Workday Payroll Associate Manager

About the role

Kainos is seeking a Workday Payroll Associate Manager to join its team and help deliver enterprise-level Workday implementations for customers across global markets. The role centers on configuring payroll solutions, developing strong client partnerships, and ensuring the final solution matches business needs while remaining practical and commercially sound.

In this position, you will also guide customers with clear, relevant advice, take time to understand their operating model and requirements, and support junior colleagues by sharing your expertise and helping them grow. The company emphasizes a people-first environment where collaboration, innovation, and individual contribution are valued.

Minimum requirements

• 2 to 3 years of hands-on Workday Payroll implementation experience.
• At least 2 years of Workday Payroll end-to-end configuration experience within the most recent 3 years.
• Workday United States Payroll certification.
• Capability to design and build complex payroll calculations.
• Experience handling multiple positions.
• Experience working with multiple FEINs.

Role responsibilities and expectations

The associate manager will contribute to payroll delivery, customer advisory work, and internal team support across Workday services. The role requires a strong command of payroll rules, implementation detail, customer communication, and broader commercial awareness.

US-specific knowledge

• Good understanding of state tax, local tax, and FLSA calculation rules.

Additional knowledge and experience

• Working knowledge of Workday Payroll, US Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence, including how these areas connect with Benefits and other cross-functional capabilities.
• Experience with payroll compliance topics such as taxation, garnishments, common pay master, retirement benefits such as 401(k), payroll processing, unions or collective bargaining agreements, and payroll accounting.
• Ability to build trusted customer relationships, understand expectations, and judge when to push back, escalate, or exceed requirements to deliver the right outcome.
• Strong communication skills for working with customers and colleagues, including in a remote environment, along with confidence presenting formally to senior client stakeholders.
• Solid commercial awareness and an understanding of project and business dynamics.
• Broad awareness of business and technology trends in human resource management, financials, enterprise resource planning, or payroll.
• Ability to work under tight deadlines and make balanced decisions when customer needs and business priorities compete.
• Comfort in building and maintaining external professional contacts.
• Strong consulting ability, including presenting, facilitating workshops, demonstrating solutions, and explaining complex functionality.
• Willingness to contribute to internal PATT team discussions and assist wherever needed.
• Readiness to act as a role model, mentor others, and potentially line-manage junior consultants.
• Willingness to support AMS with subject-matter questions.
• Interest in improving tools and processes to strengthen the practice.
• Understanding of utilization targets within a services organization and why they matter.
• Flexibility to rotate across different Workday delivery services.
• Ability to travel to customer sites within the same region if needed, with minimal travel outside the region possible.

Preferred qualifications

• Workday United States Payroll certification is specifically preferred and required for the role.
• Professional credentials in payroll, such as Certified Payroll Professional (CPP), are an advantage.
• Experience supporting post-deployment services is desirable.

Inclusion and support

Kainos states that it values diversity, equity, and inclusion and aims to create a workplace where people from all backgrounds can succeed. The hiring team is available to help candidates who need accommodations or adjustments during the recruitment process, and private conversations can be arranged to tailor the process to individual needs.