Workday Financials Lead - Information Technology Services, Modernization Program

The Department of Information Technology Services at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for a remote Workday Financials Lead.

About the Opportunity

The Workday Financials Lead provides functional leadership for the design, implementation, and stabilization of Workday Financial Management as part of an integrated enterprise ecosystem that includes Workday HCM, Payroll, Adaptive Planning, the Huron Research Suite, external State financial systems, and a planned subsequent implementation of Workday Student.

This role is responsible for ensuring that Workday Financials functions as the institution's financial system of record while supporting complex sponsored research administration, state reporting and compliance requirements, and future student-related financial integration. The Workday Financials Lead plays a critical role in defining integration patterns, data ownership, and governance across systems while maintaining auditability, scalability, and long-term sustainability.

This role operates in a multi-system environment and requires comfort designing and governing financial processes across Workday, research administration platforms, and external state systems, with an emphasis on long-term scalability and future implementation phases.

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year or more based on years of service (employee leave)
• 18 sick days per year (for when you're ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family's, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ's.
• Wellness programs

What You'll Do

Workday Financials Functional Leadership

• Lead the end-to-end functional design and configuration of Workday Financial Management, including:
  • General Ledger and Foundation Data Model (FDM)
  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Asset Management
  • Expenses
  • Procurement and Supplier Accounts
  • Banking, Cash, and Settlement
  • Grants-adjacent financial processes (in coordination with Research Administration)
• Define and enforce financial business processes that balance institutional consistency with unit-level operational needs.
• Ensure financial design supports R1-specific complexity such as restricted funds, sponsored awards, cost sharing, auxiliaries, capital projects, and multi-entity reporting.

Cross-Module and Cross-Functional Integration

• Serve as the primary Finance counterpart to HCM, Payroll, Adaptive Planning, Student, and Research Administration leads.
• Ensure alignment between financial and HCM data structures (e.g., cost centers, positions, workers, supervisory organizations).
• Partner with Adaptive Planning leads to ensure accurate financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.
• Collaborate with integration and data teams to ensure accurate, timely, and secure data flows between Workday and downstream/upstream systems (e.g., banks, research systems, student systems, reporting platforms).
• Act as Finance lead for enterprise integration design, partnering closely with:
• Workday Integrations and Security teams
• Research Administration systems teams (Huron Research Suite)
• State system technical and functional counterparts
• Participate in defining enterprise data governance, master data ownership, and reconciliation strategies across Workday, Huron, and state systems.
• Ensure financial data supports institutional reporting, analytics, and audit needs across platforms.

Research Administration & Huron Research Suite Integration

• Serve as the primary Finance functional partner for integration with the Huron Research Suite, including alignment of:
  • Award, project, and fund structures
  • Cost sharing, effort-related financial data, and expenditures
  • Financial transactions and balances required for sponsored research reporting
• Collaborate with Research Administration, Sponsored Programs, and IT to define clear system-of-record boundaries between Workday Financials and Huron.
• Ensure financial configurations and business processes support federal and sponsor compliance requirements while minimizing manual reconciliation.

State Financial System Integration

• Lead financial design decisions that accommodate integration with the State financial system, including:
  • Chart of accounts and reporting alignment
  • Transaction interfaces, balances, and reconciliations
  • State-mandated controls, reporting cycles, and compliance requirement
• Partner with central finance, compliance, and state oversight entities to ensure Workday Financials meets statutory and regulatory obligations.
• Support testing and validation of state interfaces and reporting during implementation and post-go-live stabilization.

Future Workday Student Readiness

• Design Workday Financials with future Workday Student implementation in mind, ensuring:
  • Financial structures support student financials, billing, and receivables
  • Alignment with future student-related integrations and data flows
  • Avoidance of design decisions that would constrain or require rework during the Student implementation
• Partner with Student, Finance, and IT stakeholders to document dependencies and assumptions for the future Student phase.

Governance, Controls, and Compliance

• Design financial controls, approval hierarchies, and audit-ready processes that meet internal policy and external regulatory requirements.
• Partner with Internal Audit, Compliance, Sponsored Programs, and Treasury to ensure Workday Financials supports federal, state, and sponsor requirements.
• Define security roles and segregation-of-duties controls in collaboration with Workday Security and IT teams.

Implementation Execution

• Act as the functional owner for Workday Financials during implementation, including:
  • Requirements validation
  • Configuration decisions
  • Data conversion strategy and validation
  • Testing strategy (unit, end-to-end, parallel, and UAT)
  • Cutover planning and go-live readiness
• Serve as the primary liaison to the system integrator for Financials-related workstreams.
• Identify and manage functional risks, issues, and dependencies.

Change Management and Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with Organizational Change Management (OCM) team to support adoption across Finance and distributed business offices.
• Translate technical and functional concepts into clear, actionable guidance for finance leaders, central offices, and departments.
• Support training strategy, curriculum design, and end-user readiness.

Post-Go-Live Readiness and Sustainability

• Define the future-state Workday Financials support model, including tiered support, decision rights, and escalation paths.
• Establish standards for configuration governance, enhancements, and Workday releases.
• Mentor and develop internal Finance and systems staff to ensure long-term institutional ownership.

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of progressive experience in financial systems, ERP implementations, or financial operations within a large, R1 higher education institution.
• Hands-on experience leading or significantly contributing to a Workday Financial Management implementation.
• Hands-on experience with Workday FDM design.
• Deep understanding of core financial processes and controls.
• Experience operating in a matrixed, highly governed environment with diverse stakeholders.
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All qualifications must be met by the time of employment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in higher education, research universities, or other complex, fund-accounting environments.
• Experience with Workday Adaptive Planning.
• Knowledge of sponsored research financial management and compliance.
• Prior experience working with external system integrators.
• Experience integrating Workday Financial Management with:
  • Research administration systems (e.g., Huron Research Suite, Cayuse, Kuali)
  • State or external governmental financial systems
• Experience supporting or preparing for a phased Workday implementation strategy (e.g., Financials/HCM first, Student later).
• Familiarity with R1 sponsored research compliance, fund accounting, and multi-system financial environments.
• Workday Financial Management certification(s).
• CPA, MBA, or similar advanced credential.

Key Competencies

• Enterprise-level financial systems thinking
• Strong facilitation and decision-making skills
• Ability to balance standardization with institutional nuance
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Change leadership and stakeholder management
• Analytical and problem-solving mindset

West Virginia University is a place of purpose and community. We take pride in our profound impact on the state of West Virginia and are committed to the personal and professional growth of our employees.

From the groundbreaking R1 research at our flagship campus in Morgantown to the career-oriented programs at WVU Potomac State in Keyser, and the technology-intensive programs at WVU Tech in Beckley, the contributions of WVU employees resonate across the state, touching lives and shaping futures.

At WVU, you will discover a supportive community that champions work-life balance and fosters a collaborative atmosphere. Our core values - service, curiosity, respect, accountability and appreciation - unite us as Mountaineers.

Join us at West Virginia University, where your work will make a lasting impact. To learn more about WVU, visit wvu.edu.

West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We invite all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or Veteran status.