Workday Payroll SME

Position Title: Workday Payroll SME

State: Valhalla, NY - Hybrid

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and implementation of standardized payroll policies, processes, and controls across the network.
• Harmonize pay rules, earnings codes, deductions, tax treatments, and payroll calendars across multiple entities.
• Establish governance frameworks for payroll configuration changes, approvals, and version control.
• Define and document standardized payroll operating models, procedures, and workflows.
• Configure and maintain Workday Payroll, including earnings, deductions, taxation, retro processing, and off-cycle payrolls.
• Support payroll parallel testing, validation, and reconciliation activities during standardization and deployment phases.
• Ensure accurate integration between Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, Absence Management, Benefits, and Financials.
• Ensure payroll configurations comply with federal, state, and local regulations (e.g., FLSA, tax compliance, wage/hour laws, union agreements where applicable).
• Partner with Legal, HR, and Compliance teams to mitigate payroll risk and audit exposure.
• Support internal and external audits, including documentation, controls testing, and remediation.
• Partner with HR, Finance, IT, and Operations leaders to drive alignment on payroll standardization strategy.
• Translate business requirements into scalable Workday payroll solutions.
• Support organizational change management, including communications, training, and adoption strategies.
• Provide functional leadership and advisory support to payroll teams across the network.
• Ensure data accuracy, reconciliation controls, and auditability across payroll processes.
• Support standardized reporting, analytics, and payroll metrics across entities.
• Establish data governance standards for payroll-related information.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of extensive experience in Workday Payroll configuration and deployment
• Proven experience leading enterprise payroll standardization initiatives
• Prior experience with Healthcare facility
• Strong knowledge of U.S. payroll regulations, wage and hour laws, and payroll compliance
• Experience in multi-entity, multi-location, or networked organizational environments
• Expertise in payroll process design, transformation, and optimization
• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex system and process transformations
• Advanced documentation, requirements gathering, and solution design capabilities