Innovate UK has the following secondment opportunity available for employees of Innovate UK Business Connect:

Applications must be submitted by

Head of Workday Platform

As critical permanent role within IUK IT the primary purpose is to lead the workday team managing long term programme for change engaging with business stakeholders to collate and assess new requirements work closely with the Director of IT to plan strategic delivery roadmaps and develop the people in the team and align with wider IUK IT processes and governance models.

*Please note this advert will close on the 5th February 2026 at 23.59pm.

Watch our video Why Join Innovate UK here.

Title:Head of Workday Platform

Band:UKRI Band G (UKRI Ts & Cs)

Salary:70752 gross per annum

Reports to: Deputy Director Innovation Systems

Location: Swindon (hybrid Working)

Contract: Permanent

Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.

Job Purpose:

As critical permanent role within IUK IT the primary purpose is to lead the workday team managing long term programme for change engaging with business stakeholders to collate and assess new requirements work closely with the Director of IT to plan strategic delivery roadmaps and develop the people in the team and align with wider IUK IT processes and governance models.

This role involves managing and overseeing the delivery of Innovate UKs corporate HR Finance Payroll and Procurement system including budget management of 1.5m overseeing the team and managing the third-party suppliers. Additionally the role includes managing technical engagement with the SHARP Programme where applicable triaging and prioritizing service requests providing technical support collaborating with stakeholders to optimize business processes managing system changes and releases and maintaining a customer-focused approach. The role also entails line management responsibilities including 121s annual PDR execution and time sheet approvals.

We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Manage and oversee delivery of Innovate UKs corporate HR Finance Payroll and Procurement system managing a budget of 1.5m with a team on in-house developers alongside Tier 1 suppliers (Workday Kainos etc.). The role manages a team of 5.
  NOTE budget accountability remains with the Director of IT while responsibility will be delegated to this role.
• The role also oversees delivery of Platform as a Service for third parties where required
• The role manages the delivery of Innovate UKs technical engagement with the SHARP optimization programme and future roadmaps related to this - following best practices and guided by the business needs of IUK
• The role triages and prioritises the backlog of product requests from teams ensures stakeholders are aware of priority and drives the strategy and roadmap of Workday and associated products . The role collaborates closely with IUK IT Business Engagement team to do this.
• The role manages the delivery of technical support for the HR Finance Payroll and Procurement system across Innovate UK. Close partnering with IUK IT TSS team is required to deliver this.
• Apply advanced Workday knowledge to lead and support various implementation and improvement projects
• Oversee and delegate tasks review documents to be presented for additional functionality and impacts.
• Manage and perform the execution of system changes (updates integrations new configurations) and participate in all aspects of system testing.
• Escalation point for operational support on queries being raised resolve where possible or liaise with technical 3rd party product and support teams
• Collaborate with functional and technical stakeholders to optimize business processes
• Coach the HR and Finance Teams through system developments and sharing technical knowledge
• Plan and manage the Workday teams training and development needs and align to business goals and roadmaps.
• Provide support on ad-hoc projects as required.
• Manage mandatory releases on bi-annual basis including review impact analysis and implementation
• Follow Agile best practices supporting creating of user stories and acceptance criteria leading Sprint planning refining retrospective meetings and daily stand-up meetings with inputs and technical knowledge to help with tickets prioritization
• Work closely with the IUK IT Programme team on delivery of projects and apply team processes and documentation standards in this context.
• Customer-focused directly show that both internal and external customers are a high priority by recognising and promptly and effectively addressing their demands.
• Roadmap planning in conjunction with the Director of IT to map out the future delivery plan on a multi-year basis building on business needs and external factors such as SHARP and Matrix and market changes
• Line management responsibilities including ad hoc 121s annual PDR execution and time sheet approvals

This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training.

Shortlisting criteria

(S) Assessed at shortlisting

(I) Assessed at interview

(S&I) Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Person Specification:

Experience & Qualifications:

Essential

• Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline or equivalent experience (S&I)
• Programme and project leadership experience of multi-year multi-million scale projects (S&I)
• ITIL4 or equivalent experience (S&I)
• Project Management certification or equivalent experience (S&I)
• Workday platform knowledge (S&I)
• Direct experience of planning and managing multi-year multi-million value tech projects (S&I)
• Experience of IUK IT TSS and Programme processes (S&I)
• Experience in Business Analysis gap analysis for process improvements and articulation of requirements (S&I)
• A capable communicator able to operate effectively at all levels within a corporate environment (S&I)
• Excellent written communication skills including a good working knowledge of MS Office packages (i.e. Word Excel PowerPoint etc) (S&I)
• Experience in a project environment supporting the development of project objectives(S&I)
• Delivering support in an operational BAU environment (S&I)
• Experience of engaging with stakeholders to develop project requirements (S&I)
• Experience of developing business cases and undertaking impact assessments for Workday requirements (S&I)
• Ability to engage with senior stakeholders to identify needs breakdown business problems and offer solutions (S&I)

Competencies:

All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:

Thinking and Problem Solving Stakeholder management Communication skills Influencing Self-awareness/self-management Strategic awareness Working with others Project management

Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage in addition to the criterias listed in the person specification.

Travel Requirements:

Swindon-based: There may be the occasional requirement for national travel.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion:

Innovate UK is a diverse workforce of people. We believe that encouraging these differences and drawing the best from them will build a productive environment in which everyone feels valued where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met. Underpinning this is a belief that it is a fundamental right for everyone to be treated equally with fairness respect and dignity. We will act directly and use our influence to ensure that this right is promoted and upheld; we encourage applications from all those who meet the criteria set-out in our role profiles.

Equal Opportunities:

We are an equal opportunities employer committed to employing any person who meets the criteria for our roles. When undertaking recruitment we may require applicants to undertake certain tests or assessments some of which will be online and others may be in-person. If you have a disability heath condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia then you may be entitled to support with undertaking this type of assessment exercise. Where you feel that reasonable adjustments are required to support you we ask that you advise your recruitment point of contact in a timely fashion providing further confidence Innovate UK will then review your application for adjustments and provide support as required.

UK Research and Innovation:

Innovate UK is partner organisation within UK Research and Innovation. If successful in securing the position your employer will be UK Research and Innovation. More information can be found online Benefits:

We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days annual leave 10.5 public and privilege days flexible working hours an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Flexible Working:

We understand the importance of work-life balance and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.

Pre-employment Screening:

To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health agriculture and food security and bioscience for health which includes research on animals genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research you should consider how this aligns with your personal values or beliefs. To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as a crucial part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.

Applications must be submitted by;