Sr. IT Business Analyst (Human Resources)

At Caribou Coffee we create day-making experiences that spark a chain reaction of GOOD! This is our purpose. Our team brings this to life by focusing on what’s really important around here – TEAM, GUEST, BUSINESS! It’s that simple. If you’re ready to work somewhere you can be yourself while making an impact on your community, creating life-long relationships, and serving the best coffee around, join our herd! Apply today and be part of the ‘Bou Crew! Position Overview:

The Sr. IT Business Analyst – Human Resources is a Workday specialist who sits within Information Technology, reports to the Sr. Manager, IT Applications, and serves as the key liaison between HR, IT, and external vendors. This role owns the configuration, delivery, and ongoing technical support of Workday and the HR platforms that surround it, translating HR business needs into scalable, well-tested system solutions and communicating with business users in clear, non-technical language.

The Sr. Analyst leads project-based Workday work, including business process design, configuration, integrations support, testing, and release management, and partners with HR on annual cycles such as performance, merit, and open enrollment. The role supports the technology across the full employee lifecycle, keeping data and process flowing cleanly across handoffs. The Analyst partners with the Payroll Analyst on the Payroll module and with IT peers on integrations, security, and access, and participates in Workday governance to keep priorities aligned across HR, Payroll, IT, and business leaders.

Core Responsibilities:

Product Ownership

• Serve as the primary point of technical accountability for Workday and closely related HR platforms (e.g., applicant tracking, learning, time and attendance, benefits, and recognition and engagement tools), ensuring configuration and delivery align with business objectives and delivering maximum value to stakeholders.
• Partner with HR, Payroll, and IT leadership to shape and execute the Workday roadmap and backlog, prioritizing features, enhancements, and defect resolution based on business impact, technical feasibility, and strategic goals.
• Lead business process design and release management; coordinate governance, change management, documentation, testing, and communication for Workday configuration updates and releases.
• Represent the voice of the customer in solution design, facilitating cross-functional discussions to clarify requirements, manage trade-offs, and build consensus on product direction.
• Monitor product performance and stability, balance scope, timeline, and cost trade-offs, and communicate progress and key decisions to stakeholders at all levels.

Business Analysis & Requirements Gathering

• Lead project-based analysis activities associated with process definition and design, performance management, and business operations optimization to support company objectives.
• Maintain deep functional expertise in Workday and its associated business processes, working with business users, IT management, and other stakeholders to determine business objectives, feasibility and cost-benefit analysis of project requests.
• Identify issues and risks and provide strategic alternative courses of action to achieve business and organizational goals and objectives within project scope.
• Mentor junior team members on requirements gathering and analysis best practices.

Solution Design, Testing, and Implementation

• Configure and support annual HR processes within Workday — such as performance reviews, merit and bonus cycles, and benefits open enrollment — ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and a seamless user experience.
• Determine configuration and custom development needs and communicate technical concepts to the users in clear, non-technical language.
• Influence solution design decisions and recommend approaches that balance business needs, technical feasibility, and scalability.
• Develop test plans and detailed test scripts; coordinate user acceptance testing and validate results with users to confirm solutions meet business requirements.
• Deliver end user training and procedural documentation, and support ad hoc information and reporting needs.
• Document and transition solution knowledge to the support team following project completion, and review project deliverables for quality and consistency.

Reporting & Analytics

• Build and maintain Workday reports, dashboards, and analytics — including executive, HR, and people-leader dashboards — translating workforce data into decision-ready insight for HR and business leaders.
• Support ad hoc data requests and business intelligence needs.
• Support HR data governance across the application portfolio — data quality, system security and access controls, audit readiness, and compliance with employee data privacy requirements — in partnership with HR, Legal, and Information Security.

Support, Governance, and Continuous Improvement

• Provide production support with business users and IT peers — troubleshooting, researching, resolving, and documenting system problems.
• Build, develop, and grow relationships with business users and other stakeholders to establish mutual trust and provide a foundation for effective project collaboration.
• Adhere strictly to established support and service management policies and procedures (i.e. incident, change, problem, SDLC, etc.), ensuring all activities are fully documented for auditing and future support purposes.

• Keep current on Workday releases and IT best practices to sustain the knowledge needed to support department goals.
• Act as an escalation point for system issues and lead root-cause analysis for complex problems.
• Recommend governance improvements and contribute to technology strategy discussions based on project outcomes.
• Configure and test AI and automation capabilities within HR platforms in line with established guardrails, validating accuracy and escalating bias or human-review concerns for governance decision.

Skills and Requirements:

• Brings the Core Values to life in all that you do: Support One Another, Make Fun Happen, Be Yourself, Take Ownership, Serve with Love.
• Exercises good judgement by making sound, data‐driven, informed decisions and influencing strategic direction for assigned projects and products.
• Works independently and collaboratively, managing multiple priorities and leading project-based workstreams to completion.
• Professional and courteous customer service.
• Excels in a fast-paced environment, responding quickly to business issues while maintaining focus on long-term objectives.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, able to translate business needs into clear technical requirements and recommend solutions balancing business priorities, technical feasibility, and scalability — with a proven sense of urgency and ownership of outcomes.
• Clear communicator who explains technical concepts in non-technical terms and works across cross-functional teams to build trust, resolve issues, and drive consensus.
• Experience with requirements gathering, documentation, and user acceptance testing, and with managing product roadmaps, backlogs, and prioritization against business objectives.
• Curiosity and passion for high-quality solutions, with genuine interest in the employee experience and the judgment to weigh employee-facing impact against technical, cost, and delivery considerations.

Qualifications:

Required:

• 8+ years of experience working in a business IT capacity or acting as a liaison with the Information Technology function
• 5+ years of experience as a Business Analyst or in an Application Administer or Support Analyst role related to business technology systems (packaged applications)
• 5+ years of hands-on experience configuring, maintaining, and administering Workday or other HCM modules (e.g., Core HCM, Payroll, Absence, Benefits, Compensation, Recruiting, and/or Performance), including business process design, condition rules, calculated fields, reporting, releases, and overall platform performance.
• Knowledge of SDLC and highly proficient in understanding business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements.
• Working knowledge of employee data privacy and compliance obligations, and experience applying data governance, security, and audit controls to HR data.

Preferred:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field
• Workday HCM Certification(s) in one or more HCM modules.
• Familiarity with compensation planning, performance enablement, and benefit file management in Workday or other HR system.

• Experience supporting HR transformation or system implementation projects.
• Experience with employee experience, engagement or pulse survey, or recognition platforms.
• Familiarity with reporting and analytics tooling (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) and with tiered HR service delivery models.

• Experience working in a business/IT capacity for a company with multi-unit retail, food service, or hospitality environment, with location-based org structures, a predominantly hourly workforce, and the scheduling, time-tracking, and wage-compliance workflows that come with it.
• Experience with Tier I/II business systems (e.g. HCM, ERP, POS, etc.).
• Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) certification

Physical Requirements:

The physical requirements for this position include sitting, standing, bending, lifting, and moving intermittently during working hours. These physical requirements must be accomplished with or without reasonable accommodation.

The duties of this position may change from time to time. Caribou reserves the right to add or delete duties and responsibilities at the discretion of Caribou or its managers. This job description is intended to describe the general level of work being performed. It is not intended to be all-inclusive.

Caribou Coffee Operating Company, Inc. and its affiliates are proud to be Equal Opportunity Employers to all applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type based on any characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

Address: | 3900 Lakebreeze Ave N , Brooklyn Center, Minnesota 55429 |

Compensation Range:

$75,894.00 - $126,490.00 per year

*Starting pay is subject to Local and State Minimum Wage regulations.

**Ranges reflect what employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for such position.

The physical demands for this position are reaching, lifting up to 50 pounds, sitting, standing, for 4 to 8 hours, bending, and moving intermittently during working hours. These physical demands may be accomplished with or without reasonable accommodations.

The duties of this position may change from time to time. Caribou Coffee reserves the right to add or delete duties and responsibilities at the discretion of the company or its managers. This job description is intended to describe the general level of work being performed. It is not intended to be all-inclusive.

Caribou Coffee Operating Company, Inc. and its affiliates are proud to be Equal Opportunity Employers to all applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type based on any characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

Brand:

Caribou Coffee