Workday Lead – Payroll, Time & Absence
Saxon Global • Full Time
Posted on Thu, Oct 15, 2026
Workday Lead – Payroll, Time & Absence
Location: Atlanta, GA
Type: Full-Time
Role Overview
We are seeking a Workday Lead – Payroll, Time & Absence to own and drive the design, configuration, and ongoing optimization of Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence modules. This role blends strong functional leadership with technical execution, acting as the primary subject matter expert and strategic partner to HR, Finance, IT, and business stakeholders.
The ideal candidate will bring deep Workday expertise, strong business acumen, and hands-on configuration experience to ensure scalable, compliant, and high-performing solutions.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as the functional and technical lead for Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence.
- Own system configuration, testing, deployment, and ongoing optimization.
- Lead requirements gathering sessions and translate business needs into scalable Workday solutions.
- Design and maintain business processes, security roles, eligibility rules, and integrations.
- Partner with HR, Finance, and IT to deliver system enhancements and process improvements.
- Lead payroll and time-related implementations, upgrades, and regulatory updates.
- Troubleshoot complex system issues and drive root-cause resolution.
- Establish best practices, documentation, and governance standards.
- Provide leadership, mentorship, and guidance to internal team members and external partners.
Qualifications
- 6+ years of Workday experience with deep expertise in Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence.
- Proven hands-on configuration experience in complex Workday environments.
- Strong understanding of payroll compliance, tax regulations, and labor rules.
- Experience leading implementations, enhancements, and large-scale system initiatives.
- Ability to translate business requirements into technical and functional solutions.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Workday certifications in Payroll, Time Tracking, and/or Absence strongly preferred.
Preferred Experience
- Experience supporting multi-state payroll environments.
- Prior leadership of Workday optimization or transformation projects.
- Background working in enterprise or high-growth environments.
Internal Notes
- Internal Notes
Remote role. Needs to be EST though.
They had a Workday Lead resign so they are looking for a stop gap
3 month contract. May be able to extend but certainly not promised
Must Haves:
1. Change Management for Payroll, Time, Absence
2. Technical Design Ability
3. Good Prioritizaion between ops / tech
4. Requirement Gathering from business
5. Thought leadership
AuditFriendly salary estimate
The employer did not post a salary for this role. Based on AuditFriendly's salary intelligence model (comparable live postings, role, seniority, and location), we estimate base pay of $93,000–$137,000 per year (median ~$112,000). This is an AuditFriendly estimate, not an employer-provided figure.
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What the data says about this job
- Advertised pay for Payroll Manager: a median of $104,450 across 964 priced postings. Explore the market
Measured from employers' own postings and public filings. How we measure