsoft 365 and SharePoint is valued; relevant change management or project management certifications are a plus. We value diverse experiences, transferable skills, and different perspectives. If you’re a collaborative leader who enjoys solving complex challenges, learning with others, and helping people navigate change, this job is for you!

One Washington (OneWA), led by the Office of Financial Management, is an enterprise-wide transformation project focused on replacing 1960s-era technology with a cloud-based Workday solution for finance, procurement, budgeting, HR, and payroll. The project’s core business hours are Monday through Friday, and all project positions are full-time. We offer some flexibility in schedules, subject to core business hours and prior supervisory approval. However, it is very common to work beyond the typical 40-hour workweek to meet the rigorous operational needs and business deliverables required for the go-live timelines.

What you’ll work on

• Lead and manage a cross-functional, multidisciplinary cohort team, establishing clear expectations, priorities, assignments, and accountability to support assigned agencies through Workday implementation in alignment with the One Washington program roadmap.
• Lead cohort operations within established One Washington enterprise standards, priorities, methodologies, and workstream direction. Operate effectively in a matrixed environment by integrating specialized resources and expertise that support multiple cohorts while maintaining clear roles, priorities, coordination, and execution within the cohort.
• Provide day-to-day leadership and performance management for cohort staff, including setting expectations, providing meaningful feedback, addressing performance concerns, supporting staff development, and fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and accountable team environment.
• Participate in recruitment planning and hiring processes for cohort positions and provide recommendations consistent with established recruitment and selection processes.
• Oversee agency business process reengineering and readiness activities, ensuring redesigned processes align with Workday functionality, enterprise standards, and future-state operating models. Facilitate effective translation between agency business requirements and applicable Workday capabilities.
• Coordinate the identification and resolution of agency-level policy, procedural, operational, and organizational changes required to transition from current-state to future-state processes. Participate in and support established program risk, action, issue, and decision management processes.
• Lead cohort activities supporting legacy system remediation, including systems inventories, requirements validation, remediation planning, and coordination of testing activities with technical and quality assurance teams in alignment with established program direction and standards.
• Provide leadership and oversight for cohort data readiness activities, including data analysis, data conversion strategies, non-master data mapping, data quality assessment, and validation of converted data.
• Ensure alignment and integration across readiness disciplines, including business process, business analysis, data, technical remediation, testing, and change management, within the cohort and with applicable One Washington enterprise workstreams.
• Monitor cohort progress, agency readiness, risks, issues, dependencies, and resource needs; identify and address barriers, elevate matters requiring program or workstream direction, and coordinate with agency partners, program leadership, and workstream leaders to maintain progress toward established outcomes.

What we need you to bring

Required Qualifications:

• Advanced knowledge of enterprise transformation and implementation, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) concepts, business process reengineering, future-state operating models, workflow design, system functionality, and organizational readiness. Ability to understand and coordinate technical and data readiness activities, including legacy system remediation, data conversion and validation, system integration, and process testing, in collaboration with technical and functional subject matter experts.
• Advanced skills in team leadership and cross-agency coordination, including leading multidisciplinary teams, setting expectations and priorities, assigning work, providing feedback, developing staff, addressing performance concerns, and fostering accountability, inclusion, and collaboration. Ability to coordinate matrixed resources, interdependent workstreams, competing priorities, dependencies, and implementation milestones.
• Ability to apply systems thinking and adaptability to understand interdependencies among agency operations, enterprise processes, technology, data, organizational readiness, and program objectives; anticipate impacts; and adjust to changing requirements and agency needs while maintaining alignment with enterprise standards and program outcomes.
• Ability to exercise sound professional judgment and make decisions by analyzing complex information, assessing risks and implications, resolving issues within established authority, and recognizing when escalation or broader program direction is needed.
• Advanced skills in stakeholder engagement, communication, and change management, including building productive relationships, explaining complex business, technical, and program concepts, facilitating collaboration among stakeholders with differing perspectives, addressing difficult issues with transparency and respect, assessing change impacts and adoption barriers, and coordinating transitions to new processes, systems, roles, and ways of working.
• The ability to learn and grow.
• The ability to meet the needs of others.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience supporting or implementing specific enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, such as Workday, SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, or comparable systems, particularly in finance, procurement, budgeting, or human capital management.
• Experience working in state government or other federated public‑sector environments with shared enterprise standards, governance, and coordination across multiple agencies or organizations.
• Formal education, training, or certification in organizational change management, such as Prosci or ACMP.
• Experience applying project or program management methodologies, such as PMI, Agile, or SAFe. PMP or comparable certification is desirable.
• Proficiency with enterprise collaboration, workflow, and project management tools, such as Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, Smartsheet, Azure DevOps, or comparable platforms.
• Knowledge of accessibility, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging principles and their application to organizational practices, process design, stakeholder engagement, and team environments.

What we offer

At OFM, we foster a culture of integrity, innovation, inclusion, and belonging. We value both learned and lived experiences, believing that diversity makes us stronger. To support your health and well‑being, we offer a variety of benefit programs for our employees.

Please visit our Recruitment Page for a full list of benefits available to employees. Here’s a quick glance at some of the unique benefits that OFM offers:

• An environment of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
• Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance
• 12 paid holidays, 14 paid vacation days (minimum), and 12 days of sick leave per year
• State retirement programs

The Office of Financial Management is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a working environment that includes and respects diversity in culture, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, persons over 40 years of age, and disabled and Vietnam‑era veterans are encouraged to apply.

This position is exempt from civil service rules.

For more information, please see WAC 357-19-195.