Workday Student Financials Consultant

Join Cognizant's Workday Student Practice in Australia and New Zealand and help universities transform how they manage student finances. Working directly with clients on Workday Student deployments, you'll lead design and configuration across tuition and fee assessment, billing, payments, sponsorships, refunds and reconciliation. Your role goes beyond working out how Workday Student can meet a university's needs. You'll help them use it to support their strategic goals, from improving the student experience to strengthening financial sustainability and compliance. This is a real opportunity to grow your career while helping shape how the sector operates.

This role suits someone with a background in student accounts, university finance or student administration who wants to turn their knowledge of student financial regulations and processes, and their commitment to supporting students, into a consulting career. You'll bring higher education and student finance expertise to every engagement, working closely with finance teams, student administration and student services, and making sure your designs align with Student Records, Workday Financial Management and other areas of the Workday platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead discovery and design sessions for tuition and fee assessment, student billing, payments, payment plans, sponsorships, refunds and receivables.

• Configure Student Financials business processes, rules, charge structures, due dates and accounting related requirements.

• Design practical handling for waivers, adjustments, reversals, third party arrangements and exceptional cases.

• Configure student account processes in alignment with institutional policy, financial controls and regulatory requirements.

• Work with Student Records and finance stakeholders to align the financial impacts of enrolment, changes, withdrawal and completion events.

• Document requirements, design decisions and configuration.

• Apply your higher education experience to shape practical future-state processes for student finance and student administration teams.

• Bring an understanding of how Australian or New Zealand universities manage student fees and finances to design discussions, including Commonwealth supported places, HELP loans, the eCAF process and Commonwealth Assistance Notice, so Workday Student is configured for local fee structures, funding arrangements, terminology and policy settings.

• Identify data, security, reporting and integration requirements, including payment gateways, banking and finance platforms.

• Define reconciliation, operational reporting and audit requirements for student financial activity.

• Prepare and execute unit testing, support end to end testing and assist with defect resolution.

• Support data conversion validation, opening balance activities, cutover preparation, training and go live readiness.

• Provide clear advice on Workday leading practices while recognising institutional context and policy obligations.

• Contribute reusable configuration guidance, test assets and delivery methods to the Cognizant Student Practice.
  

Experience we are looking for

• Experience in student accounts, student fees, university finance, receivables or a related higher education finance function.

• Understanding of tuition and fee assessment, billing, payments, refunds, sponsorships and reconciliation.

• Working knowledge of Commonwealth supported places and HELP loans, including student contribution amounts, HELP eligibility and census date rules, and how they flow through fee assessment, student accounts and government reporting.

• Familiarity with the regulatory context for student fees and finance in Australia or New Zealand, such as HELP arrangements under the Higher Education Support Act, TCSI reporting and ESOS National Code refund requirements, or Fees Free and StudyLink arrangements.

• Proven experience guiding business stakeholders through key operational and policy decisions, including presenting options, explaining trade-offs and securing agreement.

• Experience implementing, supporting or serving as a super-user for student information systems (SIS) or enterprise finance systems.

• Ability to translate financial policy and operational requirements into structured system design.

• Experience facilitating workshops, documenting decisions and working across finance, student administration and technology teams preferred.

• Experience with testing, financial validation, data conversion, training or deployment readiness activities preferred.

About the Cognizant Workday Student Practice

The Cognizant Workday Student Practice is focused exclusively on helping universities across Australia and New Zealand transform the way they support students, faculty and administrators throughout the student lifecycle.

What makes our practice different is the combination of higher education practitioners and Workday specialists working together. Many of our consultants have worked inside universities as academic services professionals before moving into consulting. That experience allows us to bring practical insight into the operational, regulatory and policy considerations that shape solution design.

We work with institutions to design and implement sustainable Workday Student solutions that support local regulatory requirements, align to institutional strategy and remain adaptable as university needs evolve. Our goal is not simply to deploy technology, but to help universities establish a foundation they can continue to own, operate and enhance long after implementation is complete.

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Why choose Cognizant:

• Entrepreneurial environment that welcomes your ideas
• Opportunity to do great work
• Outreach programs that support communities and tap into your volunteer spirit
• Learning opportunities to help current needs and advancement
• Global operations, with opportunities in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific
• An abundance of Affinity groups to meet your needs

Cognizant Core Values:

• Work as One: We think beyond roles, relying on each other’s strengths to win as a team.
• Raise the Bar: We always aim for excellence in how we work and what we deliver.
• Dare to Innovate: We push boundaries and take chances to reimagine what’s possible.
• Do the Right Thing: We all lead with integrity and always make the ethical choice.
• Own It: We own the outcomes for our company, colleagues, and community.