Payroll Consultant, Higher Education

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Were obsessed with making hard work pay off for our people our customers and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people money and agents were shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join youll feel it. Not just in the products we build but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity empathy and shared enthusiasm. Were in this together tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether youre building smarter solutions supporting customers or creating a space where everyone belongs youll do meaningful work with Workmates whove got your return well give you the trust to take risks the tools to grow the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone including yourself youve found a match in Workday and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

About the Role

Were looking for an experienced Payroll Consultant to support Higher Education this role you will partner with mission-driven organizations to design configure and deploy Workday Payroll solutions built for accuracy and long-term success.

Youll bring Workday product and implementation expertise to client engagements helping customers translate business requirements into practical solutions. Youll work closely with clients project teammates and the Engagement Manager to move implementations forward with clarity quality and strong partnership. Youll have meaningful ownership over the payroll workstream with the autonomy to recommend design approaches that set customers up for long-term success.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving complex problems building trust with stakeholders and helping customers navigate key implementation milestones with confidence. Youll both learn from experienced teammates and contribute your own ideas and patterns to help evolve how we implement Workday Payroll in Higher Education.

Key Responsibilities

You will:

• Design and configure Workday Payroll solutions
  • Apply deep expertise in the Workday Payroll product across customer engagements
  • Partner with customers to elicit clarify and document business requirements
  • Configure Workday Payroll to align with customer needs and operational realities
  • Document solution decisions clearly so customers can support and sustain their environment after go-live
    
• Support data conversion integrations and testing
  • Partner with client and data conversion teams to support legacy payroll data conversion into Workday
  • Partner with integration teams to support the configuration and testing of integrations between Workday and third-party or custom solutions
  • Support customers through testing cycles including issue triage and resolution
  • Transfer system knowledge to customer teams to support adoption confidence and long-term success in production
    
• Drive project execution and stakeholder alignment
  • Communicate regularly with the Engagement Manager on project status hours forecasting time reporting risks and mitigation plans
  • Partner with Delivery Assurance to support compliance with agreed checkpoints and quality standards
  • Help customers prepare for and navigate key implementation milestones from design through testing and deployment
    
• Contribute to the practice and mentor others
  • Mentor consultants who are newer to Payroll Absence and/or Time Tracking
  • Participate in update training and knowledge-sharing opportunities that strengthen team capability
  • Contribute to the Higher Education consulting practice by identifying opportunities for improvement and leading or participating in internal initiatives

About You

You bring strong Workday Payroll expertise sound judgment and a collaborative approach to delivery. You know how to balance customer needs project realities and solution quality. You communicate clearly build trust quickly and work well across teams and workstreams.

Were open to hiring at the Senior or Principal level depending on your experience scope of expertise and track record of leading complex client engagements.

Basic Qualifications: Senior Payroll Consultant (P4)

• 4 years of experience implementing and/or configuring Workday Payroll
• 4 years of experience in a consulting software or internal Workday environment with hands-on responsibility for payroll configuration testing and partnering with stakeholders

Basic Qualifications: Principal Payroll Consultant (P5)

• 6 years of experience implementing and/or configuring Workday Payroll
• 6 years of experience in a consulting software or internal Workday environment leading complex payroll initiatives that require cross-workstream coordination stakeholder alignment and structured testing

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Higher Education and/or Nonprofit organizations
• Ability to implement Absence and/or Time Tracking
• Experience with multiple payroll applications

Other Qualifications

• Relationship Management: Proven ability to build trusted long-term relationships with payroll HR and/or finance stakeholders in Higher Education and/or Nonprofit environments including navigating complex governance structures (e.g. committees unions shared governance).
• Task Management: Ability to manage multiple customers in parallel estimate effort accurately surface risks early and coordinate with Engagement Managers and project teams to keep scope schedule and quality on track.
• Ability to travel up to 50% based on client and project needs particularly for key implementation milestones such as design sessions and major testing events

Encouragement to Apply

If youre excited about this role but your experience doesnt align perfectly with every qualification we encourage you to apply. Were especially interested in people who bring strong judgment learning agility and a collaborative approach to solving complex customer problems.

Posting End Date

Applications are accepted for this position on an ongoing basis through 5/31/26.

Workday Pay Transparency Statement

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidates compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including but not limited to geography experience skills job duties and business need among other things. For more information regarding Workdays comprehensive benefits please click here.

Additional Considerations:

Our Approach to Flexible Work

With Flex Work were combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections maintain a strong community and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways so rather than a number of required days in-office each week we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers prospects and partners (depending on role). This means youll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business team and personal needs while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote home office roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.

Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

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