Hybrid Workday Tech Lead — Payroll, Time & Absence

Guardian Life; Bethlehem (Northampton County); Hybrid; USD 119,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Guardian Life is seeking a Workday Technical Lead to own the end-to-end design, governance and configuration of Payroll, Time Tracking and Absence modules. You will partner with Payroll, HR and external vendors to deliver reliable, compliant solutions while ensuring data integrity.

The role leads architecture decisions, drives system improvements and serves as the technical advisor to stakeholders across IT and Payroll. Hybrid role with three in-office days per week in multiple locations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of Workday experience with deep expertise in Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence.
• Experience owning system design and configuration decisions.
• Strong understanding of payroll processes, compliance, and downstream impacts.
• Experience supporting integrations and data flows across systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex problem-solving and root cause analysis.

Responsibilities

• Own the architectural and configuration guardrails for Payroll, Time, and Absence, coordinating execution while retaining accountability for outcomes.
• Establish and maintain standards for configuration, data integrity, and system governance.
• Make and guide key decisions on system design, scalability, and long-term architecture.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex system and payroll-impacting issues.
• Lead configuration of payroll elements, time tracking rules, and absence plans with a focus on scalability and maintainability.
• Ensure configurations support business requirements while minimizing downstream risk.
• Evaluate and redesign existing configurations to improve performance, accuracy, and usability.
• Ensure Workday Payroll configurations support accurate and compliant payroll processing.
• Partner with Payroll leadership to identify risks, gaps, and optimization opportunities.
• Own enterprise-level resolution of payroll-impacting issues, including root cause identification, risk mitigation, and long-term remediation.
• Own design and reliability of outbound payroll data integrations.
• Coordinate with external vendors to resolve systemic issues and improve processes.
• Own architectural decisions and trade-offs for payroll, time, and absence integrations, balancing compliance, scalability, and operational risk.
• Define and maintain data standards, controls, and validation processes.
• Lead impact assessment and strategy for Workday biannual releases.
• Establish testing standards and ensure high-quality deployment of changes.
• Govern system changes to ensure stability and avoid unintended impacts.
• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, reduce manual work, and improve system efficiency.
• Translate business needs into scalable, forward-looking system solutions.
• Shape and influence the broader HR technology roadmap.
• Act as the primary technical advisor and decision partner to Payroll, HR, and IT stakeholders.
• Provide clear recommendations and guidance on system capabilities and limitations.
• Influence decision-making through expertise and data-driven insights.

Skills

Workday Payroll (U.S.)

Time Tracking

Absence

Job description

Guardian Life is seeking a Workday Technical Lead to own the end-to-end design, governance and configuration of Payroll, Time Tracking and Absence modules. You will partner with Payroll, HR and external vendors to deliver reliable, compliant solutions while ensuring data integrity.

The role leads architecture decisions, drives system improvements and serves as the technical advisor to stakeholders across IT and Payroll. Hybrid role with three in-office days per week in multiple locations.