Job Description
Workday HCM System Lead – Role Overview
What’s the purpose of the role?
You’ll be the trusted Workday specialist for the HR & OD team—guiding stakeholders, supporting change, resolving complex MI challenges, and strengthening partnerships across Payroll, Finance, IT, and the wider business.
Key Responsibilities
* Act as the organisation’s Workday expert, leading engagement with stakeholders and supporting colleagues as processes and systems evolve.
* Own the configuration and continuous optimisation of Workday modules, facilitating cross-functional workshops to redesign and streamline processes so they meet organisational needs and strategic priorities.
* Collaborate with business leaders to ensure Workday fully enables and supports our organisational goals.
* Manage system enhancement cycles, including biannual updates and releases, ensuring maximum value, smooth adoption, and strong user experience.
* Develop robust people data, reporting, and dashboards that become the organisation’s single source of truth, enabling leaders to access clear, actionable insight and make informed decisions.
What experience do you need?
* Deep expertise in Workday HCM, with a track record of helping organisations maximise value from their digital HR ecosystem—you know what good looks like and how to get there.
* Confidence working with stakeholders at all levels, able to understand complex problems, influence senior leaders, and balance strategic thinking with hands-on detail.
* Strong relationship-building skills, partnering naturally with teams across IT, Finance, Payroll, and the business. You’re trusted, collaborative, and delivery-focused.
* Experience redesigning HR processes and guiding people through change, including creating dashboards and insights that genuinely support better decision-making.
* A proactive, resilient problem solver, calm under pressure and able to think broadly while navigating detail when needed.
* Comfort using digital tools to manage change requests, track progress, and drive work through to completion with full ownership and accountability.
* A solid understanding of HR operations, and a clear vision for a modern, efficient, digital-first People function.
* Extensive Workday configuration skills, with hands-on experience in at least two major modules (e.g., HCM, Benefits, Recruiting, Performance & Talent, Learning, Absence, Advanced Compensation).
* Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, able to see both data-level detail and the bigger organisational context.
* Proven stakeholder engagement experience, including with senior leaders and across cross-functional teams.
* A deep understanding of Workday security, data integrity, and compliance, ensuring safe and reliable system operation.