Staff Workday Analyst

As a Staff Workday Analyst at GitLab, you will be instrumental in architecting and optimizing the Workday HCM platform for over 2,500 team members globally. This role involves owning day-to-day Workday reliability, configuring modules across Advanced Compensation, Absence, Benefits, Time Tracking, Talent, and Security, and driving strategic roadmap initiatives. You will implement intelligent automation, embed AI capabilities, and build seamless integrations to enhance the employee experience, ensuring data integrity and compliance while translating complex business requirements into scalable system solutions.

Must Have

• Own end-to-end Workday administration, including module configuration and business process maintenance
• Ensure data integrity and compliance through systematic auditing and security reviews
• Lead annual People program delivery (compensation cycles, performance management, benefits enrollment)
• Deploy Workday AI capabilities and orchestrate cross-system integrations (ServiceNow, Slack, Cornerstone)
• Translate complex business requirements into scalable system solutions
• Facilitate design sessions with People Operations, Compliance, Total Rewards, and Talent teams
• Champion human-centered design by building user-centric experiences
• Stay current on Workday, HR technology, and data management trends
• 8+ years hands-on Workday administration with deep expertise in Advanced Compensation, Absence, Benefits, Time Tracking, Talent, and Security modules
• Strong integration and automation capabilities using Workday Studio, BIRT, EIB, Cloud Connect, REST/SOAP APIs
• Proven track record building executive-grade Workday reports, calculated fields, and dashboards
• Experience with or strong curiosity about AI/ML applications in HRIS
• Systems thinking mindset considering downstream impacts and user experience
• Consultative and collaborative approach with stakeholders
• Agile and iterative working style in bi-weekly sprint cycles
• Self-directed and results-oriented in global, all-remote environments

Good to Have

• Experience managing Workday in complex multi-entity international environments with Works Councils, GDPR requirements, or cross-border employment structures
• Exposure to multi-system integration projects connecting Workday with ServiceNow, Slack, learning platforms, or building conversational AI experiences across platforms

Perks & Benefits

• Benefits to support health, finances, and well-being
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental leave
• Home office support

GitLab is an open-core software company that develops the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps Platform, used by more than 100,000 organizations. Our mission is to enable everyone to contribute to and co-create the software that powers our world. When everyone can contribute, consumers become contributors, significantly accelerating human progress. Our platform unites teams and organizations, breaking down barriers and redefining what's possible in software development. Thanks to products like Duo Enterprise and Duo Agent Platform, customers get AI benefits at every stage of the SDLC.

The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier, with all team members expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our values and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software.

An overview of this role

As a Staff Workday Analyst, you'll architect, optimize, and innovate the backbone of GitLab's People Technology ecosystem—a Workday HCM platform supporting 2,500+ team members across 40+ countries. You'll be critical to building the future of how GitLab team members experience work. Over the next 3 years, we're transforming into a unified, AI-augmented employee experience where team members get the right guidance at the right time, in their flow of work.

You'll own Workday's day-to-day reliability and configuration while simultaneously driving our strategic roadmap forward—implementing intelligent automation, embedding AI capabilities, and building seamless integrations that give team members the insights and tools they need to do their best work.

What You’ll Do

• Own end-to-end Workday administration: configure modules, maintain business processes, manage bi-annual Workday releases, and iterate on configurations through bi-weekly sprint cycles across Advanced Compensation, Absence, Benefits, Time Tracking, Talent, and Security
• Ensure data integrity and compliance through systematic auditing, security reviews, and proactive issue resolution within these core modules
• Lead annual People program delivery (compensation cycles, performance management, benefits enrollment) with full ownership of configuration, testing, integration impacts, and stakeholder coordination
• Advance our unified employee experience vision by deploying Workday AI capabilities, orchestrating cross-system integrations with ServiceNow, Slack, and Cornerstone, and building intelligent automation and dashboards that transform how team members navigate talent management, compensation, and benefits
• Translate complex business requirements into scalable system solutions, balancing user experience, compliance requirements, and technical constraints across global operations
• Facilitate design sessions with People Operations, Compliance, Total Rewards, and Talent teams to understand needs, challenge assumptions, and recommend process improvements
• Champion human-centered design by understanding how team members and managers actually work, then building experiences that meet them in their flow
• Stay current on Workday, HR technology, and data management trends, and identify opportunities to improve GitLab’s People Technology ecosystem, including integrations and related tools.

What You’ll Bring

• 8+ years hands-on Workday administration with deep expertise in Advanced Compensation, Absence, Benefits, Time Tracking, Talent, and Security modules—you've seen these systems at scale and know where they break
• Strong integration and automation capabilities using Workday Studio, BIRT, EIB, Cloud Connect, REST/SOAP APIs, and modern integration patterns—you've built connections between Workday and downstream systems that actually work reliably
• Proven track record building executive-grade Workday reports, calculated fields, and dashboards that translate complex data into clear insights leaders can act on
• Experience with or strong curiosity about AI/ML applications in HRIS: you understand how to leverage Workday Illuminate, predictive models, or conversational AI to eliminate manual work and improve employee experiences
• Systems thinking mindset: you naturally consider downstream impacts, data dependencies, compliance implications, and user experience when designing solutions—you think in workflows, not just features
• Consultative and collaborative approach: comfortable facilitating design sessions with Total Rewards, Talent, and Compliance stakeholders, challenging assumptions constructively, and translating business needs into scalable technical solutions
• Agile and iterative working style: you thrive in bi-weekly sprint cycles, prioritize ruthlessly, ship incremental value, and iterate based on feedback rather than waiting for perfect solutions
• Self-directed and results-oriented: proven ability to work asynchronously in global, all-remote environments across time zones with minimal supervision—you own outcomes, not just tasks
• Bonus: Experience managing Workday in complex multi-entity international environments with Works Councils, GDPR requirements, or cross-border employment structures
• Bonus: Exposure to multi-system integration projects connecting Workday with ServiceNow, Slack, learning platforms, or building conversational AI experiences across platforms

About the team

You'll join GitLab's People Operations & Technology team, a globally distributed team of operations, compliance, employment solutions, and technology professionals—the heart of GitLab's People organization. We're a team that builds systems designed to flex and scale without constant rework—nimble enough to meet business needs quickly while laying the foundation for 2-3x growth. We move as one strategic operating core, breaking down silos and clarifying ownership so we can amplify impact across the organization. Our approach is proactive: we design experiences that anticipate needs across the entire team member journey, balancing operational efficiency with genuine empathy for how people actually work at GitLab. We're constantly reimagining how we operate—using automation, AI, and data-driven insights to scale smarter and solve real problems. We're optimizing our existing technology investments and thoughtfully introducing AI where it genuinely improves experiences, not just because it's trendy.

How GitLab will support you

• Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental leave
• Home office support