Staff HR Technology Architect

OpenGov is the leader in AI and ERP solutions for local and state governments in the U.S. More than 2,000 cities, counties, state agencies, school districts, and special districts rely on the OpenGov Public Service Platform to operate efficiently, adapt to change, and strengthen the public trust. Category-leading products include enterprise asset management, procurement and contract management, accounting and budgeting, billing and revenue management, permitting and licensing, and transparency and open data. These solutions come together in the OpenGov ERP, allowing public sector organizations to focus on priorities and deliver maximum ROI with every dollar and decision in sync. Learn about OpenGov’s mission to power more effective and accountable government and the vision of high-performance government for every community at OpenGov.com.

Job Summary:

The Staff HR Technology Architect is the senior technical authority for OpenGov’s HR technology ecosystem, responsible for the architecture, integration design, and long-term technical direction of the systems that manage employee data across the entire employee lifecycle. Based in Pune and reporting to the Director of Enterprise Applications and Engineering, this individual-contributor role sets the technical vision for the Workday platform and the broader HR application portfolio, ensuring the ecosystem is scalable, secure, compliant, and aligned to the needs of a global workforce across the US and India.

We are looking for a seasoned architect with deep domain and technical expertise across the Workday platform and the adjacent, integrated systems that make up the HR technology ecosystem — spanning payroll, benefits, talent management, talent acquisition, onboarding and offboarding, employee engagement, compliance, and HR operations. This is a hands-on, staff-level individual contributor with a dotted-line leadership mandate: no direct reports, but expected to guide and mentor HR application administrators, lead virtual teams on major initiatives, and influence the direction both technical and business teams take with HR technology. While the role is primarily architecture and design, it also carries hands-on technical delivery — the architect personally builds and delivers the most complex or high-risk integrations, configurations, and reports. The architect owns integration architecture and the HR data model end to end across best-of-breed systems, partners with the Manager, HR Technology on delivery, and serves as the design authority on data governance, security, and emerging AI and automation across the stack.

Responsibilities:

Technical Architecture & Systems Design

• Own the end-to-end architecture of the HR technology ecosystem — Workday (Core HCM, Payroll, Benefits, Absence, Time Tracking, Compensation, Recruiting, Talent, Reporting, and Security) and the surrounding application portfolio — establishing design standards, patterns, and technical roadmaps.

• Own the architecture across a best-of-breed, multi-platform landscape — the core HRIS (Workday) plus payroll (e.g., ADP), applicant tracking (Ashby), employee engagement (CultureAmp), ERP (e.g., NetSuite), SSO/identity, compliance/training platforms, data-warehousing and BI tooling (e.g., Snowflake), and iPaaS/integration platforms (e.g., Workato) — ensuring the systems interoperate as a coherent whole.

• Define target-state architecture and multi-year technical roadmaps that scale with a growing, globally distributed workforce, balancing configuration, extensibility, and total cost of ownership.

• Evaluate new Workday releases, features, and third-party solutions; make build-vs-configure-vs-buy recommendations and lead architecture and design reviews.

• Provide deep, hands-on technical expertise across the ecosystem — anchored in the Workday stack (advanced configuration, the business process framework, calculated fields, security design, and complex reporting) and extending to adjacent platforms such as ADP, Ashby, CultureAmp, and NetSuite/ERP.

Integration Architecture & Data Flows

• Design and govern the integration architecture across the HR ecosystem (e.g., ADP, Ashby, engagement survey, SSO/identity, ERP, and downstream data-warehouse/BI platforms such as Snowflake), leveraging iPaaS/integration platforms (e.g., Workato) where appropriate and establishing patterns, standards, and error handling and monitoring.

• Own the HR data model and the flow of employee data from hire to retire, ensuring integrity, lineage, and consistency across integrated systems.

• Serve as design authority for Workday integrations (EIB, Core Connectors, Studio, and web service APIs), iPaaS platforms (e.g., Workato), and downstream data platform feeds.

• Maintain a working understanding of how HRIS data ties into ERP (e.g., NetSuite) and other enterprise systems, and lead the design of those interfaces.

Technical Strategy & Influence

• Set the technical direction for HR technology and influence the decisions both technical and business teams make when adopting or changing technology.

• Partner with HR Operations, Payroll, Benefits, Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, HR Business Partners, IT, and Workplace leaders to translate business strategy into a coherent systems strategy.

• Act as a trusted technical advisor to leadership, framing trade-offs, risks, and options for major HR technology investments and platform decisions.

• Provide dotted-line technical leadership and mentorship to HR application administrators; lead virtual and matrixed teams on large initiatives and build technical depth and backup coverage across critical domains.

Data Governance, Security & AI

• Serve as the design authority for HR data governance, privacy, and security — defining data structures, access models, and controls across the US and India.

• Establish standards for HR data quality, master data, and reporting and analytics that feed data-warehouse and BI platforms (e.g., Snowflake).

• Identify and pilot opportunities to apply automation and AI within the HR technology stack, establishing responsible-use and data-handling guardrails.

• Ensure the architecture supports compliance requirements across geographies (audits, policy acknowledgements, and mandatory training) and evolving data-privacy regulations.

Delivery, Vendors & Best Practices

• Lead complex, cross-functional HR technology projects end to end from an architecture and design standpoint — shaping solutions, reviewing designs, and guiding delivery teams.

• Stay hands-on with technical delivery — personally building and delivering the most complex or high-risk configurations, integrations, and reports rather than limiting the role to design and oversight.

• Partner with the Manager, HR Technology and the administration team to translate architecture into configuration, and maintain documentation of architecture, standards, and system specifications.

• Manage strategic third-party vendor and implementation-partner relationships from a technical and architecture perspective.

• Stay current on Workday releases, HR technology trends, and best practices; exhibit sound judgment, discretion, and confidentiality in handling sensitive employee data.

Requirements and Preferred Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.

• 10+ years of progressive HR technology / HRIS functional and technical experience, including significant time in an architecture, principal, or senior technical individual-contributor capacity.

• Demonstrated experience as a technical authority who sets direction and influences both technical and business stakeholders — this is a senior individual-contributor role, not an entry-level or first architecture role.

• Deep, hands-on expertise in a core HRIS — Workday strongly preferred — across the full module stack (Absence, Benefits, Compensation, Core HCM, Payroll, Recruiting, Reporting, Security, Talent, Time Tracking), including advanced configuration and the business process framework.

• Hands-on experience across a multi-platform HR technology ecosystem — not limited to a single HRIS — including payroll (e.g., ADP), applicant tracking (Ashby preferred), employee engagement (CultureAmp preferred), SSO/identity, and compliance/training platforms.

• Strong Workday integration expertise (EIB, Core Connectors, Studio, and web services/APIs) and proven experience designing enterprise integration architectures, including iPaaS/integration platforms (e.g., Workato).

• Expertise in HR data modeling, data governance, and how HRIS data flows into downstream data-warehouse and BI systems (e.g., Snowflake).

• Experience with data-warehousing tools (e.g., Snowflake) and iPaaS/integration platforms (e.g., Workato).

• Willingness and ability to perform hands-on technical delivery — configuration, integration development, and reporting — in addition to architecture, design, and oversight; this is not a design-only role.

• Broad domain expertise across payroll, benefits, talent management, talent acquisition, onboarding/offboarding, employee engagement, and general HR operations.

• Experience supporting HR systems across multiple geographies, ideally including both the US and India.

• Proficiency with Workday report writing and complex calculated fields.

• Experience with an applicant tracking system (Ashby preferred) and an employee engagement survey platform (CultureAmp preferred).

• Demonstrated ability to mentor administrators and provide dotted-line technical leadership without formal reporting authority.

• Strong understanding of HR compliance, data privacy, and security considerations across regions.

• Exposure to automation and AI applications within HR technology a plus.

• Familiarity with NetSuite or a comparable ERP, and how HRIS data integrates with it, a plus (nice to have).

• Excellent communication skills, able to influence and align technical and business stakeholders at all levels of a globally distributed organization.

• Workday certifications (e.g., Integrations, HCM, or Pro) preferred.

• Experience using Google Workspace a plus.

• Exhibits sound judgment, discretion, and confidentiality.

Why OpenGov?

A Mission That Matters.

At OpenGov, public service is personal. We are passionate about our mission to power more effective and accountable government. Government that operates efficiently, adapts to change, and strengthens public trust.  Some people say this is boring.  We think it’s the core of our democracy.

Opportunity to Innovate

The next great wave of innovation is unfolding with AI, and it will impact everything—from the way we work to the way governments interact with their residents. Join a trusted team with the passion, technology, and expertise to drive innovation and bring AI to local government. We’ve touched 2,000 communities so far, and we’re just getting started.

A Team of Passionate, Driven People

This isn’t your typical 9-to-5 job; we operate in a fast-paced, results-driven environment where impact matters more than simply clocking in and out. Our global team of 800+ employees is united in our commitment to challenge the status quo. OpenGov is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dubuque, Dallas, and Pune.

A Place to Make Your Mark

We pride ourselves on our performance-based culture, where every employee is encouraged to jump in head-first and take action to help us improve. If you have a great idea, we want to hear it. Excellent performance is recognized and rewarded, and we love to promote from within.

Benefits That Work for You

Enjoy an award-winning workplace with the benefits to match, including:

• Comprehensive healthcare options for individuals and families

• Flexible vacation policy and paid company holidays

• 401(k) with company match

• Paid parental leave, wellness stipends, and HSA contributions

• Professional development and growth opportunities

• A collaborative office environment with weekly catered lunches.