Ellucian Banner HR/Payroll Functional Consultant (UKG Integration)

Summary: We are seeking a senior Ellucian Banner HR/Payroll Functional Consultant to facilitate the integration of a client's on-premise Banner 9 environment with UKG Pro for payroll processing. The role emphasizes functional expertise, data mapping, and process design, requiring collaboration with various stakeholders to ensure accurate data flows and post-payroll processes. The consultant will not engage in hands-on coding but will focus on defining requirements and documentation. This position is remote and classified as outside IR35.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the functional subject matter expert for Banner HR/Payroll (Banner 9, on-prem, Oracle) with deep knowledge of HR/payroll tables, fields, and baseline processes.
• Analyze existing HR/payroll configurations, data structures, and business processes in Banner, with a focus on how payroll data feeds downstream modules (Finance, Financial Aid, Advancement/Raiser’s Edge, benefits, time and effort).
• Define the data mapping between Banner and UKG Pro, including what data must flow Banner UKG and what post-payroll data must return UKG Banner.
• Interpret and document the meaning and usage of critical Banner HR/payroll fields (e.g., activity dates, earnings codes, position numbers, labor distributions) and how they relate to UKG’s person-centric model.
• Collaborate with UKG functional and technical teams to align on required data elements and clarify field definitions on the UKG side.
• Work closely with the client’s integration architect to translate functional requirements into detailed mapping documents and integration specifications (what to build, not how to code it).
• Help resolve key challenges such as job-level vs. person-level cost allocation, ensuring accurate and compliant distribution of payroll costs in Banner.
• Identify the minimal viable data set required to maintain critical operations, avoiding over-engineering while ensuring downstream processes continue to function.
• Define and recommend interim/manual workarounds (e.g., report-based processes from UKG) during the period when systems are not fully synchronized, and assess risks/impacts of delayed data feeds (Finance, Financial Aid, etc.).
• Support and guide testing and validation of payroll integrations and post-payroll processes, including test planning, scenario definition, and results analysis.
• Advise on opportunities to re-engineer or optimize Banner HR/payroll processes to better align with best practices and the new UKG-based payroll model.
• Provide knowledge transfer and documentation to internal HR, IT, and Finance teams.

Key Skills:

• Extensive hands-on functional experience with Ellucian Banner HR and Payroll modules (Banner 9 preferred), including deep understanding of HR/payroll tables, fields, and baseline processes.
• Proven experience working on Banner HR/Payroll integrations with third-party or outsourced payroll systems (UKG Pro strongly preferred; other major payroll platforms acceptable if Banner side expertise is strong).
• Strong ability to interpret complex data models and explain what individual fields represent in operational and post-payroll contexts.
• Demonstrated experience creating data mapping and integration design documents used by technical teams to build APIs, ETL, or other integration components.
• Solid understanding of how Banner payroll data feeds downstream functions such as Finance, Financial Aid, benefits, and Advancement.
• Experience dealing with cost allocation and reconciling job-level vs. person-level payroll structures.
• Comfortable working with technical teams; ability to read or write basic SQL for data validation and troubleshooting is a plus.
• Prior experience in higher education and familiarity with Ellucian/Banner’s typical implementation patterns.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of translating functional needs into precise, implementation-ready requirements.

Salary (Rate): undetermined

City: undetermined

Country: USA

Working Arrangements: remote

IR35 Status: outside IR35

Seniority Level: undetermined

Industry: Other