Senior Level Senior Solution Architect Jobs

Job: Workday Solution Architect

Location: Hercules, CA (Onsite)

Type: Long Term Contract
Experience Level: Senior / Expert (12+ years in HRIS/HR Technology, including 5+ years in Workday Architecture)
Function: HR Technology / Digital Transformation

We are seeking an experienced Workday Solution Architect to lead a strategic assessment of migrating from SAP SuccessFactors to Workday. This role will evaluate the feasibility, business value, technical complexity, risks, and long-term implications of the proposed transformation across the enterprise HR technology landscape. The architect will assess existing HR applications, business processes, integrations, data architecture, security, reporting, and third-party platforms to define future-state architecture options and a practical implementation roadmap. The role requires deep expertise in both SuccessFactors and Workday, strong enterprise integration capabilities, and the ability to translate complex technical findings into actionable business recommendations for senior leadership.

Key Responsibilities

- Current-State Assessment: Analyze the existing SuccessFactors landscape, including Employee Central, Compensation, Performance, Goals, Succession, Calibration, Reporting, and Learning, along with connected HR applications and integrations.
- Fit-Gap Analysis: Evaluate existing HR processes against Workday HCM, Talent, Compensation, Performance, and Reporting capabilities, identifying functional gaps, customization requirements, and opportunities for process standardization.
- Solution Architecture: Develop future-state architecture options, defining application boundaries, integration patterns, technology dependencies, and opportunities to simplify the HR technology ecosystem.
- Integration Strategy: Assess existing interfaces and classify them as retain, rebuild, or retire. Define the target integration architecture using Workday integration tools, enterprise middleware, APIs, and appropriate integration technologies.
- Third-Party Application Assessment: Evaluate the impact of migration on payroll, time and attendance, recruiting, onboarding, Learning, and other connected platforms, recommending which applications to retain, replace, or integrate.
- Data Migration & Governance: Define the migration strategy for employee data, historical and effective-dated records, data cleansing, archival, retention, reconciliation, and validation.
- Security & Compliance: Assess role-based security, access controls, data privacy, GDPR, data residency, auditability, and regulatory requirements, including validated-system considerations where applicable.
- Business Case & TCO Analysis: Develop comparative assessments covering implementation costs, licensing, integration, ongoing support, resource requirements, timelines, risks, and five-year total cost of ownership (TCO).
- Risk & Feasibility Assessment: Develop a weighted evaluation framework, risk register, dependency analysis, and go/no-go recommendation supported by business and technical evidence.
- Transformation Roadmap: Establish a phased implementation roadmap aligned with contract renewal dates, business-critical periods, organizational priorities, and other transformation initiatives.
- Program Governance: Recommend appropriate governance, testing, validation, change management, stakeholder engagement, and implementation assurance strategies.
- Executive Stakeholder Management: Present architecture options, trade-offs, business benefits, investment requirements, and recommendations to HR, IT, Finance, and executive leadership.
- Technical Leadership: Collaborate with internal HRIS teams, integration specialists, vendors, and system integrators while providing architectural guidance and mentoring throughout the assessment.

Required Qualifications & Experience

- 12+ years of experience in HRIS, HR technology, enterprise applications, or digital transformation, including at least 5 years in Workday solution architecture.
- Proven experience in global, multi-country Workday HCM implementations, transformations, or migrations.
- Multiple full-cycle Workday implementations, preferably involving migration from SAP SuccessFactors.
- Strong hands-on knowledge of SAP SuccessFactors, including Employee Central, Compensation, Performance and Goals, Succession, Calibration, and Learning.
- Deep understanding of Workday HCM, Talent Management, Compensation, Performance, Reporting, and Analytics capabilities.
- Extensive experience in enterprise integration architecture, including Workday integration tools, middleware platforms, REST/SOAP APIs, and third-party system connectivity.
- Demonstrated experience integrating HR platforms with payroll, time and attendance, recruiting, onboarding, and other enterprise applications.
- Strong knowledge of HR data migration, data quality management, historical data conversion, archival, and retention strategies.
- Experience assessing enterprise security, privacy, regulatory compliance, and validated-system requirements, including 21 CFR Part 11 where applicable.
- Proven ability to develop business cases, evaluate technology investments, perform TCO analysis, and present strategic recommendations to senior executives.
- Experience managing vendor and system integrator relationships and facilitating cross-functional stakeholder discussions.
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving, communication, presentation, and documentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications

- Workday certifications in HCM, Integrations, Payroll, or Talent Management.
- Experience leading SuccessFactors-to-Workday feasibility assessments or enterprise HR platform migrations.
- Experience with regulated industries, particularly life sciences, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, or other compliance-intensive environments.
- Familiarity with GDPR, global data residency, audit requirements, and computer system validation.
- Experience with enterprise architecture frameworks, transformation governance, and technology investment planning.

Key Deliverables

- Current-state HR technology architecture and application inventory.
- SuccessFactors-to-Workday functional fit-gap and feasibility assessment.
- Integration inventory and target-state integration architecture.
- Third-party application impact assessment and recommendations.
- HR data migration, security, privacy, and compliance strategy.
- Two to three target-state architecture options with associated trade-offs.
- Comparative implementation cost, timeline, resource, risk, and five-year TCO analysis.
- Weighted evaluation model, risk register, and executive go/no-go recommendation.
- Phased transformation roadmap and proposed governance, testing, and change management approach.
- Executive presentation outlining findings, strategic options, and the recommended path forward.

Success Criteria

Success in this role will be measured by the quality and completeness of the feasibility assessment, the credibility of the proposed architecture, the transparency of cost and risk estimates, and the ability to provide executive leadership with a clear, evidence-based recommendation for the future HR technology landscape.