Technical Lead, Core HR (Workday)

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass. Versant is seeking a Technical Lead, Core HR Systems to lead the design, development, deployment, and ongoing support of key components of Versant’s core HR ecosystem, centered on Workday. This role plays a critical hands-on lead DevOps position in delivering reliable, scalable solutions that support Versant’s workforce with delivering SaaS and custom solutions. You will build and lead high-performing teams of engineers and solution leads responsible for platform architecture, delivery, integrations, and operational excellence. You will partner closely with stakeholders across Payroll, HR, Time, Broadcast and Sports Operations, Product, Data & Analytics, and Enterprise Technology to ensure HR & Payroll solutions are well-architected, secure, and aligned to business priorities. Key Responsibilities Platform Strategy & Architecture Contribute to the definition and execution of Core HR & Payroll platform standards, patterns, and roadmaps across HR, Payroll, Time, & Broadcast & Sports Operations Design and implement scalable, secure custom and SaaS solutions that meet defined business and technical requirements Ensure solutions align with architecture standards and integrate cleanly with upstream and downstream systems Evaluate and implement new technology capabilities (automation, AI features, data unification, packaged SaaS solutions) in support of product and business needs Collaborate with architecture, product, and data teams to ensure consistency and reusability across platforms Delivery & Operations Excellence Lead end-to-end delivery for Core HR & Payroll initiatives, from technical design through build, test, deployment, and post-go-live support Oversee technical delivery, release planning, and environment management to ensure stability and predictable releases Enforce best practices in DevOps, code quality, documentation, and automated testing Partner with integration, data, and infrastructure teams to ensure reliable interoperability and data flows Monitor platform performance and operational health, driving root-cause resolution and continuous improvement Partner & Team Leadership Serve a critical role as the Development Lead for Versant’s planned transformation of their key HR & Payroll Systems Build and lead a blended organization of internal engineers, architects, and contracted delivery partners both on and offshore Serve as an accountable leader for contracted and managed service partners, ensuring delivery quality, cost effectiveness, and strategic alignment Define clear scopes of work, service-level expectations, and governance processes with delivery partners Foster a culture of collaboration, ownership, and learning - balancing partner execution with internal engineering capability Mentor and develop team members, driving engagement, accountability, and professional development Assist with managing budgets and resource plans, ensuring optimal allocation across initiatives Governance, Security & Stakeholder Alignment Ensure HR & Payroll solutions comply with corporate security, privacy, and regulatory requirements Adhere to established governance processes including change management, version control, and documentation Partner with Legal, Privacy, and Security teams to support secure handling of customer and business data Provide regular status updates on delivery progress, risks, and operational health to technology and business stakeholders Act as a trusted technical advisor for HR and Payroll engineering within cross-functional Basic Requirements 6+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years leading medium to large engineering delivery teams (both on and offshore) 4+ Year of in-depth experience was a Workday developer with at least one full implementation cycle of Workday HMC while serving in a senior lead developer capacity Strong hands-on experience with Workday Studio, Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB), Core Connectors, and Workday APIs leveraging modern authentication protocols Experience architecting, developing, and deploying custom solutions with the Workday Extend and/or the Workday Build Ecosystem Strong hands-on experience designing and implementing data ingestion pipelines into Workday Prism for advanced analytics, reporting, and integrations. Experience with Workday Job Scheduling tools and managing a large array of integrations Experience configuring Workday’s portal self-service experience including role-based landing pages, worklets, announcements, quick actions, and business processes. Proven experience delivering complex enterprise applications implementations with multiple integrations to multiple SaaS platforms. Strong experience delivering HR & Payroll solutions, especially with integrating HR Data and Benefits Experience leading agile teams and working within CI/CD and DevOps delivery models Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate across technical and non-technical stakeholders Excellent communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field Desired Characteristics Experience in media, entertainment, or consumer-facing digital businesses Experience delivering HR & Payroll solutions with SAP & SuccessFactors Experience with API Management solutions (MuleSoft, Apigee, Kong) and applying an API first methodology to integration Familiarity with good UI/UX design principles as well as industry accessibility standards (WCAG) Familiarity with cloud platforms (Azure, Salesforce, AWS, GCP) Experience building custom web applications with React/JAVA Familiarity with Workday Canvas Kit Interest in modernizing custom and SaaS platforms and improving developer productivity Additional Information Location: New York City, NY or Englewood Cliffs, NJ - (Hybrid – 3 days onsite) Employees based in our Englewood Cliffs office have access to a variety of convenient on-site services and amenities, including free employee parking, complimentary electric vehicle charging stations, an on-site fitness center with locker rooms and towel service, and dry-cleaning drop-off and pick-up. To support an easier commute, shuttle service is also available to and from the Englewood Cliffs campus, with pickup locations across Manhattan’s East Side and West Side, Brooklyn, Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark, and Secaucus. As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT Media employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT Media's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email protected] . VERSANT Media is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. We include a good faith pay range for each position to comply with applicable state and local pay transparency laws and to promote equity across our organization. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location and may include additional forms of compensation and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, etc. VERSANT Media is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at VERSANT via-email, the Internet, or in any form and/or method without a valid written Statement of Work in place for this position from VERSANT's Talent Acquisition team will be deemed the sole property of VERSANT. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by VERSANT as a result of the referral or through other means.