The Senior HRIS Analyst supports the design, configuration, and administration of Inspire Brands' HR systems, serving as the subject matter expert for Workday Core Compensation and Advanced Compensation. For Core Compensation, this role spans configuration, business process management, data management, report writing, and integration support. For Advanced Compensation, this role requires grid configuration, launching and administering the advanced compensation process, tracking compensation events, management of merit, bonus, and stock plans as needed.
Operating as both a technical and functional partner, this role collaborates closely with the Compensation and HR Operations teams, HR/Payroll Centers of Expertise, multi-brand HR Business Partners, Integrations, Product Management, the PMO, and vendors. The role takes a consultative approach—analyzing and documenting current processes, translating business needs into effective Workday solutions, and improving the efficiency of operations across Workday and integrated platforms.
We are looking for a results-oriented, highly motivated professional with a proven record of launching and administering the compensation review process and delivering high-quality Workday Compensation solutions.
Workday Compensation Configuration & Administration
- Design, configure, implement, and maintain compensation plans, including grade / grade profiles, merit, bonus, allowances, and scorecard frameworks.
- Create and own business processes for compensation including approvals, escalation logic, and guardrails to prevent incorrect compensation actions.
- Create and optimize calculated fields to support complex business logic and compensation reporting.
- Own standalone compensation functionalities such as Clawbacks, Severance, and Wage Theft Notifications.
- Apply working knowledge of HCM to integrate compensation with job profiles and own the job catalog.
- Lead the end-to-end configuration lifecycle for Workday Compensation—discovery, requirements gathering, design, build, testing, deployment, and ongoing operational support—including eligibility rules, calculations, tables, and interdependencies.
Annual & Off-Cycle Compensation Events
- Optimize, launch, administer, and own the compensation review process (merit, bonus, and promotions).
- Serve as the primary HRIS support resource during annual compensation review cycles, executing merit grids, proration rules, and budget pools.
- Own the use of BIRT and/or Docs for Layouts toward merit statements and other appropriate needs.
- Support compensation reporting, audit tracking, cycle-close activities, and off-cycle compensation events.
Reporting, Data & Integrations
- Partner with the Workforce Management team and COE partners to build, modify, and validate reports and dashboards against defined requirements.
- Build and load EIBs and use Mass Operation Management (MOM) to manage high-volume data tasks.
- Knowledge and experience using Workday Prism analytics is preferred.
- Provide preliminary support for compensation-related integrations, liaising with the Enterprise Applications Integrations team.
Testing, Releases & Change Control
- Test and deploy Workday updates, perform regression testing, and manage change requests through structured change-control protocols.
- Create, review, and participate in functional and regression testing for system fixes, upgrades, patches, and bi-annual Workday releases.
- Stay current with Workday Community and Feature Releases, preparing for and implementing new features that benefit the organization.
Stakeholder Partnership & Enablement
- Act as a consultative partner to Compensation and other stakeholders, translating business requirements into effective Workday configurations through testing, approval, and deployment.
- Work with HR Centers of Expertise, HR Business Partners, and technical teams to gather requirements, recommend solutions, document changes, and demo and implement them with strong user adoption.
- Communicate changes and their benefits to stakeholders, and provide training to end users and HR Operations team members as needed.
Project Leadership & Compliance
- Lead projects as defined by leadership—developing project plans with key milestones and deliverables, leading meetings, providing regular updates, and meeting deadlines.
- Use Jira to track Workday and other system configuration through its full Agile lifecycle, from requirements and development to testing, approvals, deployment, and maintenance.
- Ensure HRIS processes are SOX compliant through ongoing review, gap assessment, and remediation.
- Comply with all company policies and standards, and perform other related duties and special projects as requested.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's Degree and/or 4 year Degree
- 5+ yearsof experience in HRIS (or relevant)
- 3+ yearsof Workday experience with Workday Core and Advanced Compensation configuration and administration for a U.S.-based global organization
- 3+ yearsof experience launching and administering the Workday compensation review process—including merit, bonus, and stock
- 2+ years Workday HCM configuration and support experience
- 1+ years Workday Prism Analytics experience
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
Technical Expertise
- Workday Core Compensation: Deep configuration and administration expertise and experience with business processes, compensation plans & grade / grade profiles.
- Workday Advanced Compensation: Compensation Grid configuration, promotions, budget pools, guidelines, and proration rules.
- Workday Tools: Proficiency with calculated fields, EIBs, Mass Operation Management (MOM), and report writing.
- Cross-Module Knowledge: Understanding of how Workday modules work together—HCM, Absence, Benefits, Payroll (U.S. & Canada), Talent Management, Recruiting, and Time Tracking.
- Core HCM: Proven experience configuring Core HCM for U.S.-based organizations.
- Integrations: Solid understanding of interfaces with third-party platforms and vendors.
- Productivity Tools: Proficient in Microsoft Office, including Excel formulas and Visio.
Professional Skills
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail.
- Excellent oral and written communication, including the ability to summarize technical information into clear, easy-to-understand content.
- Ability to build relationships across the organization to surface and understand requirements.
- Works effectively both independently and collaboratively, and can train and coach others.
- Manages multiple projects under deadline pressure, adapts to changing priorities, and escalates appropriately.
- Maintains strict confidentiality of employee information and adapts well to ongoing technology change.
What Success Looks Like in This Role
- Annual and off-cycle compensation cycles run smoothly, accurately, and on time.
- Compensation configurations are reliable, well-documented, and SOX compliant.
- Stakeholders across Compensation, HR, and IT view you as a trusted, consultative partner.
- Bi-annual Workday releases and new features are adopted with minimal disruption and clear business value.
Inspire is a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 33,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC restaurants worldwide.
We’re made up of some of the world’s most iconic restaurant brands, but we’re much more than just a restaurant company. We’re a team of hundreds of thousands who individually and collectively are changing the way people eat, drink, and gather around the table. We know that food is much more than a staple—it’s an experience. At Inspire, that’s our purpose: to ignite and nourish flavorful experiences.
