Executive Assistant

Your work days are brighter here.

We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

About the Role

Key Requirements for the Role

• Support the Country Managing Director and broader Workday South Africa operating team. The role is positioned to support the Country MD and the wider Workday SA team, with responsibilities that go beyond standard executive support.
• Provide strategic meeting, communication, and decision support. This includes managing the Country MD’s complex calendar, prioritising meetings based on business priorities, preparing agendas and materials, capturing decisions and actions, and ensuring follow-up.
• Act as a liaison between the Country MD and key stakeholders. The role manages information flow between the Country MD and internal and external stakeholders, including customers, partners, and regional leadership.
• Manage operational and logistical execution. This includes domestic and international travel coordination, ground transportation, accommodation, itinerary creation, disruption planning, and backup arrangements.
• Oversee expenses and support financial tracking. The role prepares, submits, and tracks expense reports for the Country MD, ensures compliance with company policy, and assists with tracking country-level operational budget items.
• Improve workflows and operating processes. The role is expected to identify and implement new processes, tools, and workflows to improve efficiency for the Country MD and the broader Workday South Africa team.
• Prepare executive materials and communications. This includes preparing and refining presentations, board packs, briefing materials, reports, and communications for the MD’s office, ensuring quality and alignment with Workday brand standards.
• Plan and execute team events and culture activities. The role manages logistics, vendors, and budgets for internal events and team activities, while serving as a team and culture champion.
• Support change management and onboarding. This includes helping manage organisational changes within the country team, coordinating onboarding for new senior hires, and helping stakeholders navigate the broader Workday enterprise structure.
• Handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion. The role requires access to sensitive information, including organisational changes, financial performance, and personnel matters, and must handle this information with integrity and professional discretion.
• Own B-BBEE programme management for Workday South Africa. The role manages external B-BBEE consulting partners and internal stakeholders, tracks scorecard elements, maintains verification-ready documentation and evidence files, and aligns B-BBEE initiatives with business objectives.
• Maintain B-BBEE documentation and audit readiness. The role is responsible for maintaining verification-ready documentation and evidence files to support B-BBEE compliance.
• Co-lead the Workmate Community and CSI programme. This includes Mandela Day “67 Minutes” activities, Johannesburg quarterly events, Pub Quiz, Christmas, Heritage Day, Workforce Week job-seeker coaching, and the Johannesburg community newsletter.
• Support socio-economic development and employee engagement. The Workmate Community and CSI responsibilities contribute to the SED element of the B-BBEE scorecard, support employee retention and engagement, and help maintain the cultural fabric of the Johannesburg office.
• Support the Country MD’s external engagements. The role researches and prepares talking points, briefing notes, and stage-ready materials for industry events, customer summits, and panel engagements.
• Coordinate with senior leadership and external partners. The role supports content review and delivery logistics for Country MD external engagements.
• Provide sales operations liaison support. Because of the smaller scale of the South Africa go-to-market team, the role supports the Account Executive function through sales operating rhythm tools, demand-generation workflows, pipeline data hygiene, and planning of strategic sales initiatives such as Sales Kick-Off.
• Bring strong programme and project coordination capability. The role has expanded beyond the original contract terms to include B-BBEE programme management, Workmate Community leadership, and operational support across the Johannesburg team.
• Support operational continuity for the South Africa office. The role holds institutional knowledge across Workday SA’s operating cadence, B-BBEE evidence files, supplier and consulting partner relationships, the Country MD’s working patterns, and the broader team’s operating rhythms.
• Contribute to regulatory and commercial readiness. B-BBEE compliance is a regulatory function with direct commercial consequences for procurement access, public-sector tender eligibility, and Workday’s reputation in the South African market.

About You

The ideal person for this role should be highly trusted, proactive, discreet, and commercially aware, with the maturity to operate close to senior leadership while also driving hands-on execution across the South Africa office. This role requires someone who can balance strategic judgement with operational discipline, because the position supports the Country Managing Director, the broader Workday South Africa operating team, and several country-specific workstreams that are business-critical.

Will: Motivation, Mindset, and Behaviour

The person needs a strong ownership mindset. They should naturally take accountability, anticipate what needs to be done, and follow through without waiting for direction. The role has expanded beyond traditional executive support into B-BBEE programme management, Workmate Community leadership, sales operations liaison, and operational support, so the person must be motivated by broad responsibility and visible impact.

They should be purpose-driven and committed to local impact. A strong fit would be someone who understands the importance of B-BBEE, employment equity, community engagement, and Workday’s role in the South African market. They should care about contributing to both business outcomes and the cultural fabric of the Johannesburg office.

They must be resilient and comfortable with ambiguity. The South Africa team is lean, which means priorities may shift quickly and the role may need to flex across executive support, operations, compliance, community programmes, and sales support. The person should be energised by variety rather than constrained by a narrow job scope.

They should demonstrate discretion, integrity, and sound judgement. The role handles confidential information, financial matters, personnel topics, and regulatory documentation. The person must have the personal maturity to know what to share, when to escalate, and how to protect sensitive information.

They should be service-oriented but not passive. The right individual will support senior leaders and the team with humility and professionalism, while also being confident enough to challenge constructively, improve processes, and drive accountability across stakeholders.

Skill: Capabilities and Strengths

The person needs strong executive support and stakeholder management skills. They must be able to manage a complex senior-leader environment, prioritise effectively, communicate professionally, and act as a trusted liaison between the Country MD, customers, partners, regional leadership, and the broader South Africa team.

They require excellent organisational and execution skills. The role demands disciplined follow-through across calendars, meetings, travel, expenses, events, financial tracking, compliance documentation, and programme deliverables. Attention to detail and reliability are essential.

They should bring strong programme coordination capability. The person must be able to manage multiple moving parts across B-BBEE, Workmate Community, CSI, sales operations support, leadership engagements, and country-level projects, while keeping stakeholders aligned and deadlines on track.

They need a governance and compliance mindset. While they do not need to be a legal or B-BBEE specialist on day one, they should understand the importance of documentation, audit readiness, evidence files, policy compliance, and regulatory deadlines.

They should communicate clearly and produce high-quality materials. The role supports presentations, board packs, briefing notes, reports, talking points, and executive communications, so strong written communication and the ability to create polished, leadership-ready outputs are important.

Our Approach to Flexible Work
 

With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.

Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law.

Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law.

If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email accommodations@workday.com, as far in advance as possible.

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