Workday Compensation – Product Owner / Lead Consultant

We are seeking an experienced Workday Compensation Lead Consultant / Product Owner to lead the Advanced Compensation workstream and serve as a trusted advisor to clients on compensation strategy, system design, and Workday best practices. This role will focus on designing scalable, compliant, and business-aligned compensation solutions within the Workday ecosystem.

The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in Workday Advanced Compensation, excellent stakeholder management skills, and the ability to lead end-to-end solution delivery from discovery through deployment and post-production support.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead consultant and primary advisor for the Workday Advanced Compensation workstream.
• Partner with HR, Compensation, and business leaders to understand organizational compensation strategies and translate them into scalable Workday solutions.
• Configure and optimize Workday Advanced Compensation, including:
  • Compensation plans
  • Merit and bonus planning
  • Incentive programs
  • Stock and equity compensation
  • Allowances and awards
  • Eligibility rules
  • Budgets and guidelines
  • Proration logic
  • Compensation review cycles
• Lead client workshops, discovery sessions, solution design discussions, playbacks, and design sign-offs.
• Provide strategic guidance on Workday best practices, delivered functionality, and release-driven enhancements.
• Ensure alignment and integration across:
  • Core HCM
  • Security
  • Business Process Framework
  • Payroll
  • Reporting & Analytics
  • Downstream systems and integrations
• Review and govern configuration quality across the compensation pod, ensuring scalable and compliant solutions.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex compensation scenarios, configuration challenges, and business process issues.
• Support testing activities including unit testing, regression testing, UAT, and deployment validation.
• Stay current with Workday releases and proactively recommend process improvements and feature adoption opportunities.
• Mentor junior consultants and support knowledge sharing within the team.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on Workday experience with strong focus on Advanced Compensation.
• Proven experience leading Workday Compensation implementations or enhancement projects.
• Deep understanding of:
  • Merit planning
  • Bonus planning
  • Compensation cycles
  • Eligibility rules
  • Budgeting and guidelines
  • Security impacts
  • Compensation business processes
• Strong knowledge of Workday Core HCM and cross-functional dependencies.
• Experience conducting client-facing workshops and managing stakeholder expectations.
• Ability to translate complex compensation strategies into delivered Workday functionality.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Experience supporting Workday releases and feature adoption initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Workday Compensation certification preferred.
• Experience with global compensation programs and enterprise-scale implementations.
• Knowledge of Workday Reporting, EIBs, and integrations is a plus.
• Prior experience in a consulting or client-facing environment preferred.