Senior Workday Security Admin

The Talent Acquisition department hires qualified candidates to fill positions which contribute to the overall strategic success of Howard University. Hiring staff “for fit” makes significant contributions to Howard University’s overall mission.

At Howard University, we prioritize well-being and professional growth.

Here is what we offer: 

• Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus mental health support
• Work-Life Balance: PTO, paid holidays, flexible work arrangements
• Financial Wellness: Competitive salary, 403(b) with company match 
• Professional Development: Ongoing training, tuition reimbursement, and career advancement paths
• Additional Perks: Wellness programs, commuter benefits, and a vibrant company culture

Join Howard University and thrive with us! 

https://hr.howard.edu/benefits-wellness

JOB PURPOSE:

This role plays a key part in optimizing Workday’s capabilities to support student, faculty, and administrative needs, while partnering with stakeholders across functional teams to drive innovation, improve business processes, and safeguard critical data in a complex, dynamic higher education environment. Ensures robust data security and best practices are in place within Workday and across the university.  With a focus on user experience and Workday Illuminate AI (and Agentic AI), leads AI innovation through Workday Extend applications and IT developed configuration by working in collaboration with Business Units from concept to final execution; including the development, configuration, and maintenance of Workday applications in order to support business processes.  Requires creativity and expertise with the user experience to transform business requirements into designing, building, and delivering effective solutions.

SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY: 

The Senior Workday Security Administrator reports to the Workday Product Owner is vital to align development goals with organizational strategy and operational efficiency. This role may provide guidance to team members and colleagues working within the Enterprise Technology Services department. This position involves managerial and supervisory responsibilities in areas of security, access, and Workday development and works in collaboration with cross-functional teams, overseeing project-specific tasks related to Workday implementations, and ensuring adherence to timelines and quality standards is expected. The Senior Workday Security Administrator is responsible for overseeing daily tasks, providing mentorship, and ensuring alignment with Howard University's policies and objectives along with evaluating performance, ensuring the effective execution of security protocols and fostering a collaborative work environment that supports operational excellence. 

NATURE AND SCOPE:

Operating within a dynamic and fast-paced environment, this role ensures that Workday security and Workday applications that support the user experience are designed to meet business needs and maintain compliance with regulatory and auditing requirements.  Scalable solutions are designed to align with organizational goals and improve operational efficiency.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Security Configuration and Access

• Own and maintain a secure and scalable Workday security framework to include integrations, role-based security, security groups, domain security policies, and business process security policies, user provisioning (authentication policy), and proxy policy to control user access and permissions.
• Conduct regular security reviews, access audits, and recommend improvements based on findings.
• Analyze and design Workday security to ensure users have the appropriate and necessary permissions to perform their job role and functions.

Auditing and Compliance

• Comply with compliance and audit requirements by conducting regular security assessments and supporting audit readiness to ensure regulatory and privacy requirements are met.
• Provide guidance on segregation of duties (SoD) and least-privilege access principles.
• Manage the monitoring controls set up to protect sensitive institutional and personal data in compliance with FERPA, HIPAA, and other applicable regulations.
• Maintain documentation related to system configurations and processes, documenting proper internal security controls.

Development, Security, and Testing

• Collaborate stakeholders across HR, Finance, Student, and IT teams to understand business needs, to identify continuous improvement opportunities for streamlining processes and operations through Workday Illuminate AI and Agentic AI, Workday Extend and other IT developed configuration, and to translate them into scalable, secure solutions for a quality user experience.
• Oversee and lead in the full development lifecycle of Workday Extend applications and other IT developed configuration to support University priorities  – from requirement gathering to architecture, design, development, testing, and deployment, and post-implementation support.
• Ensure adherence to Workday best practices and maintain high performance and scalability of Extend apps and other IT developed configuration.
• Support functionality design, testing, and migration along with and as it relates to Workday development and security and create and update reports as operationally needed.

Adoption and Support

• Serve as the primary liaison with Workday Security community forums to stay abreast of Workday releases and functionality, product updates, best practices, changing development capabilities, evolving security trends, and emerging issues relevant to higher education.
• Adhere to and align with best practices for Workday governance, release management, and change control in pursuit of institutional goals.
• Research and recommend enhancements to maximize the capabilities of the system.

• Develop and maintain a Workday roadmap for security and IT developed solutions that is aligned with business objectives and with respect to releases, reviewing release notes, and assessing and understanding the impacts on security in the tenants.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, responsibility, collaboration, communication, and continuous improvement.
• Participate in Change Control process with functional areas to review, approve and execute change requests related to Workday applications, IT developed configurations, and Workday Security.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• A bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent experience in fields related to business administration, information technology, computer science, or software development; including 5 or more years of experience in Higher Education with Workday security and development that includes Workday Extend; minimum of 3 years technical experience with Workday related to functionality of Finance, Human Capital Management, Adaptive, and Student modules.
• Familiarity with higher education processes and best practices.
• Experience in designing, configuring, testing, and supporting functional areas, including process documentation.  
• Hands-on experience with Workday Extend, all aspects of Workday Security, Business Processes, Workday Reporting and other core Workday functionality in a higher education environment.
• Workday certifications in Extend, Security, or Integration, Business Process and Report Writer preferred.
• Familiarity with JSON, REST APIs, and strong understanding of object-oriented programming XML, XSLT, JSON, and API technologies and Workday Report Writer.
• Knowledge of ITIL, Agile, SDLC, DevOps, and CI/CD methodologies.  

• Experience supporting multiple priorities and projects concurrently. Must be able to thrive in a demanding, change-oriented, fast-paced environment.  
• Understanding project management and service life cycle concepts and practices.
• Proven experience collaborating with cross-functional Workday teams.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder engagement skills.

• Background in SOX compliance, GDPR, or other data privacy regulations, preferred.

Compliance Salary Range Disclosure

Expected Salary Range: $125,000 - $140,000