Workday Engineering Lead

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Workday Engineering Lead (Vice President)

Department: Technology – Corporate Technology (HR Technology)

Reports to: Head of HR Technology, Engineering

Location: New York, NY

Ares is seeking a Workday Engineering Lead (Vice President) to join our HR Technology team in New York
. This role will lead the design, configuration, and ongoing evolution of Workday across Core HCM and related HR domains, driving scalable business processes, strong controls, and reliable end-to-end execution across the HR technology ecosystem.

This is an ideal role for a hands-on Workday expert who combines deep functional knowledge with disciplined delivery and operational rigor. The Workday Engineering Lead will architect and implement business process designs, build sophisticated condition rules and custom validations
, and partner closely with HR, Payroll, and cross-functional Technology teams to solve complex business challenges. The role will embed audit, risk, compliance, and segregation of duties (SoD) principles into every workflow and will coordinate with Security, Integrations, and Reporting teams to ensure cohesive solutions across Workday and connected platforms (e.g.,
HRSoft, Visier, via People
, or comparable tools).

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the end-to-end design, configuration, testing, and deployment of Workday Business Processes
  , Condition Rules
  , and Custom Validations across multiple HR functional areas.
• Serve as the functional and configuration leader across Core HCM, Recruiting, Learning, Absence, Payroll, Advanced Benefits, and Core Compensation
  , ensuring alignment to business needs and Workday best practices.
• Define and maintain configuration standards and patterns that ensure scalability, maintainability, and consistent user experience.
• Embed audit, compliance, risk, and SoD principles into all process designs; partner with Security to ensure appropriate access controls, approvals, and governance.
• Partner with HR, Payroll, Finance, Security, Reporting, and Integrations teams to ensure end-to-end workflows are cohesive, well-controlled, and supportable.
• Conduct impact assessments, regression testing, and release readiness activities for Workday updates and configuration changes to ensure stability and compliance.
• Troubleshoot complex configuration and business process issues, perform root-cause analysis, and implement durable long-term fixes.
• Develop and maintain high-quality documentation including configuration guides, process flows, test scripts, and operational support materials.
• Lead and mentor Workday analysts, providing guidance on functional design, configuration standards, testing discipline, and documentation expectations.
• Support data validation and analysis activities using Excel (pivot tables, lookups, and related functions) to validate outcomes and support decision-making.
• Coordinate alignment with downstream HR tools (e.g., HRSoft, Visier, via People) and ensure Workday configuration supports reliable cross-system processes.

• 10+ years of relevant Workday configuration and HR technology experience, with demonstrated ownership of complex business process architecture and cross-domain functional solutioning.
• Deep functional expertise across Core HCM and multiple adjacent domains (Recruiting, Learning, Absence, Payroll, Benefits, Compensation).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to engage and influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior HR leadership.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree a plus.

• Bachelor’s degree…