Senior Workday Manager

Jobtailor; Illinois; On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a senior Workday leader to drive strategy, governance, and continuous improvement of the Workday platform across global business functions. You will act as the senior Workday SME and primary escalation point for complex issues, while mentoring the India-based Workday team to ensure high-quality support and timely delivery.

You will collaborate with HR, Finance, IT, Payroll, Legal, and Compliance to identify needs, prioritize enhancements, and deliver scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field; equivalent experience may be considered
• 8+ years of progressive Workday experience with administration and optimization
• 4+ years leading Workday projects or cross-functional initiatives
• 2+ years mentoring Workday analysts, administrators, offshore teams, vendors, or partners
• Deep knowledge of Workday processes, security, reporting, integrations, and governance
• Experience supporting multiple Workday modules (HCM, Payroll, Financials, etc.)
• Proven ability to engage senior stakeholders and translate needs into scalable solutions
• Strong project management, analytical, and communication skills
• Excellent change management and user adoption capabilities

Responsibilities

• Lead the Workday strategy, governance, and ongoing optimization across global functions
• Serve as senior Workday SME and escalation point for complex issues
• Oversee India-based Workday team and ensure high-quality, timely delivery
• Establish operating processes, service expectations, and performance metrics for Workday support
• Partner with HR, Finance, IT, Payroll, Legal, Compliance to deliver scalable solutions
• Drive Workday roadmap planning, new functionalities, automation, and long-term strategy
• Manage major Workday projects from discovery to post-launch stabilization
• Own release management and communicate changes affecting Workday users
• Provide governance over Workday security, processes, reports, and data structures
• Ensure data integrity, privacy compliance, and audit readiness
• Drive process improvements to simplify workflows and improve reporting
• Lead change management, training, and adoption for Workday enhancements
• Manage vendor/partner relationships and executive reporting on initiatives

Skills

Strategic leadership

Governance

Workday expertise

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Mentoring

Process improvement

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/IS/Business Admin/Finance

Tools

Workday platform

Offshore team leadership

Release management

Job description

• Lead the overall strategy, governance, administration, and continuous improvement of the Workday platform across global business functions
• Serve as the senior Workday subject matter expert and primary point of escalation for complex system, process, integration, reporting, and security matters
• Oversee, mentor, and provide day-to-day direction to the India-based Workday team, ensuring high-quality support, timely delivery, and alignment with global priorities
• Establish clear operating processes, service expectations, documentation standards, and performance metrics for the Workday support team
• Partner with HR, Finance, IT, Payroll, Legal, Compliance, and business leaders to identify system needs, prioritize enhancements, and deliver scalable solutions
• Lead Workday roadmap planning, including module optimization, new functionality adoption, process automation, and long-term platform strategy
• Manage major Workday projects, enhancements, implementations, integrations, and module rollouts from discovery and requirements gathering through testing, deployment, and post-launch stabilization
• Own Workday release management, including reviewing new features, assessing business impact, coordinating regression testing, communicating changes, and implementing relevant functionality
• Provide governance over Workday business processes, security roles, organizations, calculated fields, reports, dashboards, integrations, and data structures
• Ensure strong data integrity, system controls, privacy compliance, audit readiness, and alignment with internal governance standards
• Drive process improvement by identifying opportunities to simplify workflows, reduce manual effort, improve reporting, and enhance the employee and manager experience
• Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to troubleshoot complex issues, resolve escalations, and ensure system reliability
• Lead stakeholder communication, change management, training, and adoption efforts related to Workday enhancements and process changes
• Manage vendor, consultant, and Workday support relationships as needed
• Develop and maintain executive-level reporting on Workday initiatives, system performance, support trends, project status, and risk areas.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Information Systems, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered
• 8+ years of progressive Workday experience, including hands-on configuration, administration, governance, and optimization
• 4+ years of experience leading Workday projects, platform strategy, or cross-functional system initiatives
• 2+ years of experience managing, mentoring, or directing Workday analysts, administrators, offshore teams, vendors, or implementation partners
• Deep knowledge of Workday business processes, security, reporting, calculated fields, integrations, release management, and system governance
• Experience supporting multiple Workday modules such as HCM, Compensation, Benefits, Payroll, Time Tracking, Absence, Financials, or Reporting
• Demonstrated ability to lead global or regional support models, including offshore or distributed teams
• Strong understanding of HR, payroll, finance, compliance, and data governance processes
• Proven ability to engage senior stakeholders, influence decision-making, manage competing priorities, and translate business needs into scalable Workday solutions
• Excellent project management, analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills
• Strong documentation, testing, change management, and user adoption experience
• Ability to operate both strategically and hands-on in a fast-paced, complex environment.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates extensive expertise in Workday platform governance, administration, and optimization, with a strong focus on project management and stakeholder engagement. Capable of leading cross-functional teams and driving process improvements while ensuring compliance and data integrity.