Lead, People Technology – Workday HCM Platform

Job Description

Associate Director, People Technology (HRIS) | Neurocrine Biosciences

The Tone:
This is a full-time role at Neurocrine Biosciences, located in San Diego, CA. The company is a leading biopharmaceutical organization focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing life-changing treatments for patients with under-addressed neurological, psychiatric, endocrine, and immunological disorders. This role is critical for leading the execution of the People Technology strategy and product roadmap, serving as the Workday platform owner, and partnering across the organization to translate workforce priorities into scalable, secure, and user-centered HR solutions.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Full-time
• Location: In-person, San Diego, CA
• Pay: $161100–$220000 yearly
• Team: Leads a People Technology team and strategic partners
• Mission: Owns the People Technology strategy and Workday HCM platform, ensuring scalable, secure, and user-centered solutions for workforce priorities.
• Tech Stack: Workday HCM, ADP, Sana from Workday, Workday AI agents, HiredScore, Paradox, Workday Learning, EIB, Core Connectors, Cloud Connect, Workday Studio, Workday Web Services, REST, SOAP, Graph APIs, RaaS, SFTP, Workday Orchestrate, Workday Extend, Workday Data Cloud, Prism Analytics, People Analytics, Skills Cloud, Learning, Compensation/Advanced Compensation, Benefits, Absence, Time Tracking, Organization Management, Workforce Planning, Payroll

What You’ll Actually Do
• Lead Strategy: Lead execution of the People Technology strategy and multi-year roadmap, aligning investments, architecture, and platform improvements with HR and business priorities.
• Own Operations: Own the Workday platform operating model, including governance, solution design, demand prioritization, release and change management, and value realization.
• Drive Implementations: Lead implementations, optimizations, integrations, and major platform changes from discovery and design through testing, deployment, and benefits realization.
• Maintain Architecture: Maintain scalable, secure, and compliant People Technology architecture, data, reporting, analytics, integrations, and controls in partnership with various enterprise functions.
• Optimize Experience: Partner with HR Centers of Excellence and business leaders to optimize the Workday footprint and improve employee and manager experiences by translating workforce priorities into scalable technology and data solutions.
• Govern Emerging Tech: Evaluate and responsibly govern emerging capabilities, including AI-enabled tools, Workday Extend, and advanced analytics, using clear business cases and appropriate controls.

The Must-Haves
• Background: BS/BA degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Computer Science, or related field, or MS/MA degree in a related field. Previous people-management and functional/platform leadership experience is required.
• Experience: 10+ years of progressive HR technology/HRIS experience (or 8+ years with a Master’s degree), including 5+ years with Workday HCM, 3+ years leading teams, and ownership of at least one end-to-end implementation or major transformation plus sustained post-production optimization.
• Skills: Expert technical expertise with cloud-based HRIS solutions like Workday; deep functional and technical expertise administering and optimizing Workday HCM; expert knowledge of Workday Core HCM, Business Process Framework, and security models; advanced Workday reporting and analytics expertise; strong integration architecture and delivery experience with Workday EIB, Core Connectors, Studio, Web Services, and APIs.
• Bonus: Current Workday Pro certification(s) in relevant areas preferred; experience leading systems integrators or application management services partners preferred; ADP or other third-party payroll integration experience preferred; Workday People Analytics and/or Prism Analytics experience preferred; experience with Workday Extend, Workday Build developer platform, Workday Data Cloud, Sana from Workday, Workday AI agents, and responsible AI governance preferred.