Workday Architect (Remote) in London

We are seeking an experienced Workday HCM Architect to lead the design, implementation, integration, and optimization of our Workday HCM platform. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring that our Workday landscape supports strategic business needs across HR operations globally. The ideal candidate will possess deep technical and functional expertise across key Workday modules, including Core HCM, Absence Management, Recruiting, Compensation (including Payroll Integrations), and Learning/LMS and be a trusted advisor to HR, IT, and business stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Architectural Design & Strategy
  • Define, design, and maintain scalable and flexible Workday HCM architecture aligned with HR and business stakeholders' requirements to support their workforce management needs and processes.
  • Create and maintain the technical blueprint for the organization's Workday implementation.
  • Partner with HR, Payroll, Finance, and IT leadership to translate business objectives into Workday solutions and integrations.
  • Provide architectural oversight for Workday releases, enhancements, and long-term roadmap planning.
  • Lead configuration strategy and best practice governance across all supported modules around the employee's lifecycle.
• People Lifecycle Processes
  • Core HCM: Own and optimize organizational structure, business processes, security roles, and foundational data.
  • Absence Management: Architect and maintain complex leave policies, eligibility rules, accruals, and global compliance configurations.
  • Recruiting: Design optimized candidate pipelines, job requisition processes, and hiring workflows.
  • Compensation: Manage compensation structures, merit processes, pay range modelling, and related eligibility configuration.
  • Learning & LMS: Oversee the integration and configuration of Learning Management, content distribution, learning plans, and reporting.
• Payroll Integration Support
  • Design, implement, and maintain end-to-end integrations between Workday and third-party payroll providers (e.g. Strada, local country payroll systems, etc.).
  • Collaborate closely with Payroll, Finance, and Compliance teams to ensure accuracy and timeliness of payroll-related data flows.
  • Manage pay inputs/outputs, including earnings, deductions, time off, retro calculations, and costing allocations.
  • Troubleshoot payroll data issues, reconciliation errors, and integration failures across the payroll lifecycle.
  • Support global payroll compliance and localization requirements via Workday configuration and integrations.
• Integration & Technical Oversight
  • Guide Workday integration strategies (EIB, Studio, Core Connectors, Workday Extend).
  • Support data migration, validation, and transformation initiatives.
  • Serve as escalation point for technical issues related to Workday performance or functionality.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Project Management
  • Act as Workday SME for HRIS, IT, HR, Talent Acquisition, and Learning & Development teams.
  • Lead and contribute to Workday projects, enhancements, and ongoing optimization initiatives.
  • Facilitate and support UAT cycles, change control, documentation, and release management.

Required Qualifications & Experience:

• Proven and Progressive experience of handling Workday architecture in an Architect or Lead Consultant role.
• Demonstrated expertise in at least four or more of the following Workday modules: Core HCM, Absence, Recruiting, Compensation, Learning / LMS, Payroll Integration Support.
• Deep understanding of Workday security, business processes, calculated fields, and reporting (Advanced, Composite).
• Experience designing and implementing Workday integrations (EIB, Core Connectors, Studio).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex system issues.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical content into business-friendly language.
• Workday Certification(s) in relevant modules (e.g., HCM Core, Recruiting, Compensation, Learning).
• Experience with Workday Extend or custom application development.
• Background in HRIS transformation projects or Workday re-architecture.
• Familiarity with agile project management methodologies and tools (e.g., JIRA, Confluence).

Why join YouGov?

Join our global team to help us achieve our social mission: to make millions of people's opinions heard for the benefit of our local, national, and international communities. Understanding diversity of opinion requires diversity of background. Although our global panel of millions of people worldwide powers our research, our biggest asset is our people. If our research is to be truly representative of what the world thinks, we need people from all walks of life to be part of the team to bring their perspective to the work we do.

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As an Equal Opportunity Employer, qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity or expression, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, HIV status, political affiliation, socioeconomic background, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law or in line with our responsibilities as a fair and ethical employer. All employment decisions are made based on occupational qualifications, merit, and business need.

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