Position: Senior Workday Financials Security & Governance Architect
Project: Workday Financial Management Review
Location: Detroit MI
Position Overview:
We are seeking an experienced Senior Workday Financials Security & Governance Architect to support a comprehensive review of an existing Workday Financial Management environment for a public-sector organization.
The ideal candidate will possess deep hands-on expertise in Workday security architecture, role-based access controls, segregation of duties, security governance, and internal controls.
This individual will collaborate with a Workday Financial Management Functional Architect, Project Manager, and Change Manager to evaluate the organization's existing security configuration, identify potential risks and control gaps, and recommend improvements aligned with Workday capabilities and industry best practices.
The primary focus of this role is Workday security, access management, and governance, rather than financial business process optimization or organizational change management.
Key Responsibilities
1. Workday Security Architecture Review
- Evaluate existing Workday security architecture, including security groups, domain security policies, and business process security policies.
- Review role-based security assignments and access permissions across Financial Management and Procurement.
- Assess whether security configurations align with users' job responsibilities and organizational structures.
- Identify excessive access, inappropriate permissions, and opportunities to simplify security administration.
- Evaluate security implications of organizational changes and role assignments.
2. Segregation of Duties & Internal Controls
- Evaluate segregation-of-duties controls across financial and procurement functions.
- Identify potentially conflicting access permissions and transactions.
- Assess existing preventive and detective controls, including compensating controls where applicable.
- Review approval authority structures from a security and internal control perspective.
- Recommend improvements to reduce security risks and strengthen financial controls.
3. Access Management & Security Administration
- Review processes for provisioning, modifying, and removing Workday user access.
- Evaluate security assignment approval requirements and administrative responsibilities.
- Assess periodic access certification and user access review practices.
- Review controls for privileged users, administrators, and sensitive financial information.
- Recommend improvements to access governance, monitoring, and accountability.
4. Workday Security Governance
- Evaluate governance practices related to Workday security configuration and administration.
- Assess ownership and accountability for security policies, role assignments, and access approvals.
- Review procedures for requesting, approving, testing, and implementing security changes.
- Evaluate coordination between Finance, Procurement, and IT regarding security administration.
- Recommend a sustainable security governance framework aligned with public-sector internal control requirements.
5. Security Findings & Recommendations
- Conduct stakeholder interviews and targeted security configuration reviews.
- Document identified security risks, control gaps, and configuration improvement opportunities.
- Distinguish between security configuration issues, access management weaknesses, and governance deficiencies.
- Prioritize recommendations based on risk, business impact, and implementation complexity.
- Contribute security findings and recommendations to the overall Workday Financial Management improvement roadmap.
Required Qualifications
- 8+ years of enterprise application security or ERP consulting experience, including substantial Workday experience.
- 5+ years of hands-on Workday security configuration and administration experience.
- Deep understanding of Workday security groups, domain security policies, business process security policies, and role-based security.
- Demonstrated experience evaluating Workday Financial Management and Procurement security.
- Experience assessing segregation-of-duties risks and financial application controls.
- Strong understanding of user provisioning, access approvals, privileged access, and periodic access reviews.
- Experience conducting Workday security reviews, post-implementation assessments, or security optimization engagements.
- Ability to independently evaluate Workday security configurations and recommend practical improvements.
- Strong documentation, analytical, and stakeholder communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting county, municipal, state, or other public-sector organizations.
- Familiarity with government financial controls, audit requirements, and procurement regulations.
- Workday Security certification or equivalent demonstrated expertise.
- Experience reviewing Workday Financial Management security following implementation.
- Familiarity with Workday Financial Data Model (FDM), Supplier Accounts, Procurement, and Financial Accounting.
- Experience with Workday security reporting, access analysis, and segregation-of-duties evaluations.
- Knowledge of security governance frameworks and internal control best practices.
Expected Deliverables
The consultant will contribute to the following deliverables:
- Current-State Security Review: Summary of existing Workday security architecture, configurations, and access management practices.
- Security & Access Findings: Identification of potential excessive access, inappropriate role assignments, and security configuration gaps.
- Segregation-of-Duties Review: Identification of potential conflicting permissions and recommended control improvements.
- Security Governance Recommendations: Proposed improvements to access administration, approval authority, periodic reviews, and security change control.
- Prioritized Security Improvement Roadmap: Recommended security initiatives organized by risk, business impact, and implementation complexity.
- Executive Findings Summary: Key security observations, risks, and recommendations for leadership consideration.
