Senior Workday Payroll Consultant

Locations: Minneapolis, MN or Chandler, AZ
Work Arrangement: Hybrid
Employment Type: 6-Month Contract
Schedule: Monday–Friday | 40 Hours per Week
Start Date: September 23, 2026
Conversion Potential: Potential opportunity for future full-time employment

Position Overview

A leading national financial services organization is seeking an experienced Senior Workday Payroll Consultant to join its Payroll Product Team. This is an excellent opportunity for a Workday professional with deep Payroll module expertise who enjoys partnering across business, product, and technology teams to deliver complex enterprise solutions.

The ideal candidate will bring 5+ years of hands-on Workday experience, with a strong emphasis on Workday Payroll, and experience across requirements gathering, configuration, testing, and implementation.

This role requires a polished communicator who is comfortable collaborating with stakeholders ranging from technical teams and product partners to executive-level leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Support complex initiatives and large-scale planning within the Workday Payroll product environment.
• Partner with business, product, and technology stakeholders to gather, analyze, and refine requirements.
• Translate business needs into functional requirements and actionable solutions.
• Support Workday Payroll configuration and ongoing product enhancements.
• Create and maintain user stories and requirements within Jira.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies and collaborate with cross-functional Agile teams.
• Develop and execute testing strategies for Workday Payroll enhancements and changes.
• Perform functional testing and support User Acceptance Testing (UAT) through implementation.
• Identify, analyze, and resolve complex functional and business process issues.
• Evaluate processes and recommend improvements that support business and operational objectives.
• Ensure solutions align with organizational policies, procedures, controls, and compliance requirements.
• Communicate project status, requirements, risks, and recommendations to stakeholders and leadership.
• Strategically collaborate with business partners on complex, multi-faceted initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of Workday experience.
• Strong hands-on experience with the Workday Payroll module/product.
• Experience gathering and refining business and functional requirements.
• Hands-on Workday configuration experience.
• Strong functional testing and UAT experience.
• Experience working within an Agile environment.
• Experience creating and managing user stories in Jira.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with Product, Technology, business stakeholders, and executive-level leadership.
• 5+ years of Business Execution, Implementation, Strategic Planning, Workday consulting, or related experience. Equivalent experience may be demonstrated through a combination of professional experience, consulting, training, military experience, or education.

Preferred Qualifications

• Workday Payroll Certification is highly preferred.
• Experience supporting Workday Payroll within a large, complex enterprise environment.
• Experience working on Workday implementations, enhancements, releases, or transformation initiatives.
• Strong understanding of Payroll business processes and the relationship between functional requirements, configuration, testing, and production deployment.
• Previous experience working within highly regulated industries such as financial services is a plus.

Ideal Candidate

The strongest candidate will combine deep Workday Payroll expertise with strong functional consulting skills. We are particularly interested in professionals who have personally worked across the Workday lifecycle — from requirements gathering and configuration through testing, UAT, and implementation.

This is not a general HRIS position. Candidates should be able to demonstrate meaningful, hands-on Workday Payroll experience throughout their background.

Why This Opportunity?

This role offers the opportunity to work on a highly visible enterprise Payroll product team, collaborate with senior stakeholders, and contribute to complex Workday initiatives within a major national organization. The initial engagement is expected to last six months, with potential for future full-time conversion.