Senior Business Systems Analyst, HR & Payroll

The Foundation

We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

We are looking for a Senior Business Systems Analyst to join our Enterprise Business Applications – Human Resources & Payroll Applications team within IT. The mission of our team is to unleash the power of digital platforms to better support the core work of the foundation, accelerate the achievement of our goals and amplify the impact Gates Foundation can have on the world. This specific position will focus on supporting the foundation’s HR and Payroll business capabilities and related business applications. 

Your Role

As a Senior Business Systems Analyst, you will work in partnership with business partners on the build, implementation, support, and optimization of HR and Payroll processes and systems in any of the modules of core HCM, Talent Acquisition, Compensation, Benefits, Talent, US and Global Payroll and Workforce Planning. You will demonstrate technical experience and business insight to enable streamlined foundation-wide business processes supporting the HR and Payroll function(s) in Workday and other HR and Payroll applications. You will be responsible for leading and participating on various projects such as the implementation of new features, enhancements to existing processes, routine maintenance, and end user support. You will be responsible for collaborator management and translating business process requirements into modern, scalable, and secure application solutions delivered through system configuration and in partnership with development and business teams. You will collaborate across the organization to ensure flawless integration with the other business applications, systems, platforms, and infrastructure in the IT ecosystem.

What You’ll Do

• Understand customer needs and advise on continuous improvement.

• Lead engagement with business partners on changing business needs, analyze business requirements, and communicate the system implications of proposed business process changes.

• Lead the implementation of highly developed solutions demonstrating functional domain expertise and assess solution options, including required security changes, adjacent system impacts, and reporting.

• Lead work across multiple business partners and technology service teams to ensure delivery of requirements to reach project goals and foster collective success, as well as advise business partners on how best to understand the implications and value of different solution alternatives.

• Lead estimation of work efforts and make commitments within the defined framework, perform system configuration changes, test configuration and development changes to ensure satisfaction of requirements, facilitate business testing and issue resolution, partner with business team on change management, and lead deployment.

• Translate business requirements into technical specifications and coordinate with software development and business teams as needed.

• Configure requirements and design specifications and ensure appropriate documentation.

• Transition applications and features to operations and knowledge to team members to result in a highly maintainable and supportable solution.

• Contribute to product knowledge base content to ensure up-to-date and accurate support to customers and your peers to ensure efficient support response and resolutions.

• Lead end-to-end project management of assigned projects, collaborating with project managers on larger initiatives to ensure the appropriate tasks and achievements for application delivery are included in the plan.

• Empower team members while building trust and positive relationships across the team and foundation to help drive the work forward.

• Collaborate with the management team by providing input into planning and forecasting, supporting critical initiatives and have an eye for continuous improvement opportunities both within the team and across the business.

• Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; raise issues in a timely fashion to appropriate partners.

Your Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree with 15+ years’ experience relative to this position.

• Applicable technical certification(s), depending on technology specialization.

• Expertise in Workday configuration and support with implementation experience preferred.

• Expertise in designing and configuring business process solutions within HR and Payroll applications.

• Deep understanding of HR and Payroll business processes.

• Proven track record in business requirements elicitation techniques, translation to functional and non-functional technical requirements, options analysis, solutions design, story writing, test planning, change management and operations support.

• Experience with implementing non-ERP solutions, including bolt-on applications and system-to-system integrations.

• Understanding of Agile delivery, software development lifecycle, and project management processes.

*Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

#LI-SC2

The salary range for this role is $143,000 – $214,400. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The range for this role in these locations is $157,300 – $235,900. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission. New hires salaries are typically between the range minimum and the salary range midpoint. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process.

Hiring Requirements

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Candidate Accommodations

We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you have a disability or medical condition and need an accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—we’re happy to help. Please contact View email address on click.appcast.io with the position number and a brief description of your accommodation needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — and we support this diversity through all our employment practices.

All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.