Workday Product Manager - Grants Management

Overview

The Product Manager FOR Research Management is responsible for the strategic planning, functional optimization, and technical oversight of the organization’s Research Management functions within the Workday platform and its integrated applications. This role serves as the product lead for Workday Endowments and Grants modules, with heavily integrated process touchpoints across HCM, Supply Chain and Finance, ensuring that the platform is configured, maintained, and leveraged to meet evolving organizational requirements of Research Administration. This role also oversees multiple Workday Extend solutions for support of core Research compliance functions and participates in the full product lifecycle, including roadmap planning, release management, solution design, and production support as part of a larger product management team. The Product Manager, Research Management partners closely with business stakeholders, technical teams, and external vendors to deliver scalable, secure, and compliant solutions. This position also plays a key role in system testing, change management, and user enablement to maximize adoption and return on investment. A deep understanding of Workday's architecture, combined with strong leadership and analytical capabilities, is essential to this role.

This is an exciting time to join the DFCI Business Applications team as we drive critical digital transformation initiatives that power our entire organization. With cutting-edge platforms like Workday and UKG at the core, the team is shaping the future of how business processes and technology intersect. There’s a unique opportunity to influence key enterprise systems, lead innovation in automation and integrations, and collaborate across diverse teams to deliver high-impact solutions. Join us to be part of a dynamic, fast-growing environment where your expertise directly accelerates organizational success and growth.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS, and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Act as a strategic partner and primary application lead for the Research Management domain, building strong relationships with business stakeholders to understand their goals, challenges, and workflows, and aligning Workday and related systems to support enterprise objectives.
• Lead end-to-end solution delivery across Workday and integrated platforms by gathering requirements, analyzing current-state processes, translating business needs into functional and technical specifications, and managing prioritization based on business value.
• Design, configure, and optimize solutions within Workday and supporting systems by managing business processes, reporting, security, and integrations, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, compliance standards, and functional requirements.
• Oversee the full lifecycle of enhancement and release activities including planning, execution, testing (unit, regression, UAT), deployment, and adoption for Workday and connected systems, ensuring business continuity and user readiness.
• Drive process improvement and technology optimization by identifying automation opportunities, reducing manual work, improving data quality, and recommending system enhancements that improve efficiency, scalability, adoption and user experience across platforms.
• Provide advanced production support and uphold governance standards by resolving Tier 2/3 issues, performing root cause analysis, maintaining data integrity, and ensuring security, audit, and regulatory compliance across Workday and integrated systems.
• Enable user success and foster team growth by developing training materials, managing user communications, mentoring junior team members, and contributing to strategy, innovation, and knowledge-sharing across the enterprise.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Deep functional and technical knowledge of Workday, including configuration, business process frameworks, custom reporting, and security model design.
• Deep understanding of research administration lifecycle, including pre-award and post-award grant processes, sponsored project compliance, effort reporting, indirect cost recovery, and financial management of federal and non-federal research funding.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to evaluate and design enterprise solutions that balance business needs with system capabilities.
• Ability to lead cross-functional project teams, facilitate workshops, and manage stakeholder expectations through all phases of the system development lifecycle.
• High proficiency with data and reporting tools, including Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or similar platforms.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to translate complex technical content into clear, actionable deliverables for non-technical audiences.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

Minimum Job Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree required in a relevant field.
• 7 years of experience in Workday administration, product management, or business systems analysis.
• Demonstrated success managing multiple Workday modules through implementation, enhancement, and support cycles.
• Experience coordinating Workday release readiness activities, regression testing, and adoption of new functionality.
• Proven ability to support and troubleshoot Workday integrations, including EIBs, Core Connectors, and Studio-based solutions.
• Familiarity with Workday Extend and its use in building custom applications within the Workday ecosystem is preferred.
• Experience working in complex, matrixed environments, preferably within healthcare, higher education, or similarly regulated sectors.
• Workday certifications in relevant modules strongly preferred.

License/Certification/Registration Required: None

Supervisory Responsibilities: No

Patient Contact: None

At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong. As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are committed to having faculty and staff who offer multifaceted experiences. Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and compassionate professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.

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Pay Transparency Statement

The hiring range is based on market pay structures, with individual salaries determined by factors such as business needs, market conditions, internal equity, and based on the candidate’s relevant experience, skills and qualifications.

For union positions, the pay range is determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

$141,500.00 - $153,600.00