Workday Product Operations Manager

City of Seattle • Seattle, WA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The City of Seattle's Information Technology (IT) department is seeking a Workday Product Operations Manager (IT Professional -A) to drive the vision, governance, and operational excellence of the City’s Workday HCM platform. This role oversees functional and technical teams responsible for configuration, integrations, reporting, security, data governance, testing, release management, and data conversion. The Workday Manager also ensures Workday remains reliable, scalable, secure, and aligned with the city's needs. As a city, Seattle is recognized as a progressive leader in technology, innovation, and environmental stewardship. As an employer, the City of Seattle continues to lead local government in advancing environmental responsibility, social justice, and equitable services—values that shape both the city’s identity today and its vision for the future. The City’s workforce plays a critical role in making this progress possible. Seattle IT is a trusted partner that provides secure, reliable, and compliant technologies, enabling the City of Seattle to deliver equitable and responsive services to residents. This purpose statement reflects Seattle IT’s role and mission: it serves as a guide to ensure the department stays focused on why its work matters and remains committed to solving complex challenges. It underscores that Seattle IT exists to support City partners and is part of a larger organization working collectively to improve the lives of Seattle’s residents. More than 600 professionals across Seattle IT contribute to the full spectrum of modern IT services, creating a dynamic environment with diverse career opportunities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Business, HR, or related field, or equivalent experience. Additional 2 years of related experience in lieu of degree will be considered.
• 7+ years of Workday HCM or enterprise HRIS experience including 4+ years of experience leading HR technology teams and driving operational improvements.
• Strong functional and technical Workday knowledge including configuration and integrations.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a product manager or product owner for an enterprise application, preferably Workday or another HRIS platform.
• Demonstrated experience defining product roadmaps, prioritizing backlogs, and translating business requirements into functional capabilities.
• Demonstrated experience to lead cross-functional decision-making, negotiate among competing priorities, and represent enterprise-level business needs in system design discussions.

Nice To Haves

• Strong working knowledge of HR, payroll, and timekeeping processes and the ability to configure Workday to support standardized enterprise HR policies.
• Expertise in Workday Security, EIB, Studio, Advanced Reporting, and HCM Core configuration.
• Experience in HRIS modernization, Agile methodologies, or public-sector environments.
• Experience managing product lifecycles including release planning, feature evaluation, impact analysis, and change management within a SaaS environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Workday HCM product owner, responsible for product vision, roadmap, prioritization, and governance.
• Translate business needs into Workday capabilities and ensure design decisions support scalable HR, payroll, and timekeeping processes.
• Evaluate new Workday features, modules, vendor tools, and configuration opportunities to support modernization and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to long-term Workday strategic planning and enterprise HRIS modernization efforts.
• Oversee daily Workday operations including configuration, triage, testing, and release activities.
• Lead assessment, testing, and deployment of Workday’s semiannual releases and new modules.
• Establish repeatable workflows for change management, service requests, incident resolution, and release readiness.
• Lead Workday data conversion strategy including mapping, transformation, cleanup, validation, and reconciliation.
• Serve as functional architect for Workday HCM modules and related HR, payroll, and timekeeping processes.
• Review and approve functional specifications including integrations, reports, conversions, and customizations.
• Oversee Workday integrations using EIB, Studio, APIs, and Core Connectors.
• Ensure data accuracy, privacy, consistency, and auditability across systems.
• Lead Workday reporting strategy including dashboards, analytics, compliance reporting, and insights.
• Manage Workday security including roles, access controls, and segregation of duties.
• Partner with IT Security and Internal Audit to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Support audit readiness through documentation and risk mitigation activities.
• Own Workday testing strategy including test script development, SIT, UAT, defect management, and approvals.
• Develop Workday training strategy including training materials, job aids, sessions, and change management.
• Ensure effective support models for employee, manager, and HR partner experience.
• Lead and mentor Workday analysts and technical specialists to foster a collaborative, high-performance culture.
• Set measurable performance goals and support skill development and career progression.
• Evaluate team structure, workload, and skills to ensure operational readiness.
• Build partnerships with HR, Payroll, Finance, and departmental leaders to align Workday capabilities with business needs.
• Represent Citywide HR, payroll, and timekeeping interests in functional decision-making with vendors and consultants.
• Coordinate with Workday support teams to resolve cases and escalate issues as needed.
• Participate in Workday community forums and customer advisory groups.
• Lead Workday-focused projects including module rollouts, process transformation, and integration enhancements.
• Develop and execute change management plans for adoption of new Workday capabilities.

Benefits

• vacation
• holiday
• sick leave
• medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance for employees and their dependents
• free public transportation options

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager