Senior Specialist, People Systems

Senior Specialist, People Systems
Salt Lake City, Utah (hybrid- onsite 3 days per week)
3-month contract to hire
Pay Rate: $55.00 - $62.00per hr.

Our client is seeking a Senior Specialist, People Systems to play a key role in building and optimizing its People Systems function. This role combines hands-on Workday configuration with strategic system administration, process improvement, reporting, and cross-functional collaboration. The ideal candidate has a strong ownership mentality, enjoys building scalable People Systems, and can balance hands-on configuration with driving long-term system strategy.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Workday subject matter expert across Core HCM and the Hire-to-Retire lifecycle, including Payroll, Benefits, Talent, and Leave & Absence.
• Configure, maintain, and optimize Workday business processes, security, integrations, and system functionality.
• Lead Workday upgrades, releases, enhancements, and system optimization initiatives.
• Design and build dashboards, reports, and workforce analytics using Workday, Power BI, Excel, and other reporting tools.
• Analyze workforce data to identify trends and provide actionable insights to HR leadership.
• Develop UAT test plans, execute testing, document results, and support system implementations and enhancements.
• Drive process improvement initiatives across HR workflows, focusing on automation, scalability, and user experience.
• Support and strengthen Workday security, governance, and overall system integrity.
• Partner with HR, Payroll, IT, and business stakeholders to translate business needs into scalable system solutions.
• Troubleshoot complex system and data issues while identifying long-term improvements.
• Mentor team members and support user adoption through documentation, training, and knowledge sharing.
• Communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Required Skills:

• 5+ years of HRIS or People Systems experience with deep expertise in Workday, particularly Core HCM and the full Hire-to-Retire lifecycle, including Payroll, Benefits, Talent, and Leave & Absence.
• Hands-on experience with Workday configuration, business process (BP) design, security, system administration, upgrades, releases, and enhancements.
• Builder mindset with a passion for transforming and optimizing People Systems, improving HR processes, automating workflows, and creating scalable, best-practice solutions.
• Strong analytical skills with advanced Excel proficiency and experience developing dashboards, reports, and workforce analytics using Power BI or similar business intelligence tools to deliver actionable insights.
• Experience creating UAT test plans, executing testing, documenting results, and supporting system implementations and enhancements.
• Strong understanding of Workday security, governance, and system integrity with the ability to troubleshoot complex system and data issues.
• Experience leading or supporting Workday optimization initiatives and projects using Agile, Scrum, or Waterfall methodologies.
• Strategic business partner with excellent stakeholder management skills and the ability to translate technical capabilities into practical business solutions for HR, Payroll, IT, and business leaders.
• Effective communicator with strong customer-service, change management, and relationship-building skills, capable of influencing adoption, training end users, and explaining technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Bonus Skills:

• Experience building or expanding Workday environments in a startup, high-growth, or transformation-focused organization.
• Experience with workflow automation or RPA tools such as UiPath or Alteryx.
• ServiceNow experience is a plus.
• Workday certifications preferred.
• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Information Systems, Business, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.