The Jira Issue Updater Plugin has a build step that can be used to issue workflow updates as part of a build. Unfortunately that plugin doesn't tie in with the JIRA Plugin, so you must manually enter the wsdl URL, username, and password every time the build step is used.

Adding a build step would allow the workflow actions to be taken in series with an existing job configuration.

Additionally, adding a notifier (post-Recorder, which is how the JiraIssueUpdater works), would allow the job to delay updating the workflow action until all other recorders have finished (if that is the desire).