Head of Workday Platform in Swindon

This is the Internal Only Recruitment Site for UK Research and Innovation Staff for roles within Innovate UK (UKRI). Please apply for jobs via this site only if you are employed by UK Research and Innovation. If you wish to apply for the position below, please ensure that you comply with the requirements of the recruitment process by submitting both a full CV and application letter. Ideally, you should also advise your manager of your application.

Applications must be submitted by 5th February 2026 at 23.59pm.

Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.

Job Purpose:

As a critical permanent role within IUK IT, the primary purpose is to lead the Workday team managing a long-term programme for change, engaging with business stakeholders to collate and assess new requirements, work closely with the Director of IT to plan strategic delivery roadmaps, and develop the people in the team while aligning with wider IUK IT processes and governance models.

This role involves managing and overseeing the delivery of Innovate UK’s corporate HR, Finance, Payroll, and Procurement system, including budget management of £1.5m, overseeing the team and managing third-party suppliers. Additionally, the role includes managing technical engagement with the SHARP Programme where applicable, triaging and prioritising service requests, providing technical support, collaborating with stakeholders to optimize business processes, managing system changes and releases, and maintaining a customer-focused approach. The role also entails line management responsibilities, including 121s, annual PDR execution, and time sheet approvals.

We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Manage and oversee delivery of Innovate UK’s corporate HR, Finance, Payroll and Procurement system, managing a budget of £1.5m, with a team of in-house developers alongside Tier 1 suppliers (Workday, Kainos etc.).
• The role manages a team of 5.
• Oversee delivery of Platform as a Service for third parties where required.
• Manage the delivery of Innovate UK’s technical engagement with the SHARP optimization programme and future roadmaps related to this.
• Triage and prioritise the backlog of product requests from teams, ensuring stakeholders are aware of priority and driving the strategy and roadmap of Workday and associated products.
• Manage the delivery of technical support for the HR, Finance, Payroll and Procurement system across Innovate UK.
• Apply advanced Workday knowledge to lead and support various implementation and improvement projects.
• Oversee and delegate tasks, review documents to be presented for additional functionality and impacts.
• Manage and perform the execution of system changes (updates, integrations, new configurations) and participate in all aspects of system testing.
• Escalation point for operational support on queries being raised, resolve where possible or liaise with technical 3rd party product and support teams.
• Collaborate with functional and technical stakeholders to optimize business processes.
• Coach the HR and Finance Teams through system developments and sharing technical knowledge.
• Plan and manage the Workday team's training and development needs and align to business goals and roadmaps.
• Provide support on ad-hoc projects as required.
• Manage mandatory releases on a bi-annual basis including review, impact analysis and implementation.
• Follow Agile best practices supporting the creation of user stories and acceptance criteria, leading Sprint planning, refining, retrospective meetings and daily stand-up meetings.
• Work closely with the IUK IT Programme team on delivery of projects and apply team processes and documentation standards.
• Customer-focused – directly show that both internal and external customers are a high priority by recognising and promptly addressing their demands.
• Roadmap planning in conjunction with the Director of IT, to map out the future delivery plan on a multi-year basis.
• Line management responsibilities, including ad hoc 121s, annual PDR execution and time sheet approvals.

This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post.

Person Specification:

Experience & Qualifications:

• Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline or equivalent experience.
• Programme and project leadership experience of multi-year multi-million scale projects.
• ITIL4 or equivalent experience.
• Project Management certification or equivalent experience.
• Workday platform knowledge.
• Direct experience of planning and managing multi-year multi-million value tech projects.
• Experience of IUK IT TSS and Programme processes.
• Experience in Business Analysis – gap analysis for process improvements and articulation of requirements.
• A capable communicator able to operate effectively at all levels within a corporate environment.
• Excellent written communication skills, including a good working knowledge of MS Office packages.
• Experience in a project environment, supporting the development of project objectives.
• Delivering support in an operational BAU environment.
• Experience of engaging with stakeholders to develop project requirements.
• Experience of developing business cases, and undertaking impact assessments for Workday requirements.
• Ability to engage with senior stakeholders to identify needs, breakdown business problems and offer solutions.

Competencies:

• Thinking and Problem Solving
• Stakeholder management
• Communication skills
• Influencing
• Self-awareness/self-management
• Strategic awareness
• Working with others
• Project management

Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage, in addition to the criteria listed in the person specification.

Travel Requirements:

Swindon-based: There may be the occasional requirement for national travel.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

Innovate UK is a diverse workforce of people. We believe that encouraging these differences and drawing the best from them will build a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met.

Equal Opportunities:

We are an equal opportunities employer, committed to employing any person who meets the criteria for our roles.

Employee Benefits:

We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days' annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.

Pre-employment Screening:

To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.