Workday HCM Foundations Project Manager at Primark, Reading/Remote, 6 Months initial, £Day Rate

Workday HCM Foundations Project Manager

Duration: Initial 6 Months

Location: Dublin or Reading (Hybrid Working)

Contract Type: Day Rate (Inside IR35 if UK based)

Role Summary

We're looking for an experienced Workday HCM Foundations Project Manager to lead a critical Workday remediation programme within a complex global HR transformation portfolio.

This role will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the Workday Foundations remediation project, spanning up to 30 workstreams across 17 global markets and delivered in partnership with a Systems Integrator. The programme focuses on improving core Workday processes, system configuration, security, data quality, and platform foundations, with outputs directly impacting multiple Workday and HR transformation initiatives across the wider portfolio.

The successful candidate will bring strong Workday and HR systems remediation experience, with the confidence to challenge delivery partners, influence senior stakeholders, and drive accountability across both business and technology teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of the Workday Foundations remediation programme, improving core processes, system configuration, security, and data quality.
• Own and maintain the integrated Foundations delivery plan, including critical path management, sequencing, dependencies, and alignment to market rollout programmes.
• Prioritise remediation activities based on business impact, delivery dependencies, and available capacity.
• Manage the full lifecycle from discovery and analysis through design, remediation, testing, deployment, and transition into support.
• Act as the primary client-side counterpart to the Systems Integrator delivery team and workstream leads.
• Coordinate Primark and partner teams, holding stakeholders accountable for agreed deliverables, timelines, and quality standards.
• Challenge delivery partners where necessary, formally accepting or rejecting deliverables against agreed acceptance criteria and contractual obligations.
• Mobilise business and technical stakeholders to resolve issues, clarify requirements, remove blockers, and secure timely decisions.
• Manage scope, resources, costs, risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, and change control activities.
• Coordinate testing, business acceptance, deployment, and knowledge transfer activities, ensuring solutions address root causes and are successfully embedded into ongoing support.
• Represent Foundations in programme governance forums, delivery boards, design authority reviews, and change control meetings.
• Maintain accurate PPM records and provide concise reporting on delivery progress, risks, confidence levels, and outcomes.
• Ensure knowledge and capability are transferred from the Systems Integrator into the internal team.

Essential Experience

• Enterprise-scale Workday programme or project management experience with a strong understanding of Workday architecture, data model, security framework, business process configuration, and tenant management.
• Proven experience delivering Workday remediation, stabilisation, optimisation, or post-implementation improvement programmes.
• Strong project management experience within HR systems transformation environments.
• Experience managing large, highly interdependent delivery portfolios with multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Client-side management of Systems Integrators, including deliverable acceptance, quality challenge, contractual governance, and escalation management.
• Experience managing scope, budgets, resources, change control, RAID management, and complex dependencies.
• Multi-country or multi-market delivery experience.
• Commercial awareness across forecasting, vendor management, resource planning, and delivery assurance.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence senior business, HR, technology, and vendor stakeholders.
• Ability to construct, defend, and communicate evidence-based recommendations under challenge.

Desirable Experience

• Experience with wider HR technology platforms such as UKG, SmartRecruiters, ServiceNow, Workday Learning, or related solutions.
• Workday country deployment and rollout experience.
• Retail, multi-site, or large frontline workforce environments.
• PMP, PRINCE2, MSP, Agile, Scrum, or similar project management qualifications.

This is an excellent opportunity to play a pivotal role in a high-profile global Workday transformation programme, helping establish the foundations for future HR technology delivery across multiple markets.