Senior Manager - HR AI and Workday Solution Architect

IBM Consulting is seeking an HR AI & Workday Solution Architect focused on HR Transformation as part of the Global HR and Talent Transformation Centre of Competence (CoC) Team. You will join the HR & Talent Transformation (HRTT) team within Strategy & Transformation, a global market-facing team focused on helping clients define, shape, and deliver their HR transformation journeys powered by AI, automation, and technology transformation. HRTT partners with CHROs, senior HR and business leaders to tell, sell, and deliver transformation, bringing IBM’s Client Zero HR story to life to inspire clients through real, proven transformation outcomes. This includes designing AI-first HR operating models, reimagining employee and manager experiences, and unlocking productivity through automation and intelligent workflows. As part of IBM’s “Client Zero” approach, you will help demonstrate how IBM applies its own HR transformation journey as a living example of innovation, showcasing how AI, automation, and platform technologies like Workday and SAP SuccessFactors drive productivity and improved workforce experiences at scale. This role is a critical addition to the team: a trusted advisor who bridges HRTT and HR Technology. You will engage CHROs and senior HR leaders to understand their business challenges, diagnose the root causes behind them, and shape practical Workday- and AI-enabled solutions that turn HR strategy into delivered outcomes. You will define the technical architecture and serve as the authoritative voice on AI and Workday design decisions across client engagements. You will carry technical leadership and advisory in HR for varied AI Architecture patterns. Working closely with HR Technology and engineering teams, you will help move opportunities from strategy → solution → delivery, ensuring seamless alignment across business, technology, and delivery teams. Overview Hold informed, credible conversations with CHROs, HR leaders and HR IT stakeholders about their priorities, constraints and HR technology landscape. Diagnose the underlying causes of HR process, experience, data and operating model pain points, rather than the symptoms a client first describes. Translate clients’ strategic HR goals (e.g., productivity, skills, employee experience, cost to serve) into a prioritised roadmap, with clear solution options, trade-offs and a business case. Advise on the practical considerations of operationalising each solution, including Workday configuration and integration, data and security, governance, change management, adoption and ownership. Partner with IBM clients and industry domain experts to design AI-enabled and Workday architectures that address HR process and operating challenges. You will shape, architect, and continuously refine these solutions, partnering closely with delivery teams, technology partners, and clients to scale impact. Inspire clients by demonstrating innovative, real-world applications of AI in HR, including IBM’s own transformation journey and industry-leading practices. Bring credibility and a track record of rapidly building senior-level relationships with HR leadership and HR IT stakeholders. Develop new HR transformation opportunities and shape winning proposals and client pitches. Apply hands-on expertise in application integration and modern architecture design, including domain-driven design and component-based architectures, combined with strong HR domain knowledge in applied AI and solution development. Leverage your experience across enterprise HR platforms, particularly Workday to address complex business challenges, drawing on knowledge of user experiences, use cases, and large-scale enterprise environments. Bring an understanding of cloud-based software design, including considerations for sensitive data handling, observability, and audit readiness. Contribute to the development of best practices, technical assets, and reference architectures (e.g., white papers, accelerators, blog posts), while evangelising and educating clients and teams on emerging technologies and industry trends through workshops, forums, and communities. Apply creativity and innovation to translate technology into tangible business solutions, helping define cloud-native GenAI and agentic architecture patterns across a range of HR use cases. Lead and facilitate discovery and design workshops to identify AI opportunities, including ROI assessment, prioritisation, and the design of future-state processes, services, and experience journeys. Workday Architecture & Advisory Provide Workday architecture and design guidance across the relevant modules (e.g., Core HCM, Talent, Recruiting, Absence, Payroll, Extend, Prism, Sana), and advise on how Workday’s native AI and agent capabilities fit alongside wider enterprise AI platforms. Advise on Workday integration, data and security design (e.g., Workday integrations, APIs, business process and security configuration). AI & Automation Architect GenAI assistants using NLU/NLP to execute and integrate HR tasks and processes, working with engineering teams to build them. Define and architect AI-powered solutions that improve internal operational productivity and streamline delivery outcomes. Understand AI platform costing and licensing models (token-based, API, enterprise) to inform solution design and client cost implications. Own technical oversight across the AI solution lifecycle, validating architecture integrity, model performance, and integration quality at stage gates through to production handover. Proven ability to advise, influence and successfully co-sell-AI HR and Workday solutions to global client organisations. Expertise in shaping bids, presentations and responding to client RFPs relating to HR Transformation and Technology solutions. Excellent presentation and communication skills and ability to effectively influence senior HR and IT stakeholders. 5+ years’ hands-on Workday experience across strategic advisory, design, configuration, deployment (e.g., Core HCM, Talent, Recruiting, Absence, Payroll, Extend, Prism), ideally complemented by experience of SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM or ServiceNow. Proven ability to run discovery with clients, diagnose the root causes of their HR pain points, and recommend solutions with clear options and trade-offs. Track record of turning HR strategy into an actionable roadmap and delivery approach, including the operating model, data, governance and change considerations needed to land it. Strong understanding of enterprise AI platforms (e.g., Microsoft, IBM WatsonX, Google, AWS) Working knowledge of modern AI architecture patterns (e.g., agentic tooling, RAG, workflow orchestration), with the ability to advise on their enterprise implications. Workflow orchestration and process automation Data architectures and knowledge management API/integration patterns across core HCM platforms Observability, monitoring, and governance frameworks Excellent client engagement skills, including the ability to hold informed, credible conversations with senior HR and HR IT stakeholders and to present complex solutions in simple terms to client audiences AI related and core HR Technology Transformation expertise having worked for a top tier Global Management Consulting firm and/or complex global organisation. Significant experience in HR transformation, including Workday implementation or advisory, and demonstrable experience applying AI in HR Experience designing or delivering AI-enabled HR transformations, including exposure to IBM Client Zero or equivalent internal AI first HR transformation programs that demonstrate innovation at scale. Hands-on exposure to agentic AI, digital assistants, or conversational platforms (e.g., chatbot deployment, orchestration tools). Hands-on technical exposure to agentic tool design (function calling, tool registries, MCP), LLM integration patterns (RAG, vector databases, embedding pipelines) and AI observability and monitoring. Ex