Senior Specialist, Workday Finance Product Owner

This is a hands-on Workday Finance Product Owner role at the heart of McLaren Racing’s Workday

Financials landscape. The role is responsible for owning, configuring and continuously improving Workday Financials so that it supports robust finance processes, high-quality data, strong governance and scalable decision-making across the business.

You will act as the link between Finance, People and Technology teams, taking business requirements and translating them into clear Workday processes, configuration, testing plans and release outcomes. This role requires strong functional depth, practical configuration experience and the ability to connect Workday Financials with HCM, Adaptive and the wider system ecosystem.

What you'll do:

• Own the functional direction, roadmap and backlog for Workday Financials, ensuring priorities are clearly linked to Finance outcomes, business readiness and system value.
• Provide hands-on configuration across Workday Financials, using deep functional knowledge to design, build, test and refine scalable solutions.
• Translate business requirements into practical Workday processes, configuration changes, acceptance criteria and delivery plans.
• Connect process, data and system design across Finance, People, Adaptive and wider enterprise platforms, ensuring changes work end to end rather than in isolation.
• Drive continuous improvement of Workday Financials, identifying opportunities to simplify processes, strengthen controls, improve data quality and increase adoption.
• Act as a credible functional consult for Workday Financials, balancing strategic product ownership with practical delivery and hands-on system execution.

Business Partnering and Requirements Translation

• Partner with key stakeholders to understand process pain points, capture business requirements and shape fit-for-purpose Workday solutions.
• Facilitate workshops and design sessions that challenge existing ways of working, align stakeholders and ensure decisions are grounded in good process design and data governance.
• Provide clear communication between business users, technical teams, implementation partners and leadership, ensuring requirements are understood and delivered without unnecessary complexity.

Governance, Testing and Release Management

• Ensure Workday Financials changes follow agreed design principles, governance standards, controls and approval routes.
• Lead and coordinate testing activity across configuration changes, enhancements, integrations and releases, including unit testing, system testing, regression testing and User Acceptance Testing.
• Own release management planning for Workday Financials, assessing Workday release impacts, coordinating business readiness and ensuring changes are adopted safely and effectively.
• Maintain clear documentation of configuration decisions, process changes, testing evidence and release outcomes.
• Support training, change management and user adoption so that Finance teams can use Workday confidently and consistently.

Integration, Data and End-to-End Process Ownership

• Understand how Workday Financials connects with Workday HCM, Adaptive Planning and wider upstream and downstream systems.
• Ensure system design supports joined-up processes, accurate data flows, clear ownership and strong governance across Finance and People data.
• Work closely with data, integration and reporting teams to improve data quality, resolve integration issues and ensure reporting outputs are trusted.
• Identify risks, gaps or inefficiencies across end-to-end processes and drive practical improvements that strengthen controls and reduce manual work.

What you'll bring:

• Strong hands-on functional experience configuring Workday Financials to a high level.
• Strong understanding of finance processes, including record-to-report, procure-to-pay, order-to cash, expenses, supplier management, projects, assets and financial reporting.
• Proven ability to take business requirements and translate them into Workday processes, configuration, functionality and delivery plans.
• Experience leading or supporting Workday testing activity, including regression testing, UAT, release testing and defect triage.
• Experience managing Workday releases, assessing release notes, coordinating impact assessments and planning adoption of new functionality.
• Strong understanding of Workday security, business process configuration, reporting, data structures and integration principles.
• Understanding of the links between Workday Financials, Workday HCM and Adaptive Planning.
• Ability to connect process, data and system design so that solutions are scalable, governed and easy to operate.
• Experience working with Finance, Technology, Data and implementation partner teams in a complex transformation or ERP environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the confidence to challenge poor process design and simplify complex requirements.

Personal Attributes

• Hands-on and delivery-focused, with the confidence to configure, test and problem-solve directly.
• Strong functional thinker who can see how finance processes, data, controls and systems connect.
• Pragmatic and structured, able to turn ambiguity into clear requirements, decisions and action.
• Confident communicator who can translate complex Workday concepts into business-friendly language.
• Collaborative and able to influence across Finance, People, Technology and delivery partners.
• Curious, improvement-focused and comfortable challenging existing ways of working to create better outcomes.
   

Success in racing comes from bringing together talented people with different skills, perspectives and experiences. We're committed to building an inclusive environment where everyone feels supported and empowered to deliver their best work.

Every role has the potential to drive high performance. You'll be part of a team united by a shared ambition to push boundaries and embody our racing mindset. We invest in our people through opportunities to develop and grow, creating an environment where individuals and teams can thrive.
Alongside a range of wellbeing initiatives and development opportunities, we're committed to helping you build a rewarding career and make your mark at McLaren Racing.