Workday Data Lead

Workday Data Lead (Contract) Location: Remote (UK) + Occasional London Onsite
Contract: Outside IR35 
Start: ASAP
Duration: 6+ months (extendable)

Job Summary A senior Workday Data Lead is required to take ownership of data quality, governance, reporting, and optimisation across Workday Financials (primary focus) and Workday HCM (secondary). This role is hands?on and responsible for improving data accuracy, strengthening reporting capability, and ensuring that Workday delivers reliable, business?ready insights.

Role Overview The Workday Data Lead will oversee all data activity across the Workday platform, with a particular emphasis on Financials. This includes data governance, data structures, reporting development, migration cycles, and crossfunctional data quality improvements. The role acts as the central point of expertise for Finance, HR, IT, and transformation teams.

Programme / Project Context The organisation is deploying Workday Financials and have a strong focus on data integrity, governance, and analytics capability. This role leads the data workstream, ensuring all structures, reporting, and governance processes meet operational, analytical, and compliance requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Workday data governance across Financials and HCM, covering data standards, validation rules, quality controls, and stewardship.
• Run full data migration cycles including mapping, transformation, cleansing, loading, and reconciliation.
• Build and optimise Workday reporting assets: Composite Reports, Advanced Reports, Matrix, Calculated Fields, Discovery Boards.
• Own key Workday Financials data structures such as Chart of Accounts, Ledger, Suppliers, Customers, Spend, Assets.
• Support integration data mapping and validation activities.
• Improve data quality across Finance and HR functional areas.
• Provide subject matter expertise to business, IT, and project teams.

Must Have Requirements

• Must have proven experience as a Workday Data Lead or Senior Workday Data Specialist.
• Must have strong hands?on experience with Workday Financials.
• Required Workday reporting expertise (Composite, Advanced, Calculated Fields, Discovery Boards).
• Mandatory experience delivering ERP/Workday data migrations.
• Required understanding of financial data structures (COA, Ledger, Suppliers, Customers, Spend, Assets).
• Minimum 5 years in Workday/ERP data roles.
• Necessary experience implementing or maturing data governance frameworks.

Dealbreakers

• No Workday experience.
• No Workday Financials background.
• No ERP/Workday migration experience.
• Unable to travel to London when required. (This isn't going to be often)
• No valid UK right to work (no sponsorship available).

Nice to Have / Preferred Experience

• Workday Prism Analytics
• EIB / Core Connector experience
• Finance analytics or reporting background
• Experience coaching or mentoring junior data analysts

Technology / Functional Keywords Platform Keywords:
Workday, Workday Financials, Workday HCM, Prism Analytics, EIB, Core Connectors

Functional Keywords:
Data Migration, Data Governance, Data Quality, Reconciliation, Chart of Accounts, Financial Data Structures, Reporting Development, Calculated Fields, ERP Data, Finance Transformation

Capability Keywords:
SME Leadership, Data Stewardship, Cross Functional Collaboration, Optimisation, Stakeholder Management, Financial Systems, Enterprise Platform Data, Data lead, Workday Data Lead, Workday Data Consultant

Contract / Additional Details

• Contract: Outside IR35 
• Location: Remote (UK) with occasional onsite in London
• Rate: Competitive
• Start: ASAP
• Duration: 6+ months with strong potential to extend. I am expecting 12-18 months
• Working Pattern: Primarily remote with planned onsite workshops