Senior Workday Implementation Leads | Payroll, Time Tracking & Absence

Why You’ll Actually Care

Your next move should give you room to use the expertise you’ve spent years building: leading clients, shaping solutions, and owning implementations that matter.

Our client is an established technology consulting firm with a dedicated Workday practice and a growing need for senior functional leaders. Workday delivery is a core part of the business, with opportunities to work through complex client challenges alongside consultants who understand the platform and the demands of implementation.

The team is expanding across Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence, creating opportunities for experienced leads who want meaningful ownership, direct client exposure, and the ability to influence how solutions are designed and delivered.

This posting covers 3 separate functional opportunities. You do not need to specialize in all 3 modules. You must hold the Workday Pro certification specific to the functional role you are applying for.

The Experience That Matters Most

You must have personally led Workday implementations while employed by Workday or a Workday Services/Supplier organization.

We’re looking for consultants who have owned a functional workstream, guided external clients through design decisions, remained hands-on with configuration, and carried delivery through testing and go-live.

Experience solely within an organization implementing or using Workday internally does not meet this requirement. Supporting an implementation, administering the platform, or managing a project without personally leading functional delivery is also insufficient.

The Opportunity

You’ll take responsibility for your functional area from discovery through deployment and stabilization. Clients will look to you to understand their requirements, challenge assumptions, explain options, and turn complex business needs into practical Workday solutions.

This is a role for someone who can lead a room and work through the configuration details. You’ll bring the judgment to anticipate downstream impacts, the confidence to raise concerns early, and the follow-through to keep delivery moving.

Choose Your Functional Focus

Payroll Implementation Lead

Lead the Payroll workstream, translating complex payroll requirements into effective Workday designs and configurations. Guide client decisions, own functional delivery, and help ensure the solution is ready for real-world payroll operations.

Your expertise should include:

• Payroll processing, calculations, earnings and deductions, and eligibility.
• Requirements gathering, configuration, and functional design.
• Payroll validation, reconciliation, parallel testing, and issue resolution.
• Dependencies across Core HCM, Time Tracking, Absence, and integrations.
• Deployment readiness, cutover, and post-launch stabilization.

Required: Workday Pro certification in Payroll and personally led supplier-side Workday Payroll implementations.

Time Tracking Implementation Lead

Lead the Time Tracking workstream, connecting workforce policies and operational requirements with practical Workday configuration. Help clients work through complex rules while keeping usability, administration, and downstream payroll impacts in view.

Your expertise should include:

• Time entry methods, eligibility, calculations, and validations.
• Approval workflows, exceptions, and supporting business processes.
• Requirements gathering, configuration, and functional design.
• End-to-end testing across time capture, approvals, and payroll dependencies.
• Deployment readiness, knowledge transfer, and stabilization.

Required: Workday Pro certification in Time Tracking and personally led supplier-side Workday Time Tracking implementations.

Absence Implementation Lead

Lead the Absence workstream, translating leave policies into solutions that work across employee populations and business processes. Guide clients through design choices, resolve complex scenarios, and own delivery through launch.

Your expertise should include:

• Time-off and leave plans, eligibility, accruals, and balances.
• Validations, business processes, and policy exceptions.
• Requirements gathering, configuration, and functional design.
• Dependencies across Core HCM, Payroll, and Time Tracking.
• Scenario-based testing, deployment readiness, and stabilization.

Required: Workday Pro certification in Absence and personally led supplier-side Workday Absence implementations.

What You’ll Own Across Any of These Roles

• Functional leadership: Lead your workstream through discovery, design, configuration, testing, deployment, and post-launch support.
• Client advisory: Run workshops, uncover requirements, identify gaps, and help stakeholders make informed decisions.
• Hands-on delivery: Stay directly involved in configuration, troubleshooting, and complex functional problem-solving.
• Cross-functional coordination: Manage dependencies with other HCM leads, integration teams, and project leadership.
• Testing and readiness: Develop meaningful scenarios, guide issue resolution, and support data validation and cutover preparation.
• Delivery accountability: Own functional deliverables, maintain clear documentation, and surface risks before they become larger problems.
• Team guidance: Share expertise with consultants and client teams, supporting knowledge transfer and operational readiness.

What You Bring

• 10+ years of relevant HCM consulting and implementation experience, including leadership of Workday implementations in your functional area.
• Required supplier-side experience: You must have personally led Workday implementations from Workday or a Workday Services/Supplier organization.
• Workday Pro certification in the specific module you are applying to lead: Payroll, Time Tracking, or Absence.
• Demonstrated ownership of the applicable functional workstream through major implementation phases and go-live.
• Strong hands-on configuration, testing, troubleshooting, and deployment expertise.
• An understanding of how your module connects with the broader Workday HCM environment.
• The ability to translate complex requirements into clear designs and explain the implications of configuration decisions.
• Strong client presence, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Willingness to travel to client sites when project needs require it.

A general Workday, Core HCM, or unrelated module certification does not satisfy the certification requirement. Candidates seeking consideration for multiple functional roles must hold the corresponding Workday Pro certification for each.

What Will Set You Apart

Experience spanning Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence; multiple relevant Workday Pro certifications; and a record of leading complex client implementations while remaining hands-on.

The strongest candidates combine functional depth with consulting maturity. They know when to challenge a requirement, how to make a recommendation, and how to bring stakeholders with them.

Compensation, Location & Engagement Details

Compensation: Flexible based on functional expertise, certifications, and implementation leadership experience.

• Contract / contract-to-hire: Targeting $70–$100/hr, W-2 or 1099 (flexibility for higher rates based on experience and skills)
• Full-time employment: Targeting $170,000–$210,000+ base salary, plus bonus/incentive compensation.

These ranges are targets, with flexibility for exceptional candidates whose experience and qualifications warrant consideration above them.

Location: Remote, U.S.

Travel: Client-site travel is required as needed for workshops, implementation milestones, and onsite support.

Engagement: Contract-to-hire is preferred, with an anticipated 3-month evaluation period and the intention to convert to full-time employment if the fit is right. Straight contract engagements are also considered. Direct hire may be considered for exceptional candidates.

Sponsorship: Not available.

To apply: Please include your functional area of interest, relevant Workday Pro certifications, preferred engagement model, and a brief summary of the implementations you personally led while working for Workday or a Workday Services/Supplier organization.