Workday Finance Lead

Hospital for Special Surgery•New York, NY

About The Position

The Finance Lead is accountable for implementation, support, optimization, and continuous improvement of enterprise financial systems, with primary responsibility for the organization's Workday Finance platform and related applications. The role partners across Finance and Information Technology, providing functional expertise and technical leadership to ensure technology solutions support business objectives, regulatory requirements, and operational excellence. The Finance Lead develops a deep understanding of end-to-end Finance processes and translates business needs into technology solutions. The role provides strategic direction, evaluates solution options, and recommends approaches aligned with organizational goals and best practices. It collaborates with Finance leaders, operational teams, and IT partners to drive system improvements, support informed decision-making, and align business requirements with system capabilities. The position combines advisory and solution leadership with hands-on Workday responsibilities, including system configuration, business process design, security administration, reporting, testing, troubleshooting, deployment, and enhancements. The Finance Lead is responsible for project delivery and process-improvement initiatives that increase efficiency, strengthen controls, and improve the user experience, helping keep financial systems scalable, effective, and aligned with long-term business objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
5–8 years of experience supporting enterprise financial systems and ERP platforms.
Experience supporting Workday Financials implementations, upgrades, or optimization initiatives.
Experience leading project teams and collaborating with business stakeholders.
Knowledge of financial operations, accounting processes, reporting, integrations, and security.
Experience working with vendors and implementation partners.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Finance, or a related field.
Workday Financials certification or significant Workday Finance implementation experience.
Experience in healthcare, higher education, research, or another complex institutional environment.
Experience leading post-implementation optimization and enterprise transformation initiatives.

Responsibilities

Advise Finance stakeholders by translating end-to-end Finance process needs into technology solutions, evaluating options, making recommendations, and partnering with IT to deliver scalable system capabilities.
Provide functional guidance and hands-on Workday support, including configuration, business process design, testing, troubleshooting, and implementation of approved enhancements and changes.
Manage day-to-day administration, support, and optimization of Workday Finance and related financial applications.
Partner with Finance and IT leadership to execute approved system enhancements and operational priorities.
Gather requirements with stakeholders and deliver solutions that support business objectives.
Ensure adherence to standards for reporting, integrations, security, and system support.
Manage Finance IT activities for Workday Finance implementations, upgrades, and enhancement initiatives.
Coordinate project plans, resource assignments, issue resolution, testing, and deployment activities.
Work with implementation partners and business stakeholders to deliver projects successfully.
Track project milestones, risks, and dependencies, escalating issues as appropriate.
Lead and participate in the configuration, design, build, testing, and deployment of Workday Financials solutions across functional areas.
Translate business requirements into Workday configurations, workflows, security roles, reports, and business processes.
Partner with Finance stakeholders and implementation partners to validate solution design against operational requirements.
Oversee unit, integration, and user acceptance testing and defect resolution.
Support data validation, conversion, and post-deployment stabilization.
Maintain system documentation, configuration standards, and governance processes.
Support Finance teams across Accounts Payable, Payroll, Expenses, Treasury, Fixed Assets, Projects and Grants, Accounting, Reporting, Security, and Integrations.
Help business stakeholders identify opportunities to streamline and improve financial processes.
Ensure financial system configurations align with approved business processes and operational requirements.
Collaborate with HCM, Supply Chain Management, and IT teams on integrated Workday design, business processes, and system functionality.
Participate in cross-functional planning, testing, and issue-resolution activities and facilitate communication among technical and business stakeholders.
Support the financial systems roadmap established by IT and Finance leadership.
Manage ongoing support, maintenance, upgrades, and enhancement activities and maintain service levels and operational support processes.
Identify and implement improvements to system efficiency, reporting capabilities, and end-user experience.
Support automation and process-enhancement initiatives across Finance operations.
Evaluate system enhancements and recommend improvements to leadership.