Solution Architect – Global Payroll & Workday

Solution Architect – Global Payroll & Workday

Contract: Initial 6 months

Rate: inside I35

Location: Reading or Dublin

Working arrangement: Hybrid – 2 days onsite per week

The opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Solution Architect to support the design and delivery of enterprise-scale solutions across global payroll, Workday, reward and workforce technology.

This is a delivery-focused architecture role requiring strong payroll domain expertise, technical leadership and the ability to translate complex business, regulatory and operational requirements into secure, scalable and maintainable solutions.

You will work closely with business stakeholders, product and platform teams, domain architects, vendors and delivery partners to ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture principles and deliver measurable business value.

A key focus will be enabling global payroll capabilities, integrating multiple payroll providers and supporting evolving European pay transparency and compensation reporting requirements.

Key responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end solution architecture and design across global payroll, Workday, reward and HR technology platforms.
• Translate business, functional and non-functional requirements into robust solution designs.
• Design global payroll integration architectures supporting multiple countries, payroll providers and legislative jurisdictions.
• Define common global payroll templates and operating models while accommodating country-specific requirements.
• Architect integrations between Workday HCM, Workday Compensation, external payroll platforms and enterprise data environments.
• Support payroll transformation programmes, including vendor consolidation, platform replacement and country migrations.
• Design secure data ingestion, transformation, standardisation and harmonisation processes for payroll and workforce data.
• Support EU Pay Transparency requirements, including pay gap reporting, employee information requests, pay equity analysis and regulatory disclosures.
• Define data models and reporting solutions across payroll, compensation, reward and workforce information.
• Ensure appropriate security, GDPR, auditability, data retention, data quality and governance controls are incorporated into solution designs.
• Lead architectural governance, review technical designs and ensure alignment with established architecture principles and standards.
• Evaluate solution options, document architectural decisions, assess trade-offs and identify technical risks.
• Provide technical assurance throughout delivery, testing, implementation and operational handover.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders, vendors and multidisciplinary technology teams to ensure successful delivery.

Essential experience

• At least 8 years of experience in technology, including 5 or more years in solution architecture and enterprise-scale solution delivery.
• Proven experience designing and delivering global or multi-country payroll solutions .
• Strong understanding of end-to-end payroll processes, including gross-to-net calculations, taxation, statutory deductions, pensions, benefits, payroll controls and reconciliation.
• Experience with payroll transformation, provider integrations, platform replacement or country-by-country migration programmes.
• Workday HCM and Workday Compensation architecture experience, ideally including Workday Prism and enterprise data hub patterns.
• Experience integrating Workday or other HR platforms with multiple external payroll providers.
• Strong integration and data architecture knowledge, including secure file transfer, SFTP, encryption, batch processing, ETL and data transformation.
• Experience designing payroll finance integrations covering payroll journals, costing, accruals, reconciliation and General Ledger posting.
• Understanding of EU Pay Transparency requirements and their implications for compensation reporting, pay equity analysis and workforce data.
• Strong knowledge of GDPR, sensitive employee data security, access controls, audit requirements and data governance.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex architectural decisions to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience across the systems development lifecycle, from requirements and design through delivery assurance and operational handover.

Desirable experience

• Experience delivering enterprise cloud payroll transformations within a large multinational organisation.
• Experience working with multiple European payroll providers and payroll outsourcing partners.
• Knowledge of pay analytics and compensation reporting platforms, ideally including PayAnalytics.
• Experience supporting phased deployments across multiple countries and legal entities.
• Previous experience in retail, fashion or another complex multinational environment.
• Familiarity with TOGAF or other recognised architecture frameworks.
• Experience providing technical leadership and guidance to architects, engineers and delivery teams.