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 Agent Runtime team builds Workday’s secure execution platform for enterprise AI agents. We are creating the runtime substrate that enforces policy by architecture, not by prompt, with deterministic controls for data access, tool use, model routing, and auditability.Our charter spans runtime isolation, policy enforcement boundaries, model mediation, and observability at scale. We partner closely with other engineering and platform teams at Workday to deliver a multi-language, enterprise-grade agent runtime.
About the Role
As a Senior Software Development Engineer, you will design and build core runtime capabilities for policy-governed agent execution. You will own high-impact technical areas across sandbox execution, sidecar interfaces, enforcement flows, and production reliability.
In this role, you will:
Design and implement core runtime services for secure, isolated agent execution.
Build deterministic enforcement pathways for data, context, tool, and model boundaries.
Define and evolve service interfaces and contracts across maincar and sidecar components.
Improve performance, scalability, and resilience for high-concurrency workloads.
Build deep observability into runtime behavior, policy decisions, and audit traces.
Partner with cross-functional teams to integrate data prep, context assembly, tool gating, and model mediation.
Participate in architecture reviews, incident response, and operational hardening.
Mentor engineers and help raise engineering quality across the team.
As a Software Development Engineer III on the Agent Runtime team, you will implement key runtime components and services that power secure agent execution. You will contribute to design, coding, testing, and operations for systems that enforce policy and reliability guarantees in production.
In this role, you will:
Build backend services and runtime components for cell lifecycle and execution control.
Implement policy-aware data, context, tool, and model access pathways.
Contribute to interface development between runtime components and partner systems.
Write high-quality, testable code and participate in code and design reviews.
Develop telemetry and logging capabilities for traceability and operational insight.
Support production operations, performance tuning, and incident follow-through.
Collaborate closely with senior engineers and partner teams on roadmap delivery.
About You
Sr. Software Development Engineer
Basic Qualification
8+ years experience in software development engineering, architecting, building, and scaling robust and efficient software systems.
6+ years of software engineering experience building backend or platform systems.
Other Qualification
Strong experience with distributed systems, APIs, and service-oriented architecture.
Experience building secure systems with least-privilege patterns and policy controls.
Proficiency in at least one systems or backend language (for example, Java, Go, Rust, or Python).
Experience operating production services with strong reliability and observability practices.
Demonstrated ownership of complex technical projects from design through production.
Strong collaboration and communication skills in cross-functional environments.
Software Development Engineer III
Basic Qualification
5+ years experience in software development engineering including designing, developing, and deploying software solutions.
3+ years of software engineering experience in backend or platform development.
Other Qualification
Solid foundation in distributed systems fundamentals, APIs, and data modeling.
Proficiency in one or more programming languages used for backend systems.
Experience building and shipping production services with testing and monitoring.
Working knowledge of security fundamentals, including authentication, authorization, and least-privilege concepts.
Ability to debug complex issues and deliver reliable fixes in production environments.
Strong written and verbal communication skills and effective team collaboration.
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.CO.Boulder
Additional Considerations:
The application deadline for this role is the same as the posting end date stated as below:
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].
Are you being referred to one of our roles? If so, ask your connection at Workday about our Employee Referral process!
At Workday, we value our candidates’ privacy and data security. Workday will never ask candidates to apply to jobs through websites that are not Workday Careers.
Please be aware of sites that may ask for you to input your data in connection with a job posting that appears to be from Workday but is not.
In addition, Workday will never ask candidates to pay a recruiting fee, or pay for consulting or coaching services, in order to apply for a job at Workday.
Skills Required
- 8+ years experience in software development engineering (Sr. level)
- 6+ years building backend or platform systems (Sr. role)
- 5+ years experience in software development engineering (SDE III)
- 3+ years of backend or platform development experience (SDE III)
- Strong experience with distributed systems, APIs, and service-oriented architecture
- Experience building secure systems with least-privilege patterns and policy controls
- Proficiency in at least one systems/backend language (Java, Go, Rust, or Python)
- Experience operating production services with strong reliability and observability practices
- Demonstrated ownership of complex technical projects from design through production
- Working knowledge of security fundamentals: authentication, authorization, least-privilege
- Experience building and shipping production services with testing, monitoring, and telemetry
- Ability to debug complex production issues and deliver reliable fixes
- Strong written and verbal communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
Workday Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Workday and has not been reviewed or approved by Workday.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is positioned as broad and well-supported, with multiple medical carrier options, virtual care access, and some locations offering onsite clinic/pharmacy services. Mental health support is described as notably strong, including therapy sessions and confidential support availability for household members.
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Parental & Family Support — Family-related benefits are portrayed as extensive, including paid bonding and caregiver leave alongside fertility, adoption, and surrogacy reimbursement. Added support like parenting resources, milk-shipping/lactation assistance during travel, and backup child/elder care is explicitly outlined.
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Strong & Reliable Incentives — Equity participation and savings-oriented programs are presented as meaningful components of total rewards, including an ESPP discount with a lookback feature. Additional programs like a student-loan pathway to earn the 401(k) match are included as financial-support enhancements.
Workday Insights
What We Do
Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance, HR, and planning. Founded in 2005, Workday delivers financial management, human capital management, and analytics applications designed for the world’s largest companies, educational institutions, and government agencies. Organizations ranging from medium-sized businesses to Fortune 50 enterprises have selected Workday.
