This role requires candidates who are currently authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship. This role is remote.

Overview

We are seeking a senior-level Workday Payroll Stabilization Program Manager to lead a high-visibility post–go-live stabilization effort following a recent Workday deployment. This position is designed for a strong incident-driven PM who can bring structure, ownership, and executive-level communication to a live production environment where payroll accuracy and system integrations are actively impacting the business.

This individual will act as the central owner of stabilization governance—driving tracking, accountability, and cross-functional coordination across Payroll, HRIS, and third-party system teams. The role is heavily focused on incident management, executive reporting, and ensuring the right people are accountable for the right outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and drive the full payroll stabilization program across Workday and upstream/downstream systems

• Establish and enforce project governance, ownership models, and escalation paths (clear RACI across all workstreams)

• Build and maintain live stabilization artifacts including:

  • Error logs

  • RAID logs

  • Action item logs

  • Production incident trackers

• Lead daily/weekly stabilization calls, including:

  • Incident review sessions

  • Error log and root cause walkthroughs

  • RAID and risk mitigation discussions

• Coordinate cross-functional teams (Payroll, HRIS, IT, integrations, and third-party vendors) to ensure rapid issue resolution

• Ensure Payroll is actively included in every relevant workstream, decision, and line item

• Assign and track ownership at the individual level (actual accountable owners, not just departments)

• Drive execution discipline: due dates, dependencies, blockers, and follow-through

• Translate technical and operational issues into clear, executive-ready updates

• Provide structured executive communication including:

  • Status reporting

  • Risk and impact summaries

  • Trend analysis on errors and incidents

• Partner closely with Workday SMEs to understand issues, dependencies, and remediation paths

• Focus relentlessly on stabilization outcomes: reduced errors, improved payroll accuracy, and controlled production operations

Must-Have Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in program/project management within enterprise systems environments

• Direct experience leading post-go-live stabilization or production recovery initiatives

• Proven background managing live production incidents, ideally involving payroll or financial systems

• Strong understanding of Workday, with hands-on exposure to Payroll and/or integrations

• Demonstrated ability to build and run structured governance models (RACI, escalation paths, executive reporting)

• Exceptional organizational and tracking skills (complex issue logs, ownership frameworks, cross-team dependencies)

• Executive-level communication capability—able to confidently interface with senior leadership

• Experience coordinating internal teams and third-party vendors under operational pressure

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience in healthcare, education, or large services organizations

• Prior involvement with payroll systems, timekeeping platforms, or third-party scheduling tools

• Background in PMO, enterprise transformation, or major ERP implementations

• Familiarity with formal incident management or operational readiness frameworks

Profile of the Ideal Candidate

• Not a task-only PM — this person brings command presence

• Comfortable running high-stakes calls with executives, payroll leaders, and technical teams

• Detail-obsessed, structured, and highly accountable

• Able to impose clarity where ownership, process, and governance are currently fragmented

• Strong enough to stabilize chaos, not just document it