Business Analyst Lead - Workday HCM & Payroll

The Opportunity

The University of Southern California (USC) is currently seeking a Business Analyst Lead - Workday HCM & Payroll to join our Application Services team. The Business Analyst Lead - Workday HCM & Payroll will support enterprise applications and business processes related to Workday HCM, Payroll, and associated financial functions.

The Business Analyst Lead - Workday HCM & Payroll will be responsible for supporting and enhancing university operations, services, and processes related to payroll, with additional support for related human capital management and financial functions.

In this role, you will focus on developing requirements, conceptualizing designs, and recommending business processes that support core organizational functions for the University in partnership with central Payroll, Finance, and relevant administrative units.

In addition, this role will communicate with a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including faculty and staff; document future-state processes; implement and test solutions; support adoption of new systems and processes through training; and stay current on system capabilities and industry best practices.

Job Accountabilities

• Leads planning, design, and conception of university applications’ functionality. Owns requirements, conceptualizes designs, and influences future-state business processes in support of core organizational functions for the university. Communicates and presents recommended improvements and solutions to business processes and decision-making rationale. Delivers engaging experiences that balance customer needs, business goals, and technical realities by working collaboratively across the organization, with fellow analysts and others (e.g., user experience researchers, product managers, designers, developers)
• Develops Human Centered Design (HCD) processes and approaches to deliver a broad range of sustainable solutions. Engages in standard business analysis methodology, outlining problems, opportunities, and solutions, and identifies process-improvement efforts across the organization
• Builds and delivers design solutions that meet customer needs and expectations. Leads user research efforts to gain understanding of customer and stakeholder pain points, challenges, and needs
• Provide mentorship and guidance to Senior Business Analyst supporting the same functional area, helping to ensure consistency, quality, and knowledge sharing across the team.
• Delivers high-quality project analysis documentation (e.g. business requirements, scope matrices, use cases, future state proposals, user acceptance technology [UAT] plans). Actively mitigates risk by owning tasks, resources, and changes. Enables the release management process by anticipating risks and providing strategic recommendations for releases
• Leads collaborative engagement efforts with a broad range of business partners and stakeholders, including students, faculty, and staff, to productively and comprehensively solve issues. Utilizes leading practices to effectively anticipate, prioritize, analyze, and articulate problems, evaluate and document problem alternatives, manage constraints, and suggest interim and long-term solutions
• Maintains currency on emerging technologies and approaches, leveraging the latest industry knowledge to drive innovation and continuous improvement for the organization. Seek opportunities for innovation and maximizing system functionality by continually developing skills, knowledge, and abilities
• Collaborates with team members and management, implementing effective solutions to support the Product Strategy and Design department’s vision. Maintains currency with technology, standards, and best practices. Supports process improvement efforts within the team and across the ITS organization
• Aids the cultivation of an inclusive environment and a culture of trust and transparency, sharing information broadly, openly, and deliberately. Builds and maintains collaborative relationships with diverse groups of peers, team members, and leadership. Actively embodies ITS values and behaviors (e.g., accountability, ethics, best-in-class customer service)
• Perform other duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education
• 5 years of relevant professional experience
• Proven record of delivering end-to-end, user-centered products, considering stakeholder requirements, user research, market analysis, data, customer feedback, and technical constraints or opportunities.
• Experience leading requirement-gathering interviews or sessions
• Proven experience utilizing analytics tools to measure results of user-centered products, documenting success, presenting opportunities, and supporting decision-making
• Experience developing test strategies and plans, using widely accepted test methodologies or frameworks and proven analytical and problem-solving skills
• Proven ability to facilitate collaboration across a broad audience of stakeholders and drive consensus in alignment with university policies, processes, and procedures
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools and applications
• Experience operating with Lean and Agile methodologies, and familiarity with computer programming concepts, including software development lifecycles
• Proven time management and prioritization skills to make efficient, logical decisions in a rapidly-changing environment
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with experience presenting technical topics in business-oriented fashion to non-technical audiences
• Proven experience establishing strong working relationships with a wide range of team members and clients, utilizing clear and effective functional documentation skills
• Ability to provide strategy and recommendations on design and development methodologies, and leverage lessons learned from past experiences to drive continuous improvement of application and business process solutions

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business administration
• 8 years of relevant professional experience
• Experience with Workday or other Financial ERP solutions through on-going support or deployment
• Experience with tools that support business analysis, requirements management, or Agile delivery (e.g., Jira or similar platforms)
• Experience in IT, business administration, higher education, or related fields.

In addition, the successful candidate must also demonstrate, through ideas, words and actions, a strong commitment to USC’s Unifying Values of integrity, excellence, community, well-being, open communication, and accountability.

The Team & Culture

The ITS vision aligns strategy, business, and services; affirms ITS cultural values; empowers cross-functional teamwork; and promotes innovation, excellence, agility, and efficiency. To achieve this vision, ITS is committed to providing a modern, resilient technology environment that meets the needs of a growing community, delivers strong customer experience, and supports the university’s mission.

ITS is focused on creating a workplace where employees can develop their skills, take pride in their work, and grow within the organization.

USC’s ITS organization represents a diverse and collaborative team committed to delivering secure and innovative IT services. ITS values accountability, excellence, and a strong commitment to customer experience.

The organization fosters an inclusive environment where employees are supported in doing their best work, contributions are recognized, and individuals have opportunities to grow and develop.

About USC

USC is a leading private research university located in Los Angeles, with a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff across multiple campuses and global locations. As one of the largest private employers in the region, USC offers a dynamic work environment and the opportunity to contribute to meaningful work that supports education, research, and service.

Salary And Benefits

The annual base salary range for this position is $124,202.41 to $142,737.00. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer alignment, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

To support the well-being of our faculty and staff, USC provides benefits-eligible employees with a broad range of perks to help protect their and their dependents’ health, wealth, and future. These benefits are available as part of the overall compensation and total rewards package. You can learn more about USC’s comprehensive benefits here .

Come join the USC ITS team and work as a trusted partner in shaping an environment of innovation and excellence.

Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree, Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education Minimum Experience: 5 years

Job ID REQ20174278 Posted Date 04/24/2026