Job description

Location: Hybrid in Exton, PA, in office 2-3x per week. Position Summary: Every AI tool Bentley builds, every people decision we make, and every paycheck we send depends on one thing: trustworthy employee data. This role is responsible for that foundation. The HR Data Governance & Quality Lead owns the accuracy, integrity, security, and lifecycle of employee master data across Workday and our broader HR ecosystem. This is a hands-on, senior individual contributor role. You will build the governance frameworks, quality controls, and accountability structures that keep our people data clean, compliant, and audit-ready. What makes this role genuinely demanding is not the technical complexity, though that is real. It is the scope of influence required. You will work across HR, Payroll, Finance, IT, Legal, and Compliance, holding partners accountable for data quality without having direct authority over any of them. That requires credibility, persistence, and the ability to make people care about something they did not know they were responsible for. This is a role for someone who finds satisfaction in precision, who knows that getting the details right is not a small thing, and who understands that the integrity of data touching thousands of people's lives and careers deserves exactly that level of care. If you are the person who notices when something is off, builds the system to prevent it from happening again, and follows through until it is fixed, we want to meet you. Responsibilities: • Own the HR master data governance framework, standards, policies, and operating model. • Ensure completeness, accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of employee master data across all HR systems with regular validations. • Define data ownership, stewardship, accountability, and RACI models across HR, Payroll, IT, Finance, and business functions. • Establish data quality KPIs, scorecards, dashboards, and remediation plans. • Lead proactive data validation, reconciliation, exception management, and root-cause analysis. • Develop preventive and detective controls to reduce data defects before downstream processing. • Coordinate data cleansing initiatives before implementations, acquisitions, reorganizations, and integrations. • Ensure compliance with global privacy regulations, confidentiality requirements, and least-privilege access principles. • Own HR data retention, archival, and purge policies in partnership with Legal, Records Management, and Information Security. • Partner with HR Operations, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Payroll, Benefits, IT, Identity Management, and Finance to resolve data issues. • Establish governance forums and drive stakeholder accountability for timely completion of data corrections. • Support internal and external audits including SOX, ITGC, GDPR, and regulatory requirements. • Document data definitions, business rules, validation logic, and standard operating procedures. • Recommend automation, AI, and workflow improvements that increase data quality and reduce manual effort. • Provide training and best practices for HR users, managers, and data stewards. • This is an individual contributor role. • Requires sitting or standing at will while performing work on a computer (or any other physical requirements ). Qualifications: • Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Human Resources, Business, Data Management, or related field. • 4+ years of experience in HRIS, HR Operations, Master Data Management, Data Governance, or HR Technology. • Deep knowledge of Workday HCM. • Strong understanding of employee lifecycle processes and global HR data structures. • Experience designing data quality controls, validation frameworks, and governance processes. • Knowledge of GDPR, SOX, ITGC, privacy, records retention, and information security practices. • Strong analytical skills with advanced Excel, Power BI, or equivalent reporting tools. • Exceptional stakeholder management, influencing, communication, and problem-solving capabilities. • Ability to manage multiple priorities while driving enterprise-wide governance initiatives. What We Offer: • A great Team and culture – please see our colleague video . • An exciting career as an integral part of a world-leading software company providing solutions for architecture, engineering, and construction - watch this short documentary about how we got our start. • An attractive salary and benefits package. • A commitment to inclusion, belonging and colleague wellbeing through global initiatives and resource groups. • A company committed to making a real difference by advancing the world’s infrastructure for better quality of life, where your contributions help build a more sustainable, connected, and resilient world. Discover our latest user success stories for an insight into our global impact. #LI-CS1 #LI-HYBRID  About Bentley Systems Around the world, infrastructure professionals rely on software from Bentley Systems to help them design, build, and operate better and more resilient infrastructure for transportation, water, energy, cities, and more. Founded in 1984 by engineers for engineers, Bentley is the partner of choice for engineering firms and owner-operators worldwide, with software that spans engineering disciplines, industry sectors, and all phases of the infrastructure lifecycle. Through our digital twin solutions, we help infrastructure professionals unlock the value of their data to transform project delivery and asset performance. www.bentley.com Equal Opportunity Employer: Bentley is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, pregnancy, protected veteran status, religion, national origin, age, genetic information or any other protected characteristic. This commitment extends to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, compensation, and training. Know Your Rights as an applicant under the law. Bentley Policy on EEO, Affirmative Action and Pay Transparency Non-Discrimination Bentley participates in e-Verify / Bentley participate in e-Verify / Right to Work Notice Request an Accommodation: As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Bentley is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. We encourage you to request a reasonable accommodation if you are not able to fully use or access our online application system. You can make an accommodation request by calling 610-458-5000 or sending us an email at disabilityrequest@bentley.com

Requirements

Must-haves

Location: Hybrid in Exton, PA, in office 2-3x per week.
Every AI tool Bentley builds, every people decision we make, and every paycheck we send depends on one thing: trustworthy employee data. This role is responsible for that foundation.
If you are the person who notices when something is off, builds the system to prevent it from happening again, and follows through until it is fixed, we want to meet you.
Own the HR master data governance framework, standards, policies, and operating model.
Ensure completeness, accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of employee master data across all HR systems with regular validations.
Define data ownership, stewardship, accountability, and RACI models across HR, Payroll, IT, Finance, and business functions.
Establish data quality KPIs, scorecards, dashboards, and remediation plans.
Lead proactive data validation, reconciliation, exception management, and root-cause analysis.
Develop preventive and detective controls to reduce data defects before downstream processing.
Coordinate data cleansing initiatives before implementations, acquisitions, reorganizations, and integrations.
Ensure compliance with global privacy regulations, confidentiality requirements, and least-privilege access principles.
Own HR data retention, archival, and purge policies in partnership with Legal, Records Management, and Information Security.
Partner with HR Operations, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Payroll, Benefits, IT, Identity Management, and Finance to resolve data issues.
Establish governance forums and drive stakeholder accountability for timely completion of data corrections.
Support internal and external audits including SOX, ITGC, GDPR, and regulatory requirements.
Document data definitions, business rules, validation logic, and standard operating procedures.
Recommend automation, AI, and workflow improvements that increase data quality and reduce manual effort.
Provide training and best practices for HR users, managers, and data stewards.
This is an individual contributor role.
Requires sitting or standing at will while performing work on a computer (or any other physical requirements ).
Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Human Resources, Business, Data Management, or related field.
4+ years of experience in HRIS, HR Operations, Master Data Management, Data Governance, or HR Technology.
Deep knowledge of Workday HCM.
Strong understanding of employee lifecycle processes and global HR data structures.

Nice-to-haves

None flagged.

Application prep

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Keywords to mirror

Platform: successfactors
Effort: medium