Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence Consultant, Higher Education & Nonprofit

Workday, Inc. (old); Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 237,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Job summary

Workday, Inc. is seeking an experienced Senior/Principal Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence Consultant to support higher education and nonprofit implementations.

You will design, configure, and deploy Workday solutions with a focus on accuracy and long-term success, collaborating closely with clients, project teams, and the Engagement Manager. You’ll own the Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence workstreams, propose design approaches, and help customers navigate milestones from design through testing

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience implementing and/or configuring Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence
• Experience in a consulting, software, or internal Workday environment with hands-on responsibility for configuration, testing, and stakeholder partnerships

Responsibilities

• Design and configure Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence solutions
• Partner with customers to elicit and document business requirements
• Configure Workday solutions to align with customer needs and operational realities
• Document decisions to support customer adoption and ongoing use
• Support data conversion, integrations, and testing
• Coordinate cross-workstream activities to ensure successful deployments
• Assist customers through testing cycles and issue resolution
• Mentor newer consultants and contribute to practice development

Skills

Workday Payroll

Time Tracking

Absence management

Travel readiness

Job description

Your work days are brighter here. We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

The Higher Ed/Nonprofit Functional Consulting team partners with colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations to design and deliver Workday Payroll, Absence, & Time Tracking solutions that help them pay their people accurately and on time, so they can stay focused on their missions. We lead implementations end‑to‑end, balancing scope, milestones, and quality across a steady pipeline of projects. Many of us previously worked in higher education or nonprofit organizations, and we understand the realities of shared governance, academic calendars, and public or public‑adjacent organizations. We also value creating sustainable ways of working that fit those environments. Our team is highly educated, curious, and always looking for ways to improve how we work. We actively utilize Workday’s AI tools to make our implementations high‑quality and efficient, and we share what we learn so the entire practice benefits.

About the Role

We’re looking for an experienced Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence Consultant to support higher education and nonprofit implementations. In this role, you will partner with mission‑driven organizations to design, configure, and deploy Workday solutions built for accuracy and long‑term success. You’ll bring Workday product and implementation expertise to client engagements, helping customers translate business requirements into practical solutions. You’ll work closely with clients, project teammates, and the Engagement Manager to move implementations forward with clarity, quality, and strong partnership. You’ll have meaningful ownership over the Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence workstreams, with the autonomy to recommend design approaches that set customers up for long‑term success. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving complex problems, building trust with stakeholders, and helping customers navigate key implementation milestones with confidence. You’ll both learn from experienced teammates and contribute your own ideas and patterns to help evolve how we implement Workday in higher education and nonprofit organizations.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and configure Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence solutions
• Apply deep expertise in the product across customer engagements
• Partner with customers to elicit, clarify, and document business requirements
• Configure Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence to align with customer needs and operational realities
• Document solution decisions clearly so customers can support and sustain their environment after go‑live
• Support data conversion, integrations, and testing
• Partner with client and data conversion teams to support legacy Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence data conversion into Workday
• Partner with integration teams to support the configuration and testing of integrations between Workday and third‑party or custom solutions
• Support customers through testing cycles, including issue triage and resolution
• Transfer system knowledge to customer teams to support adoption, confidence, and long‑term success in production
• Drive project execution and stakeholder alignment
• Communicate regularly with the Engagement Manager on project status, hours forecasting, time reporting, risks, and mitigation plans
• Partner with Delivery Assurance to support compliance with agreed checkpoints and quality standards
• Help customers prepare for and navigate key implementation milestones, from design through testing and deployment
• Contribute to the practice and mentor others
• Mentor consultants who are newer to Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence
• Participate in update training and knowledge‑sharing opportunities that strengthen team capability
• Contribute to the Higher Education/Nonprofit consulting practice by identifying opportunities for improvement and leading or participating in internal initiatives

About You

You bring strong Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence expertise, sound judgment, and a collaborative approach to delivery. You know how to balance customer needs, project realities, and solution quality. You communicate clearly, build trust quickly, and work well across teams and workstreams. We’re open to hiring at the Senior or Principal level depending on your experience, scope of expertise, and track record of leading complex client engagements.

Basic Qualifications: Senior Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence Consultant (P4)

• 4+ years of experience implementing and/or configuring Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence
• 4+ years of experience in a consulting, software, or internal Workday environment with hands‑on responsibility for Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence configuration, testing, and partnering with stakeholders

Basic Qualifications: Principal Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence Consultant (P5)

• 6+ years of experience implementing and/or configuring Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence
• 6+ years of experience in a consulting, software, or internal Workday environment leading complex Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence initiatives that require cross‑workstream coordination, stakeholder alignment, and structured testing

Other Qualifications (preferred)

• Experience working with higher education or nonprofit organizations
• Experience with multiple Payroll, Time Tracking, & Absence applications
• Relationship Management: Proven ability to build trusted, long‑term relationships with Payroll, Time Tracking, Absence, HR, and/or finance stakeholders in higher education and/or nonprofit environments, including navigating complex governance structures (e.g., committees, unions, shared governance)
• Task Management: Ability to manage multiple customers in parallel, estimate effort accurately, surface risks early, and coordinate with Engagement Managers and project teams to keep scope, schedule, and quality on track
• Ability to travel up to 50% based on client and project needs, particularly for key implementation milestones such as design sessions and major testing events

Posting End Date: 11/30/26

Pay Transparency Statement

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role‑specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things.

• Primary Location: USA.GA.Atlanta
• Primary Location Base Pay Range: $140,300 USD – $210,500 USD
• Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $133,300 USD – $236,900 USD

Our Approach to Flexible Work

With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in‑person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in‑office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.

Equal Opportunity & Employment Discrimination Statements

Workday is an equal opportunity workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Workday are considered without regard to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Further, pursuant to applicable local ordinances, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision‑making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law. Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law. We do not accept resumes from headhunters, placement agencies, or other suppliers that have not signed a formal agreement with us.