Center of Excellence Lead - HR & Payroll Operations

Center of Excellence Lead

The Center of Excellence (COE) Lead will oversee a multidisciplinary team of specialists across Payroll, Workday Operations, Workday Analytics, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), Talent Acquisition, and Workday Learning Operations. This leader will ensure operational excellence, drive innovation, and foster collaboration across HR and business functions, while leveraging Workday as the backbone of employee experience and workforce management.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Strategy

• Provide vision and direction to the COE team, aligning initiatives with organizational goals.
• Develop strategies to enhance efficiency, compliance, and employee experience.
• Act as a thought leader, promoting best practices across HR, payroll, analytics, and talent functions.

Team Management

• Lead and mentor specialists in Payroll, Workday Operations, Workday Analytics, DEI, Talent Acquisition, and Workday Learning Operations.
• Foster collaboration across functions to ensure seamless integration of processes and initiatives.
• Encourage professional development and continuous learning.

Operational Excellence

• Payroll:
  • Manage end to end Payroll on Workday for US employees, including EIB uploads.
  • Payment Elections, Taxes, W2, queries support management by the team members
  • Timely Mailbox and Case Management to ensure efficiency and compliance.
• Workday Operations:
  •  Manage Tier‑1 technical support to HRSS teams, troubleshooting business process errors, to achieve the designed system outcome for all HR workflows and journeys.
  • Govern Security Role assignment and adherence to drive and deliver HR compliance at an org level.
• Workday Analytics:
  • Drive data-driven decision-making through reporting, dashboards, and workforce insights for SLT and ELT members
• DEI:
  • Support DEI requests and supporting business processes
  • Ensure business processes are equitable, accessible, and compliant with DEI standards.
• Talent Acquisition:
  • Support the Tier – 1 team with Position Management and Job Architecture support on a case-by-case basis.
  • Maintain Job Architecture to ensure updated record in Workday.
  • Requisition Management support and guidance to the Managers and HR Partners.
• Workday Learning Operations:
  • Oversee administration of Workday Learning, ensuring effective delivery of training and compliance.
  • Apply Instructional Design expertise to develop engaging learning content, curricula, and digital learning experiences.
  • Partner with stakeholders to align learning programs with organizational capability needs.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with senior leadership to align COE initiatives with business priorities.
• Serve as a trusted advisor on HR technology, workforce analytics, and DEI strategies.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders, providing insights and recommendations.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities for process optimization and automation.
• Leverage analytics to measure success and drive evidence-based improvements.
• Stay current with industry trends, compliance requirements, and emerging technologies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, Instructional Design, or related field.
• 8-10 years of experience in HR, Payroll, Talent, or related domains, with at least 4-5 years in a leadership role.
• Strong knowledge of Workday systems, including Tier‑1 support, analytics, and learning management.
• Experience in Instructional Design and digital learning development.
• Proven track record in leading diverse teams and managing cross-functional projects.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills.

Independence Level/Reports to: Under general direction, able to handle most problems. Errors can cause delay, expense and disruption. May provide training and work direction to lower-level payroll staff.

Experience Level

Senior Level