Workday Technical SME

We are seeking an experienced Workday Technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support the delivery of a Finance Transformation program, with primary responsibility for the HR domain. The successful candidate will provide technical expertise across Workday data structures, workforce classification, and data extraction, while owning the governance and documentation workstream for all HR side definition workshops.

This is a hands on technical role requiring deep expertise in Workday architecture, HR data models, and GCP pipeline development. The candidate will audit existing worker classification labels, draft new field definitions, build and validate the Workday extraction pipeline, and own the documentation outputs that feed the Data Dictionary and governance sign off record.

Where both HR and Finance domains are in scope simultaneously, the analyst will own the Workday extraction end to end, working in parallel with the Finance domain analyst under the architectural guidance of the GCP Data Engineer. The successful candidate will be comfortable operating across governance and technical workstreams, moving between facilitating definition workshops and building extraction logic in GCP.

• Serve as the primary technical SME for Workday data structures, classifications, and integration patterns, advising on best practices and translating HR stakeholder requirements into technical solutions and structured data specifications.

• Audit existing Workday worker classification labels across all worker population types and draft new data fields to close gaps, validating all definitions against the Data Dictionary certification workflow before extraction begins.

• Design, build, and validate Workday integrations and extraction logic using RaaS, EIB, Core Connectors, and REST APIs, covering headcount, supervisory org hierarchy, job family and worker type classifications, and cost center assignments.

• Own the Workday extraction segment end to end where both HR and Finance domains are in scope simultaneously, working under the GCP Data Engineer's architectural guidance while the Finance analyst builds the Oracle extraction in parallel.

• Scope the payroll estate across multiple payroll platforms and contribute to the methodology for incorporating payroll originated costs -- overtime, bonuses, flexible benefits -- that do not flow through the primary HR system.

• Ensure extracted workforce data supports Function, Supervisory Organization, and Job Family reporting lenses, and maintain the mapping table between HR supervisory org and Finance cost center structures.

• Own all HR side definition workshop scheduling, capture, and documentation, producing outputs that feed the Data Dictionary and governance sign off record, and hand over the HR data model to the internal team

• 5+ years working directly with Workday data models, HR classifications, and supervisory org structures, with direct experience auditing or remediating Workday configuration, not only consuming Workday reports.

• Strong understanding of worker lifecycle events and how classification and cost data should flow between HR and Finance systems at each event type, including role changes, cost center moves, cross billing updates, and transfers.

• Experience facilitating or supporting definition workshops with HR Operations, HR Business Partners, and system owners, and translating outputs into structured data specifications.

• Working level GCP pipeline experience: sufficient to build and validate Workday extraction logic using Cloud Dataflow and Cloud Composer under architectural guidance, and to query and validate data in Cloud SQL.

• Strong troubleshooting and root cause analysis skills.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication abilities.

• Workday RaaS, REST APIs, Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB), and Core Connectors

• Workday HCM data model -- supervisory org, job family classifications, worker type labels -- including security, configuration, and Advanced Reporting

• Cloud Dataflow, Cloud Composer, and Cloud SQL

• Data Dictionary field definition, validation, and certification workflow compliance

• Workday Pro Certifications.

• Experience with Workday Prism Analytics.

• Experience working across multiple worker population types, including contingent and outsourced workers in addition to permanent headcount.

• Insurance or financial services background with exposure to HR, talent, payroll, or operational processes within regulated environments.

• Experience delivering Workday implementations or transformation programs in complex enterprise environments.

• Technical depth in Workday data architecture, integrations, and extraction, with the ability to work independently and drive technical outcomes within an established architectural pattern.

• Strong workshop facilitation and documentation skills, with attention to detail in field level data validation and classification.

• Collaborative working style with the ability to operate across governance and technical workstreams simultaneously alongside a parallel Finance domain workstream.

• Audit all Workday worker classification labels and have new field definitions approved in the Data Dictionary before extraction begins.

• Deliver a Workday extraction pipeline producing validated, lineage stamped headcount and classification data to the unified data store.

• Document all HR domain definition workshop outputs and incorporate them into the governance sign off record.

• Scope the payroll estate and produce a recommended methodology for incorporating payroll originated costs.

• Hand over the HR data model and documentation to the internal team before disengagement.