Program Lead

Job description

Responsibilities • Serve as a consultative layer across Workday capabilities, including HCM, Talent, Recruiting, Compensation, Reporting, Time Tracking, Absence, and Payroll • Partner with COEs and HRIT to translate business strategy into scalable, system-enabled solutions • Act as the primary consultative advisor to stakeholders on Workday functionality, capabilities, and design considerations • Identify opportunities to improve processes, enhance system utilization, and scale solutions globally Functional Solution Architecture • Consult with COEs to design thoughtful end-to-end Workday solutions aligned to business objectives and enterprise standards • Ensure solutions: • Leverage standard Workday functionality first • Align with global data, process, and governance frameworks • Evaluate and recommend design approaches that optimize scalability, efficiency, and user experience • Identify opportunities to reuse, standardize, or extend existing solutions across regions • COE Partnership & Intake Shaping • Partner with COEs (primarily India, with support for US and Philippines) to refine and shape incoming requests • Challenge and guide stakeholders to ensure: • Alignment to global vs. local requirements • Clear articulation of business outcomes and success measures • Effective use of existing Workday functionality • Serve as the first point of engagement for complex or ambiguous requests requiring consultative support Design Governance & Quality Establish and lead design review checkpoints prior to configuration and build • Develop and approve solution design artifacts, including: • Requirements definition • Process flows • Test strategies Testing Strategy & Execution Oversight • Define testing strategies, including: • User Acceptance Testing (UAT) scenarios • Regression testing requirements • Cross-functional and downstream impacts • Partner with HRIT and stakeholders to ensure high-quality testing execution • Drive continuous improvement in testing approaches to reduce production defects • Monitor releases for key items that could unlock capability for COEs and advocate for optimization Collaboration & Enablement • Coach and support HR stakeholders on Workday capabilities, design principles, and best practices • Build knowledge set within COEs and HRIT teams • Promote a global mindset and consistent decision-making frameworks across regions Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business, Information Systems, or related field—or equivalent experience • 7+ years of HR systems or HRIT experience, with at least 5 years of strong exposure to Workday • Proven experience designing and delivering Workday solutions across multiple modules • Strong understanding of Workday methodology, business process frameworks, and data governance • Demonstrated ability to translate business requirements into scalable system designs • Experience partnering with global stakeholders in a matrixed environment • Excellent communication, influencing, and problem-solving skills • Preferred: • Workday Pro certifications (HCM Core, Compensation, Reporting, etc.) • Background in consulting or solution architecture roles