Workday OPAL Product Director

This role oversees Workday Financial, Purchasing, and Optimized Planning and Analytics Layer (OPAL) operations for a large public sector environment, providing leadership across product strategy, system optimization, and cross functional team management. This is a contract position for 12 months located onsite in Philadelphia, PA. Candidates should be available on short notice and local to the area.

Note: At this time we are unable to consider third party candidates or those requiring sponsorship. US citizenship is required.

What You Will Do

• Workday Financial Management Product Strategy and Roadmap Development
• Define and maintain the Workday product roadmap in alignment with organizational goals
• Collaborate with senior leaders and stakeholders to prioritize and align Workday initiatives
• Manage the full product lifecycle from concept through delivery
• Ensure solutions meet business needs, user expectations, and regulatory requirements
  
  
  

Cross Functional Team Collaboration

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of 40 professionals across functional and technical areas
• Serve as liaison between business stakeholders and technical teams
• Translate business requirements into actionable system enhancements and configurations
• Provide strategic direction and thought leadership across Workday modules
• Develop and implement training programs to enhance team skills and expertise
• Guide best practices and change management strategies to support adoption of new features
  
  
  

Project Management and Delivery

• Lead execution of Workday projects, upgrades, and configurations
• Serve as primary point of contact for stakeholders regarding timelines and status
• Identify and mitigate risks related to project quality, timelines, and scope
• Ensure delivery of project results within required parameters
  
  
  

Optimization and Continuous Improvement

• Evaluate system performance and monitor key metrics to identify improvement opportunities
• Lead deployment of new Workday features and functionality
• Ensure effective integration of Workday with other enterprise systems
• Resolve dependencies and technical challenges as needed
  
  
  

Stakeholder Communication and Training

• Serve as subject matter expert for Workday across the organization
• Provide training and support to end users
• Communicate project status and improvements to technical and non technical audiences
• Ensure development and maintenance of training materials and documentation
  
  
  

Compliance and Security

• Ensure Workday configurations comply with regulatory requirements and internal policies
• Partner with IT and security teams to maintain data integrity and confidentiality
• Support all compliance efforts for financial and employee data
• Perform miscellaneous job related duties as assigned
  
  
  

What You Will Bring

• Deep knowledge of Workday Finance, Purchasing, and other modules
• Experience with system configuration, deployment, and post implementation support
• Strong understanding of public sector finance and purchasing regulations
• Ability to lead large cross functional teams and work with senior leaders
• Excellent project management and organizational skills
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills with a data driven approach
• Experience leading Workday product strategy in a government or large public sector organization
• Experience with Workday Studio, Workday Integration, and Workday Reporting
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities with a high attention to detail
• Customer focused mindset with commitment to service
• Adaptability to changing business needs
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Information Technology, Finance, or related field
• Minimum 10 years of experience in financial systems management with at least 5 years leading large teams
• Proven experience managing Workday implementations, optimizations, and product roadmap development
• Knowledge of public sector data privacy laws and regulations
  
  
  

Bonus Points For

• Experience with other ERP solutions
• Advanced degrees or certifications such as MBA or Workday Certification