Workday Compensation & Benefits Lead

Roles & Responsibilities

• Own the functional solution across Workday Compensation and Benefits engagements, taking accountability for design decisions from discovery through go-live.
• Lead client workshops and requirements sessions, helping HR, Finance, and Total Rewards stakeholders work through compensation structures, benefit plan design, eligibility rules, and enrollment frameworks.
• Translate nuanced and often complex client requirements into well-structured Workday solutions, clearly communicating design choices, risks, and alternatives to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for functional issues on Compensation and Benefits engagements, driving resolution across client, delivery, and technical teams.
• Build long-term relationships with client stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor on both immediate delivery needs and broader Workday strategy.
• Define the solution architecture across Workday Compensation and Benefits, ensuring design consistency, scalability, and adherence to Workday best practices.
• Lead configuration across Compensation and Benefits modules.
• Design and govern Business Process Frameworks (BPF) across both domains, ensuring routing, approval logic, and security policies are properly structured and maintainable.
• Lead or provide senior oversight on end-to-end Compensation and Benefits implementations, setting delivery standards and ensuring quality across configuration, testing, and documentation.
• Oversee hypercare support following go-live, ensuring benefit enrollments, compensation plans, and associated payroll deductions are functioning accurately in production.
• Proactively surface optimization opportunities within client environments, including configuration improvements, process simplification, and underutilized feature adoption.

Qualifications & Experience

• 8+ years of Workday functional experience, with at least 4 years of focused, hands-on expertise across Workday Compensation and Benefits.
• Demonstrated ability to lead solution design and make independent functional decisions across both modules without senior oversight.
• Deep understanding of Workday Benefits, Compensation and Advanced Compensation architecture, business process design, and security framework as it relates to Compensation and Benefits.
• Proven experience leading client workshops, design reviews, and stakeholder conversations at both HR operational and leadership levels.
• Experience mentoring team members on configuration practices, testing standards, and delivery documentation.
• Proficiency in EIB-based data loading, custom reporting, and calculated fields within the Compensation and Benefits domain.
• Understanding of the Benefits-Payroll integration, including deduction codes, benefit plan mappings, and period-end reconciliation.
• Workday Compensation, Advanced Compensation and/or Benefits certification preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce clear and concise design documentation, release notes, and client-facing materials.