HRIT Systems Architect

Company Description

Job Description

The HRIT Architect is responsible for defining and governing the technical architecture, configuration strategy, and operational roadmap for HR technology solutions across the enterprise, with a primary focus on Workday. This role ensures solutions are scalable, secure, maintainable, and aligned with enterprise architecture standards and long-term platform strategy.

Operating within the IT organization, the HRIT Architect serves as a strategic partner to HR, Payroll, Benefits, Operations, and IT leadership, providing guidance on Workday best practices, solution design, governance, and continuous improvement. This role is responsible for supporting and evolving a mature Workday environment, ensuring business processes and technology solutions remain effective as organizational needs change.

The HRIT Architect will play a key role in supporting mergers, acquisitions, workforce integrations, and organizational transformation initiatives while helping business stakeholders adopt scalable and sustainable processes. This role requires deep hands-on Workday configuration expertise, strong stakeholder management skills, and the ability to influence business decisions through trusted partnership and subject matter expertise.

Duties and Responsibilities

HR Technology Architecture & Platform Governance

• Define, own, and govern the enterprise architecture for Workday and related HR technology solutions.
• Establish architectural standards and design principles that ensure solutions are scalable, secure, compliant, supportable, and aligned with long-term business objectives.
• Provide oversight for Workday HCM, Payroll, and Benefits configurations, security frameworks, business processes, reporting, and organizational structures.
• Review and approve solution designs, configuration changes, and enhancement requests to ensure alignment with enterprise standards and long-term platform sustainability.
• Partner with HRIS, Payroll, Benefits, IT, Security, and Integration teams to ensure cohesive and effective end-to-end solutions.
• Maintain governance processes that promote standardization, reduce technical debt, and improve operational effectiveness.

Platform Support, Optimization & Continuous Improvement

• Lead the ongoing optimization, support, and enhancement of the Workday platform.
• Evaluate existing configurations, business processes, and security models to identify opportunities for simplification, standardization, and improved user experience.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives through Workday releases, feature adoption, process redesign, and operational enhancements.
• Establish and maintain documentation, support processes, governance standards, and change management practices.
• Ensure system enhancements and configuration changes align with business priorities while preserving platform integrity and supportability.
• Monitor platform performance and proactively identify opportunities to improve efficiency, compliance, and scalability.

Acquisition Integration & Organizational Transformation

• Support mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and workforce integration initiatives impacting HR systems and processes.
• Lead HR technology design activities related to acquisitions, including organizational design, employee onboarding, security setup, business process alignment, and data integration activities.
• Partner with business leaders to identify opportunities for process harmonization and operational consistency across acquired organizations.
• Assess business requirements and recommend scalable Workday solutions that support long-term organizational objectives.
• Help guide stakeholders through organizational change by promoting best practices and sustainable operating models.

Business Partnership & Stakeholder Leadership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to HR, Payroll, Benefits, Operations, Finance, and IT leaders.
• Consult with departments to understand business challenges and recommend Workday solutions that improve efficiency, compliance, employee experience, and operational effectiveness.
• Facilitate discussions across multiple stakeholder groups to drive alignment and consensus on solution direction.
• Recommend industry and Workday best practices while balancing business needs, compliance requirements, and enterprise standards.
• Build strong partnerships across departments and influence decision-making through expertise, collaboration, and credibility.
• Communicate complex technical concepts, risks, trade-offs, and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Operational Excellence & Risk Management

• Identify operational, compliance, and system risks and proactively recommend mitigation strategies.
• Support audit, compliance, labor, and regulatory requirements associated with complex manufacturing and unionized workforce environments.
• Ensure HR technology solutions support business continuity, operational resilience, and long-term sustainability.
• Contribute to long-range HR technology planning and platform strategy.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Human Resources, Business Administration, Computer Science, or related discipline.
• Minimum 8 years of progressive HR technology experience supporting enterprise HR systems.
• Minimum 5 years of hands-on Workday configuration experience in a post-production environment supporting Workday HCM, Payroll, and Benefits.
• Demonstrated experience configuring and supporting complex Workday business processes, security frameworks, organizations, reporting, and data structures.
• Proven experience supporting large-scale Workday environments with responsibility for platform governance, enhancement delivery, release management, and continuous improvement.
• Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and workforce integrations within Workday.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with business leaders across HR, Payroll, Benefits, Operations, Finance, and IT to identify opportunities for process improvement and technology optimization.
• Experience supporting complex workforce populations including unionized employees, manufacturing operations, multiple legal entities, and diverse pay and benefits structures.
• Demonstrated success working within highly matrixed organizations and influencing outcomes across departments with differing priorities and objectives.
• Experience evaluating business requirements and recommending scalable Workday solutions aligned with operational best practices and long-term platform sustainability.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Advanced hands-on expertise in Workday HCM, Payroll, and Benefits configuration and administration.
• Strong understanding of Workday business process design, security administration, calculated fields, reporting, organizational structures, and tenant management.
• Extensive experience supporting mature Workday environments through ongoing enhancements, releases, operational support, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ability to serve as a trusted advisor to business stakeholders by recommending industry best practices, process improvements, and technology solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with individual departments to evaluate existing processes, identify improvement opportunities, and implement sustainable solutions aligned with enterprise standards.
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills with the ability to establish credibility across technical and functional teams.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate complex organizational structures and effectively partner with siloed departments to build consensus and drive results.
• Deep understanding of workforce complexities associated with manufacturing organizations, union environments, labor agreements, and regulatory requirements.
• Experience supporting acquisition-related integration activities, organizational restructuring, and employee lifecycle transitions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to evaluate complex business requirements and design practical, scalable solutions.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and presentation skills with the ability to communicate effectively at all organizational levels.
• Strong architectural mindset with the ability to balance business needs, operational supportability, compliance requirements, and long-term platform sustainability.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting global or multi-entity Workday environments.
• Experience establishing governance models and driving process standardization across multiple business functions.
• Experience leading Workday roadmap planning and prioritization activities.
• Experience supporting organizational growth through acquisitions and workforce integration initiatives.
• Workday certifications in HCM, Payroll, Benefits, Security, or related functional areas are preferred.

Qualifications

Additional Information

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The salary rate for this role is currently $104800-149300 The actual salary offered to a candidate may be influenced by a variety of factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, education, business needs, market demands and work location. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. More information on offered benefits, which include health, welfare, and retirement, are available at mywabtecbenefits.com. Other benefit offerings for this role may include annual bonus, if eligible.

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Wabtec is a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions, and value-added services for the freight and transit rail sectors. Drawing on more than 150 years of experience, we are leading the way in safety, efficiency, reliability, innovation, and productivity. Whether it's freight, transit, ports, logistics, mining, industrial, or marine, our expertise, technologies, and people together - are accelerating the future of transportation. With roots that date back to George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, and Louis Faiveley, Wabtec has always built technologies and implemented solutions for a variety of sectors that are critical to meeting the needs of customers and governments alike.

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