Workday Tech Lead: Payroll, Time & Absence

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America; United States; Hybrid; USD 119,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is seeking a Workday Technical Lead – Payroll, Time & Absence to own the end-to-end technical design and governance of Workday Payroll, Time Tracking and Absence modules. You will align with Payroll, HR and external vendors to deliver compliant solutions.

This role is not responsible for payroll processing but ensures configurations drive accurate outcomes, with a focus on scalability, data integrity and risk mitigation.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of Workday experience with deep expertise in: Workday Payroll (U.S.) Time Tracking Absence
• Proven 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

• Domain Ownership & Technical Leadership Own the architectural and configuration guardrails for Payroll, Time, and Absence, coordinating execution while retaining accountability for outcomes.
• System Design & Configuration Lead configuration of payroll elements, time tracking rules, and absence plans with a focus on scalability and maintainability.
• Payroll Systems Enablement (U.S.) Ensure Workday Payroll configurations support accurate and compliant payroll processing.
• Global Payroll Integration (India – External Vendor) Own design and reliability of outbound payroll data integrations.
• Architecture, Integrations & Data Own architectural decisions and trade‑offs for payroll, time, and absence integrations, balancing compliance, scalability, and operational risk.
• Workday Release & Change Governance Lead impact assessment and strategy for Workday biannual releases.

Skills

Workday Payroll (U.S.)

Time Tracking

Absence

System design ownership

Payroll processes knowledge

Tools

EIB

Studio

APIs

Job description

Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is seeking a Workday Technical Lead – Payroll, Time & Absence to own the end-to-end technical design and governance of Workday Payroll, Time Tracking and Absence modules. You will align with Payroll, HR and external vendors to deliver compliant solutions.

This role is not responsible for payroll processing but ensures configurations drive accurate outcomes, with a focus on scalability, data integrity and risk mitigation.