Workday Global HCM Support Lead

Why we're hiring:

WPP is embarking on a major 3-year transformation to simplify, modernise, and unify its technology platforms across the group. This change is critical to:

• Enable cost-effective transformation and operational efficiency
• Accelerate adoption of AI, data, and digital platforms
• Ensure consistent delivery of value and benefits across all agencies and markets
• Minimise disruption and maximise engagement during large-scale change

Workday is a cornerstone of this transformation, providing a single, modern system of record for people data and for driving efficiency through our operations and finance functions. By standardising core processes, improving data quality and enabling better insights, Workday supports consistent ways of working, stronger governance and future‑ready capabilities, while creating the foundation for scalable change, automation and AI‑enabled decision making across WPP.

We are looking for a Workday Global HCM Support Lead with strong experience in leading a global technology support function. The purpose of the role is to deliver a high-quality support service to our key stakeholders within the WPP People team. This will include monitoring the diagnosis and resolution of issues, ensuring the timely completion of service requests and the delivery of a roadmap of continuous improvements. The role will be responsible for maintaining relationships with key stakeholders and managing a team of Workday specialists.

What you'll be doing:

• Lead or coordinate incident managementrelated to system issues, ensuring incidents are assessed, escalated, communicated, and resolved in a timely and controlled manner
• Provide clear communication to stakeholders during incidents, including business impact, status updates, actions being taken, and next steps
• Support post-incident review, root cause analysis, and follow-up actions to improve release quality, system reliability, and operational processes
• Lead the planning and coordination of monthly local changes and bi-annual global releases, ensuring activity is prioritised, governed, and delivered in line with business needs
• Manage the end-to-end release lifecycle, including planning, dependency management, readiness tracking, risk identification, stakeholder alignment, and post-release review
• Drive cross-region prioritisation of changes, balancing local requirements with global priorities to support clear decision-making and consistent delivery
• Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, providing clear and timely updates on release scope, risks, progress, impacts, and decisions required
• Act as a central point of coordination across regional teams, global teams, technical teams, and business stakeholders to ensure alignment on release activity and delivery plans
• Own communications related to releases, updates, and change activity, ensuring they are clear, timely, audience-appropriate, and support understanding of business impact
• Translate technical or system changes into practical communications that help improve system understanding, adoption, and effective use
• Lead and coordinate training and enablement activity, including refresher training and training for new functionality, to support user readiness and ongoing capability development
• Identify opportunities to improve how users engage with the system by strengthening communications, guidance, and training approaches
• Drive continuous improvement across release management, communications, training, and incident response processes to improve user experience and operational effectiveness

What you'll need:

• Strong experience in support service delivery, release planning, and change coordination, within a systems or technology environment
• Experience managing senior stakeholders and operating effectively across cross-functional and regional teams
• Experience in incident management, including coordination, escalation, stakeholder communication, and follow-up actions
• Strong judgement in prioritisation and decision support, particularly where there are competing business and regional requirements
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt messaging for technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience designing or delivering training, guidance, or user enablement to support change adoption
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, and dependencies simultaneously
• A proactive and solution-oriented approach, with strong attention to detail and a focus on continuous improvement

Who you are: