Senior Specialist, Workday HCM

University of Ottawa•Ottawa, ON

1d•CA$95,594 - CA$120,750•Onsite

About The Position

Reporting to the Senior Manager, HR Applications and Support, this role provides guidance and support to clients by translating business requirements into technical specifications, particularly in relation to Human Capital Management (HCM), such as compensation, talent management, recruitment, time and absence, payroll, and HR AI Components. The position involves configuring, maintaining, and developing Workday (and similar cloud applications in the HR application ecosystem) modules on HCM and supporting their comprehensive testing. It also includes performing data analytics, developing reporting, and supporting process optimization initiatives. The role works closely with units across campus, requiring a solid understanding of business operations, policies, regulatory requirements, systems, and priorities in relation to HCM. A customer-centric mindset is essential, directly supporting stakeholders and product owners on their requests. The position also delivers training, develops user guides, and supports change management initiatives. Its work directly contributes to administrative efficiency and service quality, supporting management with insights for strategic decision-making and maintaining system effectiveness and efficiency to meet business objectives and reporting obligations.

Requirements

University Degree in Commerce, Administration, Business Technology Management or/and an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Minimum 5 years of experience supporting business units and their system needs.
Experience supporting Workday HCM and Payroll (configurations, business process, reporting, AI components…)
Thorough knowledge and experience of HR business processes, rules, policies, priorities, and regulations related to Human Capital Management, compensation and/or pension and benefits.
Experience in project and change management.
Knowledge of the administrative operations of public institutions.
Experience with Microsoft Excel, Business Intelligence, or other data management tools to manipulate, convert, clean, and present complex data.
Knowledge of computing principles and the configuration and development of HR technical applications.
Experience conducting client needs assessments and prioritizing business requirements.
Experience writing and maintaining business and technical documentation, and providing training.
Experience coordinating operational services for clients with diverse needs.
Ability to negotiate and influence clients in accepting solutions that align both the strategic goals of the University and short- and long-term client requirements.
Strong analytical skills to convert business requirements into functional specifications, as well as the ability to conceptualize individual requirements and create links between different stakeholders’ needs.
Ability to adapt to ever-changing requirements and processes, challenge ideas, and accept new methods and procedures.

Nice To Haves

Professional designation is an asset (HR or Business Analysis)
Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).

Responsibilities

Intimately understands customers’ operational and strategic needs and provides expert advice to improve procedures or system configurations.
Offers a simple, seamless, and collaborative stakeholder experience to customers.
Reviews system capabilities and workflows and identifies ways to simplify the client’s experience.
Addresses inefficiencies or configuration issues and escalates as necessary.
Assists clients in the evaluation of their current processes and identifies new techniques to take full advantage of system capabilities.
Keeps apprised of evolving industry tools and business processes and recommends improvements.
Maintains and modifies business processes, workflows, naming conventions, and data masters in accordance with approved design principles, governance frameworks, and institutional business rules, procedures, and policies.
Assigns security roles and develops custom reports.
Identifies and resolves quality problems and troubleshoots and fixes bugs.
Monitors master data relationships, ensures master data integrity (by addressing record duplications, format inconsistencies, incompleteness, inaccuracies, etc).
Supports continuous improvements and change management efforts across the University and ensures smooth transitions from current to desired business practices.