Why join the University of Sydney?

Join one of Australia's leading universities at a pivotal time, where technology is evolving to better support student learning, teaching excellence, and research at global scale.

ICT is central to the University's mission, delivering the platforms, services, and partnerships that enable student success, strengthen teaching, and accelerate research impact.

With strong investment and ambitious transformation underway, you'll work in a large and complex environment where your contribution will have visible, meaningful impact across the University community.

The opportunity

This is a senior leadership prospect to take ownership of the University’s HR technology ecosystem, with primary responsibility for the strategy, governance, delivery and ongoing optimisation of Workday.

You’ll lead the development of the platform roadmap and governance foundations that support Workday across HCM, Recruitment, Security, Learning, Advanced Compensation, Absence, Payroll, Integrations and Workday Extend. A key priority will be ensuring the platform is secure, scalable and effectively integrated with the University’s broader enterprise technology environment.

Working across HR, ICT, Finance and external partners, you’ll influence senior stakeholders, shape strategic initiatives and ensure the platform delivers lasting organisational value.

You’ll also lead a team of Workday Specialists, strengthening culture, capability and accountability while positioning the team to deliver operational priorities and the platform’s future roadmap.

What you'll do

- Own the strategy, governance, roadmap and end-to-end lifecycle of the University’s Workday platform environment
- Establish effective governance and operating practices across tenant management, security, releases, enhancements and service delivery.
- Oversee Workday capabilities across HCM, Recruitment, Security, Learning, Advanced Compensation, Absence, Payroll, Integrations and Workday Extend.
- Lead the integration of Workday with finance,



payroll and other enterprise applications, working closely with architecture, integration and ICT teams.
- Partner with senior stakeholders to shape priorities, support discovery and planning, and translate business needs into strategic platform outcomes.
- Manage vendors, implementation partners and augmented resources, while acting as the escalation point for complex platform and service issues.
- Lead and develop a team of Workday specialists and administrators, strengthening capability, collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.

What we're looking for

- Extensive experience owning or managing Workday within a large and complex enterprise environment.
- Broad expertise across the Workday ecosystem, including HCM and multiple functional areas such as Recruitment, Security, Learning, Absence, Payroll, Integrations and Workday Extend.
- Strong experience in platform strategy, governance, tenant management, release management, security, platform optimisation and continuous improvement.
- Deep understanding of enterprise integrations and experience connecting Workday with finance, payroll and other core business applications
- Proven people leadership experience, including coaching, performance management, workforce planning and building capability across specialist technical teams..
- A track record of creating a positive and accountable team culture, managing conflict and leading teams through change.
- Experience leading complex platform initiatives involving senior stakeholders, vendors, implementation partners and cross-functional teams.
- Strong communication, influencing and commercial skills, with experience across service delivery,



vendor management, budgets, risk and resource planning.

What's in it for you?

At the University of Sydney, staff are supported with benefits designed to enhance career development, wellbeing and work-life balance, including:

- 17% superannuation to support your financial future
- Generous parental leave entitlements
- Salary packaging options
- Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
- Career development and learning opportunities
- Health and wellbeing programs, including Fitness Passport
- Access to a vibrant, globally recognised university community

Accessibility and inclusion

University of Sydney is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment experience for all candidates.

If you require any adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process, please let us know. This may include changes to the interview format, additional time, breaks, accessible interview locations, materials in advance, or other practical support to help you participate comfortably.

Pre-employment checks

Any offer of employment will be subject to the successful completion of required pre-employment and background checks. Ongoing employment may also require you to maintain relevant clearances or checks required for the role.

To meet the University’s obligations under the National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, you may also be asked to declare whether you have been investigated for, or found to have engaged in, sexual harm or gender-based violence during previous employment or through a legal process.

Sponsorship / work rights for Australia To be eligible for this role, you must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of the appointment. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

How to apply

If you’re looking to contribute to meaningful work in a world-class university environment, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply now to join the University of Sydney.

📌 Senior Manager, HR Platforms (Workday) (Sydney)
🏢 University Of Sydney
📍 Sydney