Senior People Technology Specialist

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals.

Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years.

As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be. Our footprint is extensive and committed across the world’s largest markets, key financial centres and major growth hubs.

At our best tackling complexity and navigating change, we work alongside you on demanding litigation, exacting regulatory work and complex public and private market transactions. We are recognised as leading in these areas.

We are immersed in the sectors and challenges that impact you. We are recognised as standing apart in energy, infrastructure and resources. And we’re focused on areas of growth that affect every business across the world.

All of this is achieved by supporting the growth of our people, who help us deliver on our ambition – which is to help you achieve yours.

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer: Your goals. Our ambition

The Opportunity

Primary Responsibilities:

• Act as a senior Workday subject matter expert within the global People Technology team, providing technical leadership across active Workday modules.
• Lead the design, configuration and delivery of complex system enhancements, optimisation initiatives and large-scale People Technology projects, ensuring alignment with business objectives, governance standards and best practices.
• Serve as the technical lead for Workday projects and enhancements, owning solution design, impact assessments, configuration approach and delivery outcomes.
• Lead testing activities for projects and system changes, including the development of test strategies, scenarios and scripts, whilst ensuring successful execution by business SMEs.
• Partner with senior People, IT and business stakeholders to understand strategic priorities and translate them into scalable technical solutions that drive automation, simplification and self-service.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships across People, Technology and the wider business, acting as a key advisor on People Technology solutions and capabilities.
• Contribute to the development and prioritisation of the People Technology roadmap, identifying opportunities to enhance processes, improve user experience and maximise value from the Workday platform.
• Act as the escalation point for complex issues, leading troubleshooting, root cause analysis and resolution activities across the People Technology estate.
• Partner with internal Technology teams to assess downstream impacts, manage dependencies and support successful delivery of system changes.
• Develop and maintain custom reports, calculated fields and dashboards to support operational and business needs.
• Provide oversight and guidance on Workday security, governance and data integrity controls.
• Develop and maintain training materials, knowledge articles and user guidance to strengthen Workday capability across the firm.
• Mentor and support People Technology team members, promoting best practices and helping to build technical capability across the team.
• Proactively seek opportunities to leverage new Workday functionality, industry best practices and Workday Community resources to improve platform effectiveness.
• Lead the evaluation of bi-annual Workday releases, assessing new functionality, coordinating regression testing and communicating relevant impacts and opportunities to stakeholders.

Qualifications, skills and experience

• Minimum of 3 years' experience supporting, configuring and optimising Workday.
• Strong practical expertise in Workday Core HCM and Recruitment and at least two additional Workday modules such as Compensation, Advanced Compensation, Talent & Performance, Peakon, Time Tracking, Benefits or Payroll.
• Demonstrable experience leading large-scale Workday optimisation projects and complex system enhancements from requirements gathering through to configuration, testing and deployment.
• Strong understanding of Workday reporting, calculated fields and dashboard development.
• Experience analysing business requirements and translating them into scalable, sustainable system solutions.
• Strong understanding of HR processes, data governance and the practical application of technology to improve operational effectiveness.
• Experience working with Workday security concepts and role-based access controls.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with experience engaging and influencing senior business leaders and balancing competing priorities.
• Strong organisational skills, with experience operating incident and service management processes.
• Proven ability to mentor, coach and develop less experienced team members.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on identifying root causes and delivering sustainable solutions.
• Clear and confident communicator, capable of engaging effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences across global teams.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel.
• Ability to thrive in a global, fast-paced and often virtual working environment

Team

People

Working Pattern

Full time

Location

London

Contract type

Fixed Term Contract

Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to attracting people from all backgrounds and creating a respectful and inclusive culture where everyone thrives. We see this as essential to our success, including our ability to innovate and achieve sustained high performance. This is a key part of our Values—Human, Bold, and Outstanding.