Principal Software Development Engineer - Developer Platform

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

The Developer Platform team is building the foundation for Workday's open developer ecosystem. We design and operate the platform capabilities, APIs, SDKs, and developer-facing services that enable external developers and partners to build on Workday products—including Peakon, HiredScore, VNDLY, and more. Our work sits at the intersection of platform engineering, developer experience, and product strategy: we set the standards that make the platform reliable, extensible, and easy to adopt at scale.
We partner closely with product, engineering leadership, and external stakeholders to prioritize high-leverage capabilities and translate long-term vision into phased, executable plans. We take our mission seriously, approach decisions with clarity and purpose, and make space for the kind of open technical debate that produces durable architecture. If you are energized by shaping technical direction, mentoring senior engineers, and representing a platform to developer audiences, you will find meaningful ownership, strong collaboration, and a team that enjoys building together.

About the Role

As a Principal Software Development Engineer on the Developer Platform team, you will serve as a force multiplier for the organization—setting the technical vision for an open developer ecosystem and acting as a trusted advisor to engineering and product leadership on platform strategy, architecture, and long-term investment. You will define and drive the roadmap, lead API and SDK design at scale, and influence decisions that extend well beyond a single team or product line.

You will bring outsized organizational impact by raising the technical bar across a distributed engineering organization, establishing the standards that govern how Workday builds for external developers, and representing the platform to the broader developer community.

A key focus area for this role is leading the evolution of the Developer Portal front-end platform—from a monolithic UI into a set of decoupled, independently deployable applications with clear patterns for routing, state sharing, and application stitching.

In this role, you will:

• Define and drive the platform roadmap toward an open developer ecosystem, including API design, SDK frameworks, reusable component libraries, and extensibility primitives that enable third‑party developers and partners.

• Lead the technical strategy for the Developer Portal front-end platform, defining the architecture and shared patterns for splitting a monolithic UI into decoupled, independently deployable frontend applications, including routing, state sharing, and application stitching.

• Partner with product, engineering leadership, and external stakeholders to identify and prioritize platform capabilities that unlock new growth vectors.

• Establish and champion API governance, versioning strategy, backward-compatibility standards, and other platform engineering best practices.

• Evaluate and influence build-vs-integrate decisions for foundational components with a long-term view toward extensibility and ecosystem health, and translate long-horizon goals into phased, executable engineering plans.

• Mentor and grow senior engineers across teams, and sponsor engineers working through complex, ambiguous problems.

• Represent the platform externally through developer documentation, technical blogs, or developer relations activities to build trust and adoption.

About You

Basic Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including 3–5+ years at a principal or staff level leading front-end or platform architecture in large, distributed engineering organizations.

• 6+ years experience specifically focused on designing, building, and operating distributed systems.

• Deep expertise in modern front-end technologies including React, HTML, and CSS, with extensive experience in advanced state management patterns and building reusable component libraries/design systems.

• Experience owning the technical strategy for a complex web platform (such as a developer portal or multi-surface front-end) and driving platform-wide decisions from design through rollout.

• Experience designing, building, or operating developer platforms or external-facing ecosystems at scale, including responsibility for end-to-end application observability (error tracking, metrics instrumentation, and product analytics).

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; a Master's degree (e.g., MS in Computer Science, Distributed Systems, or related field) is strongly preferred or equivalent practical experience.

Other Qualifications

• Ability to establish API governance, SDK design standards, versioning strategy, and developer portal architecture that teams adopt consistently across the organization, not just within a single product or team.

• Deep expertise in cloud-native infrastructure and Kubernetes, with demonstrated experience deploying, operating, and scaling services on GCP, AWS, or Azure in production environments.

• Strong API design skills across REST and GraphQL, including authentication patterns such as OAuth 2.0 and OIDC, and the judgment to design public APIs that remain reliable, backward-compatible, and well-documented as they evolve.

• Ability to translate long-horizon platform goals into phased, executable engineering plans and build cross-team alignment on technical direction without relying on direct authority.

• Experience building platforms and developer portals consumed by external developers and partners, with a product-oriented approach to developer experience as a core quality bar.

• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to represent technical platforms externally through developer documentation, technical writing, or developer relations activities, and to explain complex architecture decisions clearly to varied audiences.

The following are advantageous but not required:

• Hands-on experience with LLM-backed services, agent frameworks, or related tooling.

• Knowledge of enterprise HCM, talent, or workforce management domains.

• Experience building or operating developer portals, API catalogs, marketplace platforms, or self-serve onboarding flows.

• Experience in multi-product or multi-tenant environments where a platform layer abstracts across distinct systems.

• Cloud certifications (GKE, AWS Solutions Architect, etc.).

Workday Pay Transparency Statement

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below.  Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.

Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton

 

Primary Location Base Pay Range: $222,900 USD - $334,300 USD

 

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $187,100 USD - $334,300 USD

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.

Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

At Workday, we are committed to providing an accessible and inclusive hiring experience where all candidates can fully demonstrate their skills. If you require assistance or an accommodation at any point, please email [email protected].

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