Workday Director, Ruder Finn

We are seeking a highly experienced Workday Director to lead the strategy, governance, optimization, and global support of our Workday platform. This senior role will serve as the primary Workday leader, partnering closely with HR, Finance, IT, business leadership, and regional stakeholders to ensure Workday supports the organization’s evolving operational and strategic priorities.The Senior Workday Manager will oversee platform administration, configuration, security, reporting, integrations, release management, system enhancements, and long-term roadmap planning. This role will also provide leadership and direction to the Workday support team in India, ensuring effective delivery, strong service levels, consistent processes, and continuous improvement across the global Workday environment.The ideal candidate is a strategic, hands-on Workday leader with deep functional and technical expertise, strong people management skills, and the ability to translate complex business needs into scalable Workday solutions.Key ResponsibilitiesLead the overall strategy, governance, administration, and continuous improvement of the Workday platform across global business functions.Serve as the senior Workday subject matter expert and primary point of escalation for complex system, process, integration, reporting, and security matters.Oversee, mentor, and provide day-to-day direction to the India-based Workday team, ensuring high-quality support, timely delivery, and alignment with global priorities.Establish clear operating processes, service expectations, documentation standards, and performance metrics for the Workday support team.Partner with HR, Finance, IT, Payroll, Legal, Compliance, and business leaders to identify system needs, prioritize enhancements, and deliver scalable solutions.Lead Workday roadmap planning, including module optimization, new functionality adoption, process automation, and long-term platform strategy.Manage major Workday projects, enhancements, implementations, integrations, and module rollouts from discovery and requirements gathering through testing, deployment, and post-launch stabilization.Own Workday release management, including reviewing new features, assessing business impact, coordinating regression testing, communicating changes, and implementing relevant functionality.Provide governance over Workday business processes, security roles, organizations, calculated fields, reports, dashboards, integrations, and data structures.Ensure strong data integrity, system controls, privacy compliance, audit readiness, and alignment with internal governance standards.Drive process improvement by identifying opportunities to simplify workflows, reduce manual effort, improve reporting, and enhance the employee and manager experience.Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to troubleshoot complex issues, resolve escalations, and ensure system reliability.Lead stakeholder communication, change management, training, and adoption efforts related to Workday enhancements and process changes.Manage vendor, consultant, and Workday support relationships as needed.Develop and maintain executive-level reporting on Workday initiatives, system performance, support trends, project status, and risk areas.QualificationsBachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Information Systems, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.8+ years of progressive Workday experience, including hands-on configuration, administration, governance, and optimization.4+ years of experience leading Workday projects, platform strategy, or cross-functional system initiatives.2+ years of experience managing, mentoring, or directing Workday analysts, administrators, offshore teams, vendors, or implementation partners.Deep knowledge of Workday business processes, security, reporting, calculated fields, integrations, release management, and system governance.Experience supporting multiple Workday modules such as HCM, Compensation, Benefits, Payroll, Time Tracking, Absence, Financials, or Reporting.Demonstrated ability to lead global or regional support models, including offshore or distributed teams.Strong understanding of HR, payroll, finance, compliance, and data governance processes.Proven ability to engage senior stakeholders, influence decision-making, manage competing priorities, and translate business needs into scalable Workday solutions.Excellent project management, analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.Strong documentation, testing, change management, and user adoption experience.Ability to operate both strategically and hands-on in a fast-paced, complex environment.Benefits & MoreYou will receive a competitive base salary and bonus opportunityYou will also be able to enroll in our Health, Dental, Vision, company paid Life Insurance, Flexible Spending Account, as well as 401k (match) planMonthly allowance for cell phone, office equipment, etc.Generous PTO policy with paid maternity/paternity leaveTransit benefitsProfessional learning and development opportunitiesWorkplace flexibilityOn-site and off-site social gatheringsThe anticipated salary range for this position, at the time of posting, is $90,000 – $150,000. The salary of the applicant selected for this role will be based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, education, internal equity, geography, relevant years of experience, certifications, skills, abilities of the selected applicant, and other job-related qualifications. In addition, a range of medical, dental, vision, disability, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and/or other benefits also are available by the company.Ruder Finn provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Ruder Finn will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Ruder Finn believes that diversity and inclusion among our employees is critical to our success as a global company, and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.SummaryLocation: US New York NY; US Chicago ILType: Full time