Senior Payroll and Absence Enterprise Applications Analyst

Workday•Pleasanton, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Your work days are brighter here. We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too. About the Team The Payroll, Absence and Time Tracking scrum team is responsible for the internal implementation and ongoing evolution of Workday's own Payroll, Absence, and Time Tracking product suite. As a P4 Enterprise Applications Analyst, you'll go beyond day-to-day support to help shape the solution design and product direction for the team. This team is also expected to pilot and operationalize Workday's own AI agent capabilities internally — including the Payroll Agent and absence-related automation shipping as part of the Workday Illuminate agent suite — as they become available. About the Role Key Responsibilities Analyze functional business problems and provide guidance on defining product outcomes for the Payroll, Absence and Time Tracking product suite Provide technical expertise in identifying, evaluating, and developing systems and procedures that best meet business partner requirements Lead discovery and design sessions with business partners and other stakeholders; identify upstream/downstream impacts, dependencies, and project risks Configure Workday Payroll system settings and options — including AI-assisted configuration as Illuminate capabilities roll out — and plan and execute unit testing, advising teams performing integration and acceptance testing Evaluate, configure, and drive internal adoption of Workday Illuminate agents (e.g., Payroll Agent, absence/frontline automation) as they roll out Identify opportunities to apply AI/agentic automation to reduce manual payroll and absence processing, anomaly detection, and compliance checks Drive planning, prioritization, and deployment of projects and system enhancements across the scrum team Leverage business knowledge to proactively identify process improvement opportunities Participate in change management and go-live support processes Partner with the integration team on configuring and testing integrations between Workday and benefit providers, payroll systems, and other 3rd party/custom solutions

Requirements

5+ years of professional experience in business consulting, IT implementation, or customer support implementing Workday
5+ years of experience with the Workday enterprise platform
Heavy Workday Configuration experience in Payroll (must have)
Excellent functional knowledge of Payroll, in a global setting (US, Canada, and International payroll process and policy)
Understanding of Workday integration technologies
Familiarity with or strong interest in AI-driven automation/agentic capabilities within enterprise systems

Nice To Haves

Workday Configuration experience in Absence Management (desired)
Workday Configuration experience in Time Tracking (desired)
Experience and/or interest/curiosity in applying generative AI or agentic tools to HR/payroll/time-tracking processes (e.g., prompt-based configuration, AI copilots for testing/documentation)
Working familiarity with generative AI tools such as Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, and Microsoft Copilot for productivity, documentation, and business analysis
Exceptional analytical reasoning and problem-solving capabilities; demonstrated ability to think creatively and strategically to solve key business problems
Excellent interpersonal and collaborative skills, with a professional demeanor across all levels of management, colleagues, and vendors
Ability to adapt to changes in project plans, with flexibility to implement new strategies and tactics
Experience working with agile/scrum methodologies

Responsibilities

Analyze functional business problems and provide guidance on defining product outcomes for the Payroll, Absence and Time Tracking product suite
Provide technical expertise in identifying, evaluating, and developing systems and procedures that best meet business partner requirements
Lead discovery and design sessions with business partners and other stakeholders; identify upstream/downstream impacts, dependencies, and project risks
Configure Workday Payroll system settings and options — including AI-assisted configuration as Illuminate capabilities roll out — and plan and execute unit testing, advising teams performing integration and acceptance testing
Evaluate, configure, and drive internal adoption of Workday Illuminate agents (e.g., Payroll Agent, absence/frontline automation) as they roll out
Identify opportunities to apply AI/agentic automation to reduce manual payroll and absence processing, anomaly detection, and compliance checks
Drive planning, prioritization, and deployment of projects and system enhancements across the scrum team
Leverage business knowledge to proactively identify process improvement opportunities
Participate in change management and go-live support processes
Partner with the integration team on configuring and testing integrations between Workday and benefit providers, payroll systems, and other 3rd party/custom solutions