Workday HRIS Specialist

Azelis is a leading global innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, operating in 65+ countries with a strong presence across the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Through our diverse portfolio, technical expertise, and commitment to sustainability, we partner with customers and principals to deliver innovative solutions across markets including CASE, personal care, food & nutrition, pharma, and agriculture. Guided by our purpose—Innovation through formulation—and values of entrepreneurship, creativity, and partnership, Azelis Americas continues to be a growth engine for the group and a trusted leader in specialty distribution.

Purpose statement 

To own the functional lifecycle, continuous improvement and effective use of assigned Workday product areas, ensuring they remain reliable, scalable, well governed and aligned with Azelis' global HR processes and business needs. 

The Workday Product Owner translates HR and business requirements into practical system solutions, manages the product backlog and priorities, safeguards configuration and data quality, and partners with Group HR, Regional HR, IT, vendors and other Product Owners to deliver an effective employee, manager and HR user experience. 

Product ownership is capability-based rather than permanently tied to a specific Workday module. Product assignments may rotate over time based on business priorities, team capacity, development needs and the overall HRIS operating model.

Key accountabilities 

Product Ownership & Governance 

• Act as the functional owner for assigned Workday product areas and related HR technology capabilities within the agreed global HRIS landscape. 

• Maintain the product vision, backlog, priorities and improvement roadmap in alignment with the Global HRIS strategy. 

• Prioritise enhancements, defects and continuous improvement opportunities based on business value, user impact, risk and delivery capacity. 

• Ensure product decisions align with global HR policies, process standards, data governance, security principles and the agreed HRIS architecture. 

• Maintain appropriate primary and secondary product coverage across the team to support continuity when ownership rotates. 

Functional Solution & Configuration 

• Partner with Group and Regional HR stakeholders to understand needs, challenge requirements constructively and identify scalable solutions. 

• Translate business requirements into clear functional specifications, process designs, acceptance criteria and configuration approaches. 

• Evaluate solution options and balance global standardisation with legitimate local business or regulatory requirements. 

• Lead or perform functional configuration for approved Workday enhancements and process changes. 

• Assess cross-product, reporting, integration, security and data impacts before recommending changes. 

• Maintain configuration documentation, solution decisions, functional specifications and operational knowledge materials. 

Product Operations & Continuous Improvement 

• Own functional resolution of incidents, defects and service requests within assigned product areas, including root-cause analysis and corrective action. 

• Provide expert support for complex issues escalated from Regional HR, HR operations, IT or service-desk teams. 

• Monitor recurring issues and user pain points and convert appropriate findings into backlog items or process improvements. 

• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardise and automate HR processes through effective use of Workday and connected technologies. 

• Identify and manage product technical debt and recurring process or system issues, proposing sustainable solutions. 

Release, Testing & Change Management 

• Assess functional impacts of Workday releases and planned system changes and identify required configuration, testing, documentation and communications. 

• Coordinate functional testing, regression testing, user acceptance testing and business readiness for releases and enhancements. 

• Ensure changes are appropriately reviewed, approved, tested, documented and communicated before production deployment. 

• Validate post-release outcomes and coordinate resolution of defects or unexpected impacts. 

Data, Security & Integrations 

• Monitor data quality within assigned product areas and support controls that improve accuracy, completeness, consistency and timeliness. 

• Partner with reporting and analytics colleagues to ensure product structures and data support reliable workforce reporting and insights. 

• Support functional definition, testing and validation of integrations between Workday and connected business systems. 

• Apply agreed security, access and segregation-of-duties principles and support access reviews, audit requests and remediation activities. 

• Assess downstream reporting, integration and compliance impacts when product configuration, organisational structures or processes change. 

Stakeholder & Delivery Partnership 

• Build effective working relationships with Group HR, Regional HR, HR process owners, IT, reporting and analytics teams and external partners. 

• Act as a trusted product advisor, explaining system capabilities, limitations and trade-offs in practical business language. 

• Manage stakeholder expectations by communicating priorities, delivery status, risks, dependencies and decisions clearly. 

• Lead or contribute to assigned HRIS workstreams within global projects, acquisitions, organisational changes and transformation initiatives. 

• Work with vendors and implementation partners to resolve issues and deliver agreed outcomes, ensuring clear requirements, acceptance criteria and knowledge transfer. 

• Support user adoption through practical guidance, knowledge materials and training where relevant. 

Team & Collaboration Responsibilities 

• Provide secondary coverage for other Product Owners and support smooth handover when product ownership rotates. 

• Share functional knowledge, reusable solutions and lessons learned across the Global HRIS team. 

• Contribute to common HRIS standards, templates, governance and ways of working. 

• Actively contribute to team planning, prioritization, problem solving and operational resilience. 

Skills 

Leadership & Core Skills 

• Product ownership mindset with the ability to balance user needs, business value, risk, technical constraints and global consistency. 

• Strong stakeholder management, influencing and facilitation capability across functions, regions and cultures. 

• Structured problem-solving, sound judgement and attention to detail. 

• Clear communication and ability to translate technical topics into practical business language. 

• Customer focus, accountability, ownership and continuous improvement mindset. 

• Ability to manage competing priorities in a global, multi-time-zone environment. 

• High integrity and discretion when handling sensitive employee information. 

• Collaborative mindset and willingness to rotate ownership and provide cross-product support. 

Technical & Functional Skills 

• Strong hands-on functional experience with Workday HCM configuration and business processes. 

• Product backlog management, requirements analysis, process design and functional solution design. 

• System testing, release management, change control and deployment practices. 

• HR data governance, data quality and audit controls. 

• Understanding of Workday security, role-based access and segregation-of-duties principles. 

• HR system integrations and downstream reporting or data impact assessment. 

• Incident investigation, root-cause analysis and functional issue resolution. 

• User support, training and knowledge management capability. 

• Project delivery and vendor or implementation partner coordination. 

Key requirements 

• Education / Qualifications - Bachelor's or master's degree in Human Resources, Information Systems, Business Administration or a related discipline. 

• Experience - At least 5 years of progressive experience in HRIS, HR technology, Workday or HR process roles, preferably within an international organisation. 

• Workday Expertise - Proven hands-on functional experience with Workday HCM, including configuration, business processes, testing and production support. 

• Functional Delivery - Proven ability to translate business requirements into practical system solutions and successfully deliver enhancements from analysis through deployment. 

• Product Ownership - Experience managing a product, capability, application area or functional domain through prioritisation, backlog management, continuous improvement and stakeholder engagement. 

• Data & Technology - Experience working with HR data, integrations, security, reporting, release management and system governance. 

• Stakeholder & Project Delivery - Ability to manage multiple priorities and work effectively with Group HR, Regional HR, IT and external partners. 

• Global Mindset - Experience working across countries, cultures and time zones, with the ability to distinguish global standards from genuine local requirements. 

• Language Skills - Fluent in English. 

Key performance indicators 

• Product stability and effective resolution of functional HRIS incidents and requests. 

• Quality and timely delivery of approved product enhancements, releases and project workstreams. 

• Product backlog health, including clear prioritisation, ageing and resolution of recurring issues. 

• HR data quality, completeness and integrity within assigned product areas. 

• User adoption and stakeholder satisfaction with Workday processes and functionality. 

• Compliance with HRIS governance, security, privacy and change-control requirements. 

• Continuous improvement, simplification, standardisation and automation achieved through HR technology.