[Hiring] HRIS Workday & Data Lead @Pennylane SAS

Role Description

We are a fast-growing scale-up in the midst of an exciting international expansion. Following the successful launch of Workday as our core HCM platform, we are now looking for an HRIS Workday & Data Lead to own the post-launch journey and drive the continuous improvement of our HR tech ecosystem. This is a strategic and hands-on manager role within the HR function, working in close collaboration with IT, Finance, and Business teams. You will lead a small but high-impact team of two Workday HRIS Experts and one HR Data Analyst, ensuring our HR systems are scalable, secure, and aligned with the company's growth trajectory. You will be the go-to expert and decision-maker for everything related to Workday configuration & evolution, HR data & integrations with our HR tools – acting as a true functional project lead.

Key Responsibilities

• Team leadership & organization
  • Manage, mentor, and develop a team of 2 Workday HRIS Experts and 1 HR Data Analyst
  • Organise team work using project plans and agile sprint methodologies
  • Prioritize the team backlog based on business impact, urgency, and capacity
  • Foster a culture of documentation and knowledge sharing (Notion)
  • Ensure team members grow in expertise and are continuously upskilled on Workday releases and new features
• Workday post-launch excellence
  • Own the Workday post-go-live roadmap: continuous improvement, optimization, and adoption
  • Challenge and rechallenge existing Workday configurations: identify gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities to better leverage the platform
  • Act as the internal functional project lead: translate HR business needs into functional and technical requirements, lead solution design, UAT, and deployment
  • Stay ahead of Workday product updates and bi-annual releases; assess and implement relevant new features
  • Maintain and improve Workday security: role-based access control, data privacy, audit compliance
• Stakeholder collaboration & prioritization
  • Collaborate closely with IT, Finance, HR Leadership, Talent Acquisition and Business teams to gather needs, align on priorities, and communicate roadmap decisions
  • Facilitate prioritization workshops and steering committees with key stakeholders
  • Serve as the main point of contact between HR Operations and the broader tech organization
  • Challenge stakeholder requests and provide expert recommendations grounded in Workday best practices
• Integrations & HR Tech Ecosystem
  • Oversee and manage integrations between Workday and third-party tools (Ashby for recruiting, Silae for payroll, and others)
  • Identify opportunities to connect or improve connections with new tools as the company scales
  • Partner with IT to ensure integration architecture is robust, secure, and maintainable
  • Maintain an up-to-date map of the HR tech stack and integration landscape
• AI & automation innovation
  • Explore and assess Workday’s emerging AI and extensibility capabilities, including Workday Extend, and translate relevant use cases into a pragmatic roadmap
  • Evaluate how Sana Learn and other AI-enabled learning solutions can complement the Workday ecosystem and improve employee and manager experiences
  • Map the automation and AI tools already used at Pennylane and identify secure, scalable opportunities to connect them with Workday processes, data, and integrations
  • Lead experimentation, business-case assessment, governance, and deployment of selected AI and automation use cases in partnership with IT and relevant stakeholders
  • Build the team’s capabilities on Workday AI, automation, and extensibility through training, hands-on experimentation, documentation, and knowledge sharing
• HR Data & Analytics
  • Work with the HR Data Analyst to ensure data quality, consistency, and governance across the HR ecosystem
  • Drive the development of HR dashboards, KPIs, and reporting capabilities (headcount, attrition, workforce planning, etc.)
  • Champion a data-driven HR culture across the People team and leadership
  • Ensure compliance with data protection regulations (GDPR, etc.) across all HR data flows
• International Expansion Support
  • Support the HRIS configuration and deployment efforts tied to the company's international growth (new countries, legal entities, payroll connectors, local compliance)
  • Ensure Workday configurations scale with the organization as headcount and geographic footprint grow

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience with Workday HCM, including post-go-live ownership and functional configuration (HCM Core, Time tracking, Absence, Learning, Talent, Compensation, Peakon)
• Strong understanding of Workday security model (role-based access, domain/business process security)
• Experience acting as AMOA or functional project lead on HRIS projects: requirements gathering, solution design, change management, UAT
• Proven experience managing a team or leading a project team, with a collaborative and empowering leadership style
• Strong project management skills: ability to run sprints, manage a backlog, and deliver in an agile environment
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills – comfortable influencing without authority across IT, Finance, and HR Leadership
• Experience managing or overseeing HR system integrations (APIs, middleware, integration studio, etc.)
• Experience with AI and automation applied to Workday, HR, or Data, with the ability to assess use cases, risks, and business value
• Fluent in both French & English

Requirements

• Familiarity with tools such as Ashby (ATS), Silae (payroll), Deel (payroll), Google package
• Experience in a scale-up or high-growth environment
• Exposure to international HRIS rollouts (multi-country configurations, payroll connectors)
• Knowledge of HR data governance frameworks and GDPR compliance

Benefits

• 25 vacation days paid by Pennylane
• Competitive compensation package
• Company shares to enjoy a piece of the success story you're building with us
• Budget to turn your home into a more comfortable workspace, as well as a monthly allowance to work from a coworking space
• Access to 8000 fitness spaces in Europe and more than 300 activities related to wellness through our partner Gymlib
• Latest Apple equipment
• Remote work flexibility from your country of residence within Europe
• Regular company events such as Tech Days and annual company seminars