Business Systems Analyst, Payroll Systems

Overview

This role supports People and Finance Systems, helping automate manual processes, continuously optimize workflows, provide first-class support, and build solutions that enable scale and execution of business partners’ strategies and initiatives.

Reporting to the Finance Systems Lead, this position streamlines, secures, and optimizes Payroll, Planning, and Absence management processes through the Workday platform. The role partners with Payroll, Finance, and Total Rewards teams to gather, analyze, and document business requirements, translate requirements into technical specifications, ensure alignment with IT security standards, and implement solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead project management
  • Build and maintain project timelines, milestones, and dependency maps
  • Develop and manage RACI matrices to clarify ownership across stakeholders
  • Facilitate status meetings, track action items, and keep workstreams on schedule
  • Maintain project artifacts including charters, decision logs, and meeting notes
  • Proactively surface risks, blockers, and scope changes to leadership
• Gather and analyze business requirements with the Payroll, Finance, and Total Rewards teams
  • Understand business needs, pain points, and desired outcomes
• Document and prioritize business requirements
  • Document requirements clearly
  • Create user stories and use cases
  • Assess prioritization based on business impact, ease of delivery, ROI, and compliance
• Design solutions
  • Translate business requirements into technical specifications
  • Consider best-practice configuration options and, when needed, customizations/enhancements
• Implement solutions
  • Work with IT to develop, test, and deploy solutions
  • Coordinate with business teams to test solutions and confirm alignment with desired business outcomes
• Manage demand and projects
  • Prioritize demand
  • Create project plans
  • Monitor and communicate progress throughout the project lifecycle
• Collaborate across technical and non-technical stakeholders
  • Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences
  • Explain technical capabilities to business teams
  • Translate business requirements to technical teams
• Stay up to date with technology trends in the Workday ecosystem
  • Continuously learn new features and recommend potential enhancements to the system

Requirements

• Workday and payroll expertise
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience configuring Workday, including business processes, reporting, security, integrations, and related tools
  • Payroll application design and implementation experience in a rapidly scaling organization
  • Deep knowledge of Payroll and Absence Management processes
• Automation and AI mindset
  • Ability to identify manual, repetitive, error-prone, or low-value work and translate it into scalable automation, workflow, analytics, or AI-enabled improvement opportunities
  • Strong preference for experience evaluating use cases through business value, feasibility, data readiness, risk, compliance, and measurable outcomes
• Solution design and delivery discipline
  • Ability to turn complex and ambiguous business needs into clear, actionable requirements, user stories, technical specifications, test plans, and implementation roadmaps
  • Experience with Agile delivery methods, demand management, project planning, and change adoption
• Risk, security, and data stewardship
  • Strong understanding of enterprise data management, security, privacy, auditability, and compliance considerations for employee and payroll data
  • Ability to apply appropriate controls and human review to automated or AI-supported processes
• Partnership and communication
  • Strong analytical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills
  • Ability to build trusted partnerships across Payroll, Finance, Total Rewards, and IT
  • Comfortable explaining technical capabilities, trade-offs, and business outcomes to non-technical audiences

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation

• The Redwood City, CA base pay range for a new hire is $124,000–$176,675.
• New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range.
• Actual placement is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process.
• Pay ranges outside Redwood City, CA are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. A recruiter can share the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

Benefits

• Generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions
• Annual benefit for employees that can be used meaningfully for them and their families (e.g., housing, student loan repayment, childcare, commuter costs, or other life needs)
• Life of Service Gifts awarded to employees
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice
• Funding for select family-forming benefits
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving to the Bay Area

Location

Remote position.

Additional Information

If your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with every qualification, you are encouraged to apply as you may be a strong fit for this role or another position.