Workday Payroll Lead

Rhode Island (Remote and occasional onsite)

Initial 6-Month Engagement (40 Hours/Week)

seeking a highly experienced Workday Payroll Lead to support the stabilization and optimization of its Workday Payroll environment following a recent implementation.

This is a high-impact role focused on resolving complex payroll challenges related to union agreements, employee classifications, overtime calculations, shift differentials, and agency-specific pay rules. The consultant will play a key role in assessing current payroll configurations, identifying root causes of payroll discrepancies, and implementing sustainable solutions to improve payroll accuracy and reliability.

The ideal candidate will bring deep Workday Payroll expertise, strong troubleshooting skills, and experience working in complex, highly regulated payroll environments.

• Assess and troubleshoot Workday Payroll issues related to complex pay rules, employee classifications, overtime calculations, and shift structures.
• Analyze existing payroll configurations and identify root causes of payroll inaccuracies.
• Partner with HR, Payroll, Finance, and business stakeholders to understand and document payroll requirements across multiple employee groups.
• Configure and optimize Workday Payroll to support complex business and compliance requirements.
• Validate payroll calculations and ensure accurate payroll outcomes across impacted populations.
• Lead payroll remediation efforts and support stabilization activities within a live production environment.
• Collaborate with executive leadership, project teams, and business stakeholders in a highly visible engagement.
• Support issue resolution through assessment, configuration updates, testing, and deployment of corrective solutions.
• Participate in knowledge transfer and process improvement initiatives to support long-term payroll success.

• Extensive hands‑on experience with Workday Payroll configuration and support.
• Proven experience working in complex payroll environments with unionized work forces and collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).
• Strong understanding of payroll calculations, overtime rules, shift differentials, employee classifications, and payroll compliance requirements.
• Experience troubleshooting and resolving payroll issues in live Workday environments.
• Ability to analyze complex business requirements and translate them into effective Workday Payroll solutions.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Ability to work onsite initially to assess the environment, build relationships, and support key project milestones.

• Experience supporting Workday Payroll in government, public sector, education, healthcare, or similarly complex environments.
• Previous experience serving as a Payroll Lead, Payroll SME, or Workday Payroll Configurator.
• Experience with payroll stabilization, remediation, or post‑implementation optimization projects.
• Familiarity with multi‑agency, multi‑department, or highly matrixed organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to solve payroll challenges through configuration and process improvements rather than custom development.

• High‑visibility role with significant organizational impact.
• Opportunity to lead critical payroll stabilization efforts for a large public‑sector organization.
• Work directly with executive stakeholders and key decision‑makers.
• Focus on solving complex payroll challenges and delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Long‑term potential beyond the initial engagement based on project needs and performance.