Principal Functional Consultant - Higher Education (Workday Student Financials)

Your work days are brighter here. We're obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we're shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you'll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We're in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you'll do meaningful work with Workmates who've got your back. In return, we'll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you've found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

Come join our ANZ consulting team as a Principal Consultant and bring Workday's Student solutions to higher education institutions through this high-impact role. You'll be front and center with customers, guiding student lifecycle transformations and advising on how Workday Student can best meet their needs. If you love solving problems, driving successful project outcomes, and collaborating closely with key stakeholders, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact on higher education institutions across the region. We're hiring a functional consultant specialising in the area of Student Financials.

About the Role

As a Principal Consultant, you will play a key role in guiding the deployment of Workday's Student solutions for higher education customers in your area of specialisation. You will provide student systems, higher education industry, and deployment expertise, serving as an advisor while ensuring alignment with other functional areas in the Workday product platform.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Contribute to and help maintain higher education standard practices to reflect new industry requirements and trends.
• Determine customer requirements and advise on the design of tailored Workday Student solutions.
• Demonstrate designed solutions to key stakeholders throughout the deployment lifecycle, focussing on achieving the customer's business outcomes.
• Constructively challenge customer requests that risk not achieving their intended business outcomes, guiding them toward approaches that will.
• Own status reporting and overall project health for your workstream, from discovery through go-live, keeping project leadership informed.
• Lead or shape customer prospect discovery sessions.
• Advise on Statement of Work content and project estimates.
• Act as an escalation point for complex issues in your area of specialization.
• Rapidly build Workday Student product expertise, particularly if joining without prior hands-on experience with the platform.
• Manage your time and priorities across multiple concurrent customer engagements and other business priorities.
• Lead training and enablement sessions to share your expertise across the practice.
• Mentor and support the development of less experienced consultants across the practice.

About You

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience implementing or supporting student systems (SIS) solutions in the following area: Student Financials.
• 7+ years of consulting experience.

Other Qualifications

• Experience within the Higher Education industry, either at an institution or a vendor serving that industry.
• Experience implementing or supporting Workday Student is highly regarded but not required.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• Ability to travel as needed.

Our Approach to Flexible Work

With Flex Work, we're combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.

Accommodation

Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law. Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law. If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email , as far in advance as possible.

Equal Opportunity

Workday is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Workday are considered without regards to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Further, pursuant to applicable local ordinances, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We do not accept resumes from headhunters, placement agencies, or other suppliers that have not signed a formal agreement with us.