Workday Engineer- Core HCM and Absence

Sunrise Senior Living; North Dakota; On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Sunrise Senior Living is seeking a Workday Engineer who will provide hands-on expertise in Core HCM and Absence Management, partnering with HR, Payroll, Benefits, and IT to translate business needs into scalable Workday solutions. The role emphasizes governance, data integrity, and deliverables across the employee lifecycle.

You will design, configure, and optimize Workday processes, develop reports and audits, and support release readiness while serving as an SME for core HCM and absence

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, IT, Business Administration, or related field.
• 5+ years of Workday configuration experience, including 3+ years supporting Absence Management.
• Hands-on experience configuring Workday Core HCM and Absence Management.
• Strong understanding of Workday organizational structures and processes.

Responsibilities

• Configure, maintain, and optimize Workday Core HCM and Absence Management.
• Design and optimize Workday business processes, including routing, approvals, validations, notifications, and workflow logic.
• Serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and escalation point for Core HCM and Absence configuration.
• Assess cross-functional and downstream impacts of configuration changes across Payroll, Benefits, Time Tracking, integrations, security, and reporting.
• Troubleshoot complex configuration and data issues, perform root-cause analysis, and implement sustainable solutions.

Skills

Workday Core HCM

Absence Management

Workday Business Process Framework

Stakeholder management

Data integrity

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Systems

Job description

Why Join Sunrise Senior Living

At Sunrise Senior Living, we believe meaningful work starts with purpose. Our team members are passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of residents every day.

The Workday Engineer provides hands-on technical and functional expertise in Workday Core Human Capital Management (HCM) and Absence Management , supporting the design, configuration, optimization, and ongoing operation of the Workday platform. As a key technical contributor within the Workday Center of Excellence (CoE), this role develops scalable solutions supporting the employee lifecycle, absence programs, and related business processes.

The Workday Engineer partners closely with Human Resources (HR), Payroll, Benefits, and Information Technology (IT) to translate business needs into effective Workday solutions while maintaining platform standards, governance, and data integrity.

Essential Duties

Core HCM and Absence Configuration

• Configure, maintain, and optimize Workday Core HCM and Absence Management, including supervisory organizations, staffing structures, worker data, time-off plans, leave plans, accruals, eligibility rules, and balances.
• Design and optimize Workday business processes, including routing, approvals, validations, condition rules, notifications, and workflow logic.
• Serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and escalation point for Core HCM and Absence configuration, enhancements, and production issues.
• Assess cross-functional and downstream impacts of configuration changes across Payroll, Benefits, Time Tracking, integrations, security, and reporting.
• Troubleshoot complex configuration and data issues, perform root-cause analysis, and implement sustainable solutions.

Data, Reporting, and Operational Support

• Develop and execute Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB) uploads and mass updates supporting worker data, absence balances, organizational changes, and other HCM activities.
• Develop and maintain calculated fields, custom reports, and audits to support operational requirements, troubleshooting, and data quality.
• Monitor and support the integrity of Core HCM and Absence data and configuration.

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Solution Design

• Partner with HR, Payroll, Benefits, and IT stakeholders to gather requirements and translate business needs into scalable Workday solutions.
• Provide Workday best-practice guidance and recommend solutions that balance business requirements with platform scalability, maintainability, and governance standards.
• Participate in solution design reviews, impact assessments, configuration governance, and technical documentation.
• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, improve the user experience, and increase adoption of Workday capabilities.

Testing and Release Readiness

• Develop and support test plans, test scenarios, regression testing, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for configuration changes, enhancements, and Workday releases.
• Evaluate Workday release features related to Core HCM and Absence, assess business and technical impacts, and recommend adoption opportunities.
• Validate configuration changes and support production readiness to ensure solutions meet requirements and minimize downstream risk.
• Maintain configuration documentation, process flows, and solution decisions to support governance and knowledge transfer.

Partner Enablement

• Provide training, guidance, and knowledge transfer to HR, Payroll, Benefits, and other functional partners.
• Maintain compliance with assigned required training and all training required by state/province or other regulating authorities, as applicable to the role.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Core Competencies

• Advanced hands-on knowledge of Workday Core HCM and Absence Management configuration.
• Strong knowledge of time-off plans, leave plans, accruals, eligibility rules, balances, and absence business processes.
• Strong understanding of the Workday Business Process Framework, including condition rules, validations, approvals, notifications, and workflow design.
• Understanding of cross-functional dependencies across Payroll, Benefits, Time Tracking, security, reporting, and integrations.
• Ability to analyze complex business requirements and translate them into scalable Workday solutions.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis skills.
• Effective communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality solutions in a dynamic environment.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 5+ years of Workday configuration experience, including 3+ years of hands-on experience supporting Workday Absence Management.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience configuring Workday Core HCM and Absence Management.
• Strong understanding of Workday organizational structures, business processes, absence plans, accru