Workday HRIS Manager

When you join AIS, you're joining a mission-driven team that's passionate about making a difference. You'll work on projects that matter, alongside industry-leading experts, in an environment that fosters innovation, driving client success, and empowering our team to make a lasting impact. As an employee-owned company, we value collaboration, inclusivity, continuous growth, and shared success.

• Employee Ownership: Your contributions directly impact the company's success, and you share in its achievements.

• Continuous Learning: Access to resources, training, and mentorship to support your professional growth.

• Inclusive Culture: A workplace where diversity is celebrated, and everyone's voice is valued.

• Mission-Driven Work: Engage in projects that make a meaningful difference for our clients and communities.

At AIS, we're looking for more than just skills - we're looking for driven individuals who are passionate about making a difference, eager to grow, and aligned with our core principles.

• Core Knowledge & Skills: Understands network systems, cybersecurity, databases, enterprise software, project management, and IT compliance.

• Work & Complexity: Manages daily IT operations, leads small to mid-sized projects, coordinates teams, and ensures optimal use of technology assets.

• Quality & Independence: Maintains high reliability and user satisfaction; implements efficient processes and thorough documentation.

• Teamwork & Communication: Facilitates collaboration, mentors junior staff, resolves team conflicts, and communicates with stakeholders.

• Consulting & Engagement: Advises internal teams on process improvements, vendor selection, and user needs; recommends IT solutions.

The Workday HRIS Manager is responsible for the strategic ownership, governance, and day-to-day management of Workday, ensuring it is, scalable, well-integrated, and aligned with business needs. This role serves as the primary systems owner for platforms such as Workday Talent Acquisition and Core HR.

This position manages one HRIS Specialist based in India and acts as the central point of coordination for external consulting and implementation partners engaged to support system development, optimization, and ongoing maintenance.

The Workday HRIS Manager partners closely with People Operations leadership, Talent Acquisition, Finance, IT, and business stakeholders to deliver reliable, compliant, and user-friendly people systems that support the full employee lifecycle.

Position will be DC metro, and would need to be onsite in Reston 3 days a week'

Workday Ownership & Strategy

• Serve as the system owner for Workday (HCM, Recruiting, Talent, and related modules).

• Define and maintain the People Systems roadmap, aligning platform capabilities with People Operations strategy, organizational growth, and regulatory requirements.

• Evaluate, recommend, and implement new tools or enhancements to improve efficiency, data integrity, and employee experience.

• Establish and enforce system governance, change management, and release management practices.

System Configuration, Optimization & Support

• Oversee system configuration, business process frameworks, security roles, integrations, and reporting.

• Ensure systems support end-to-end People Operations processes including hiring, onboarding, employee data management, performance, compensation, and offboarding.

• Partner with IT to ensure system availability, data security, access controls, and integration reliability.

• Lead testing, validation, and deployment of system updates, enhancements, and new functionality.

• Ensure accurate documentation of system configurations, workflows, and standard operating procedures.

Team Leadership & Development

• Directly manage and mentor one HRIS Specialist located in India, providing clear priorities, performance expectations, and professional development.

• Assign work, review deliverables, and ensure timely resolution of system requests, issues, and enhancements.

• Build scalable processes that enable effective global collaboration across time zones.

Vendor & Consulting Partner Management

• Act as the primary point of contact for external HRIS consultants and partners.

• Manage vendor relationships, scopes of work, timelines, and deliverables.

• Ensure consulting partners align with internal standards, security requirements, and long-term system strategy.

• Oversee implementation projects, upgrades, and optimization initiatives to successful completion.

Reporting, Data & Compliance

• Ensure data accuracy, integrity, and consistency across all People Operations systems.

• Partner with stakeholders to deliver dashboards, reports, and analytics that support business and people decision-making.

• Support compliance with applicable labor laws, data privacy regulations, and internal audit requirements.

• Partner with Legal, IT, and Security teams on audits, risk assessments, and system controls.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to People Operations leaders, Talent Acquisition, Payroll, Finance, and IT.

• Translate business requirements into system solutions and process improvements.

• Provide training, guidance, and change support to system users across the organization.

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Information Systems, Business, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

• Strong hands-on experience with Workday, including configuration, business process frameworks, security, integrations and reporting.

• Proven experience working with external consultants or implementation partners.

• Strong understanding of People Operations processes across the employee lifecycle.

• Ability to translate business needs into scalable, system-based solutions.

• Excellent project management, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.

• Workday certifications (HCM, Recruiting, Integrations, Reporting, or Security).

• Experience supporting mid-to-large, growing organizations.

• Familiarity with SharePoint, document management, and collaboration platforms.

• Experience with system integrations, data governance, and analytics tools.

• Exposure to multi-country HR data and compliance requirements.

Why This Role Matters

This role is critical to ensuring People Operations systems are reliable, compliant, scalable, and user-centric. The Workday HRIS Manager enables the People team to focus on strategy and service delivery-while ensuring the underlying technology operates with excellence.

Applied Information Sciences does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis. Employment decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs.