Workday Finance Lead in Pinehurst

Location: Hybrid working with office bases at Swindon, Stockton and Newport, with flexibility depending on business needs.

Duration: Full time/ Permanent

About the Team

You will join the Platform & Products team within Digital & Information, a highly skilled group responsible for the delivery, enhancement and support of enterprise-scale SaaS and cloud-based ERP platforms. The team supports complex, multi-year transformation programmes alongside business-as-usual services. As a Band F consultant, you will play a senior role within the team, providing technical leadership, mentoring colleagues, and shaping the future direction of Workday Financials.

The Role

The Workday Finance Lead is a senior specialist role providing technical leadership and subject-matter expertise across Workday Financial Management within a complex government shared services environment. In addition to hands-on configuration and delivery, you will provide direction, assurance and oversight for Workday Financials solutions, support and supervise other consultants and analysts, and act as a senior point of escalation for complex issues. You will work closely with programme leadership, architects, system integrators and senior stakeholders to ensure solutions are robust, scalable and aligned to Client and government standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Assurance
  • Act as a senior Workday Financials authority, providing technical leadership across modules such as General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Expenses, Assets, Projects and Financial Reporting.
  • Define and promote best practice for Workday Financials configuration, design and support across the team.
  • Provide technical assurance and peer review of designs, configurations and changes delivered by colleagues, system integrators and third parties.
  • Support architectural decision-making and contribute to roadmap planning for Workday Financials.
• Delivery & Continuous Improvement
  • Lead and contribute to the design, configuration and implementation of complex Workday Financials solutions.
  • Oversee enhancements, releases and regulatory changes, ensuring quality, compliance and auditability.
  • Drive business process improvement and standardisation in line with shared services and government best practice.
  • Oversee ticket queue management across the AMS team, ensuring workload is prioritised effectively and resources are aligned to demand.
  • Enforce SLA/KPI frameworks, proactively monitoring performance against response and resolution targets, and driving continuous improvement where breaches occur.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Consultancy
  • Act as a senior trusted adviser to finance leaders, programme managers and client stakeholders.
  • Lead and facilitate complex workshops, translating business needs into clear functional designs and system specifications.
  • Communicate risks, options and recommendations clearly to support effective decision-making.
• Supervision & Capability Development
  • Provide day-to-day technical supervision, coaching and mentoring to Band D/E colleagues and contractors.
  • Support task allocation, prioritisation and workload management across Workday Financials activities.
  • Contribute to skills development, knowledge-sharing and succession planning within the team.
• Testing, Live Service & Governance
  • Provide oversight of testing activities, including system, integration and user acceptance testing.
  • Act as an escalation point for complex incidents, defects and service issues.
  • Ensure all solutions comply with policies, financial controls, audit requirements and data protection standards.

Essential Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Significant experience working with Workday Financial Management in a senior configuration, implementation or support role.
• Deep understanding of end-to-end finance processes within large, complex organisations.
• Proven experience providing technical leadership, assurance or oversight within ERP or SaaS environments.
• Strong experience gathering, validating and translating complex business requirements into functional designs.
• Experience supervising, mentoring or coaching other consultants or analysts.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at senior levels.
• Experience working within structured delivery environments, such as Agile, SAFe or hybrid methodologies, using issue-tracking and ITSM tools.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience of working within a government or shared services environment.
• Previous experience with other ERP platforms (e.g. Oracle e-Business Suite or Fusion), particularly to support transformation or data migration activities.
• Experience with Workday reporting, analytics and complex integrations.
• Understanding of project and delivery methodologies such as Agile, SAFe etc.
• Relevant professional or Workday certifications.