Senior HRIS Analyst (Workday)

We are seeking a Senior HRIS Analyst to own and evolve our Workday platform. This role primarily focuses on payroll administration, and payroll administration experience is required. You'll also bring strong Core HCM expertise and support other Workday functional areas, including Time and Absence and Advanced Compensation. This role is responsible for designing, configuring, and optimizing scalable payroll and people systems that enable business growth and operational efficiency. You will act as a strategic partner to People, Finance, Total Rewards, and Payroll teams—translating business needs into system solutions while ensuring payroll accuracy, data integrity, and streamlined processes across the employee lifecycle.

We are in the midst of an exciting Intelligent Work Systems transformation, evolving from manual operations to designing AI-enabled, cross-system workflows that scale across the enterprise. We’re looking for someone with a strong Workday payroll foundation and an inventor mindset to help build what’s next.

The Mountain View base salary range for this full-time position is $184,000-$226,000, plus equity and benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. If based in or near Mountain View, CA, the role requires in-office work 2 days a week, though we are open to remote candidates in PT or CT time zones.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Payroll & Workday Configuration Ownership

• Administer Workday Payroll configuration end-to-end, including pay groups, earnings, deductions, and payroll-impacting business processes

• Serve as the primary systems point of contact for Payroll Operations, ensuring accurate, on-time pay processing

• Own configuration and ongoing optimization of Workday Payroll and also other areas in Core HCM, including security frameworks as assigned

• Support configuration and troubleshooting across other Workday functional areas, including Time and Absence

• Design and maintain business processes, workflows, and system controls across the employee lifecycle

• Lead system enhancements, releases, and feature adoption in areas assigned

System Strategy & Optimization

• Ensure Workday is not operated in isolation but as part of a broader enterprise ecosystem; design solutions that support end-to-end business processes across systems, including access governance, compliance, and cross-functional workflow orchestration

• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and automate People processes through Workday and integrated systems

• Drive scalable solutions that reduce manual effort and improve data accuracy

• Contribute to the Workday roadmap by defining and prioritizing enhancements based on business impact, scalability, and system health

• Establish and maintain system governance and best practices

• Partner with People Operations and external Workday support to manage escalations, prioritize issues, and drive systemic resolution of recurring problems

• Ensure data consistency and integrity across Workday and downstream financial systems, including reconciliation of headcount, compensation, and organizational structures used in financial reporting and planning.

• Develop and maintain system documentation (business processes, decision logic, architecture diagrams); leverage AI tools to accelerate documentation, identify logic gaps, and propose enhancements

• Troubleshoot system issues, root-cause errors, and implement scalable fixes

Reporting & Insights

• Build and maintain advanced Workday reports, dashboards, and calculated fields

• Partner with stakeholders to deliver actionable insights across People and Finance

• Ensure consistency and integrity of workforce data

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with People Ops, Accounting, Payroll, Total Rewards, Finance, and IT to translate business requirements into system solutions

• Act as a subject matter expert on Workday capabilities and limitations

• Act as a key partner to Finance in supporting workforce planning, budgeting, and actuals reporting by ensuring accurate and timely workforce data

• Support testing strategy (UAT) and ensure high-quality system deployments

• Leverage AI and structured methodologies to define test strategies, generate test cases, support design reviews, and proactively identify logic gaps or architectural improvements prior to deployment

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• 3+ years of hands-on Workday Payroll configuration and administration experience, required

• 5+ years of HRIS experience with deep Workday expertise

• Strong configuration experience in Workday Payroll and Core HCM

• Experience with Workday configuration including Business Process Framework, Security, and Advanced Reporting (Calculated Fields)

• Experience partnering cross-functionally with stakeholders in People, Accounting, Payroll, Finance, and IT

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

• Experience creating structured documentation and leveraging AI tools to enhance system design, testing, and analysis

• Advanced analytical and technical skills for translating and analyzing business needs into requirements, driving implementations, and delivering effective, value-adding solutions

• Exceptional technical aptitude and strong desire for learning new technologies and solution architectures

• Experience with Workday’s tools below is a plus:

  • Advanced Compensation

  • Time and Absence

  • Talent/Performance modules

  • Workday Extend

• Experience in global and matrixed organizations is a plus

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Information Systems, or equivalent is a plus

• Experience designing workflows across different areas in the employment lifecycle (recruiting, onboarding, career development, off-boarding) is a plus