Principal Consultant - HCM

We are seeking a Principal Consultant - HCM to lead the business and functional design of Workday implementation projects from end to end, centered on Workday HCM and including integration with Workday FIN and surrounding systems.

As a senior 'trusted advisor,' you will work hand in hand with the Engagement Manager (EM), who manages the overall project and owns the customer relationship, to bring multiple workstreams together and build trust with the customer's HR and IT leaders to lead the project to success.

This is not a role that focuses solely on management or progress tracking. Even as a leader, you will personally handle the detailing of requirements and the design, hands-on. In the configuration and implementation phases onward, you will lead lower-grade consultants, mentoring and coaching them as you drive the work forward, and step in yourself when needed to set an example.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the business and functional design of large, complex, multi-workstream projects, centered on Workday HCM and including integration with Workday FIN and surrounding systems, and take responsibility for the quality of the project as a whole.
• Lead your areas of responsibility, including Core HCM and Performance Management, and ensure the quality of design, build, and testing.
• Personally handle requirements detailing and design (including reports, security, workflow, and organizations).
• For tasks from configuration and implementation onward (configuration and implementation, testing, issue and incident resolution, and so on), lead lower-grade consultants, driving the work forward through mentoring and coaching. Step in hands-on when needed to set an example.
• Work with the Engagement Manager (EM), who manages the overall project and owns the customer relationship, sharing scope, schedule, issues, and risks to deliver with high customer satisfaction.
• Lead negotiations with a broad range of customer stakeholders, from front-line staff to HR leaders (such as the CHRO) and IT leaders (such as the CIO), and drive the project's direction and key decisions.
• Organize customers' business requirements and translate them into the optimal Workday configuration, taking into account Japanese HR systems and operations.
• In requirements definition and fit & gap discussions, present customers with alternatives and decision-making input based on Workday's standard functionality and best practices.
• Support the launch of new implementation partners.
• Provide advisory to existing implementation partners on implementation projects.
• Support discussions with new software alliance partners on system-to-system integration, from the perspective of the division of business domains and the system architecture.
• Communicate with and build trust among people at every level of these partner companies, from front-line staff to senior management.
• Develop and mentor junior and mid-level consultants and architects to raise the delivery capability of the whole team.
• Participate in the proposal phase, supporting scope design, effort estimation, and team structure proposals.
• Support customers' adoption and continuous improvement after go-live through Advisory Services.
• Actively exchange information with global colleagues and apply cutting-edge use cases, product knowledge, and methodologies to domestic projects.
• Contribute to the organization by developing internal methodologies and templates and sharing knowledge.
• Take part in launching new implementation services, such as an implementation practice for AI Agent products.
• Act as a role model for colleagues, sharing best practices and insights.

Basic qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in HR system implementation projects, or equivalent experience.
• Experience in requirement definition and design, as well as configuration and implementation phases.
• Experience in leading a team of 5+ members for 6+ months in implementation projects.
• Experience with Workday or equivalent cloud HCM systems.
• Ability to obtain Workday core HR product introduction qualification and HR evaluation and talent management product introduction qualification within 3 months of joining.