Payroll Consultant, Higher Education

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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 Higher Ed Functional Consulting team partners with colleges and universities to design and deliver Workday Payroll solutions that help them pay their people accurately and on time, so they can stay focused on their missions. We lead implementations end-to-end, balancing scope, milestones, and quality across a steady pipeline of projects.
Many of us previously worked in Higher Ed, and we understand the realities of shared governance, academic calendars, and public or public-adjacent organizations. We also value creating sustainable ways of working that fit those environments. Our team is highly educated, curious, and always looking for ways to improve how we work. We actively experiment with Workday’s AI tools to make our implementations high-quality and efficient, and we share what we learn so the entire practice benefits.

About the Role

We’re looking for an experienced Payroll Consultant to support Higher Education implementations. In this role, you will partner with mission-driven organizations to design, configure, and deploy Workday Payroll solutions built for accuracy and long-term success.

You’ll bring Workday product and implementation expertise to client engagements, helping customers translate business requirements into practical solutions. You’ll work closely with clients, project teammates, and the Engagement Manager to move implementations forward with clarity, quality, and strong partnership. You’ll have meaningful ownership over the payroll workstream, with the autonomy to recommend design approaches that set customers up for long-term success.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving complex problems, building trust with stakeholders, and helping customers navigate key implementation milestones with confidence. You’ll both learn from experienced teammates and contribute your own ideas and patterns to help evolve how we implement Workday Payroll in Higher Education.

Key Responsibilities

You will:

• Design and configure Workday Payroll solutions
  • Apply deep expertise in the Workday Payroll product across customer engagements
  • Partner with customers to elicit, clarify, and document business requirements
  • Configure Workday Payroll to align with customer needs and operational realities
  • Document solution decisions clearly so customers can support and sustain their environment after go-live
     
• Support data conversion, integrations, and testing
  • Partner with client and data conversion teams to support legacy payroll data conversion into Workday
  • Partner with integration teams to support the configuration and testing of integrations between Workday and third-party or custom solutions
  • Support customers through testing cycles, including issue triage and resolution
  • Transfer system knowledge to customer teams to support adoption, confidence, and long-term success in production
     
• Drive project execution and stakeholder alignment
  • Communicate regularly with the Engagement Manager on project status, hours forecasting, time reporting, risks, and mitigation plans
  • Partner with Delivery Assurance to support compliance with agreed checkpoints and quality standards
  • Help customers prepare for and navigate key implementation milestones, from design through testing and deployment
     
• Contribute to the practice and mentor others
  • Mentor consultants who are newer to Payroll, Absence, and/or Time Tracking
  • Participate in update training and knowledge-sharing opportunities that strengthen team capability
  • Contribute to the Higher Education consulting practice by identifying opportunities for improvement and leading or participating in internal initiatives

About You

You bring strong Workday Payroll expertise, sound judgment, and a collaborative approach to delivery. You know how to balance customer needs, project realities, and solution quality. You communicate clearly, build trust quickly, and work well across teams and workstreams.

We’re open to hiring at the Senior or Principal level depending on your experience, scope of expertise, and track record of leading complex client engagements.

Basic Qualifications: Senior Payroll Consultant (P4)

• 4+ years of experience implementing and/or configuring Workday Payroll
• 4+ years of experience in a consulting, software, or internal Workday environment with hands-on responsibility for payroll configuration, testing, and partnering with stakeholders

Basic Qualifications: Principal Payroll Consultant (P5)

• 6+ years of experience implementing and/or configuring Workday Payroll
• 6+ years of experience in a consulting, software, or internal Workday environment leading complex payroll initiatives that require cross-workstream coordination, stakeholder alignment, and structured testing

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Higher Education and/or Nonprofit organizations
• Ability to implement Absence and/or Time Tracking
• Experience with multiple payroll applications

Other Qualifications

• Relationship Management: Proven ability to build trusted, long-term relationships with payroll, HR, and/or finance stakeholders in Higher Education and/or Nonprofit environments, including navigating complex governance structures (e.g., committees, unions, shared governance).
• Task Management: Ability to manage multiple customers in parallel, estimate effort accurately, surface risks early, and coordinate with Engagement Managers and project teams to keep scope, schedule, and quality on track.
• Ability to travel up to 50% based on client and project needs, particularly for key implementation milestones such as design sessions and major testing events

Encouragement to Apply

If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We’re especially interested in people who bring strong judgment, learning agility, and a collaborative approach to solving complex customer problems.

Posting End Date

Applications are accepted for this position on an ongoing basis through 5/31/26.

Workday Pay Transparency Statement

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below.  Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.

Primary Location: USA.GA.Atlanta

 

Primary Location Base Pay Range: $117,000 USD - $175,400 USD

 

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $111,000 USD - $197,300 USD

Additional Considerations:

05/31/2026

Our Approach to Flexible Work
 

With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.

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