Sr Software Development Engineer, Product Engineering – API Platform & Agentic AI

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

Product Engineering builds the end to end product experiences that Workday customers use. Many of these experiences are now powered by agents and AI, which depend on a strong API foundation.
This role sits in Product Engineering but operates across product pillars. You will work closely with Product Engineering teams as well as partner organizations. You will shape the API foundation, architecture and operating model that makes it easy for Product Engineering to build agent ready, high quality APIs.

About the Role

As a Senior Software Development Engineer in Product Engineering, you will be a technical leader in designing and delivering high‑throughput, low‑latency APIs and frameworks that support Workday's next generation of products and agents. You will shape API design, drive performance and observability improvements, and coach and grow future senior engineers across the team.

You will:

• Lead design and implementation of APIs and platform features used by Product Engineering teams.
• Champion consistent API standards, patterns, and tooling that align with cross‑org guidance while solving concrete product needs.
• Help Product Engineering teams expose capabilities via REST, GraphQL, and emerging integration patterns in a way that is friendly to agents and external consumers.

What you’ll do

• Lead end‑to‑end design and development of complex backend services and APIs.
• Drive consensus with product managers, architects, and partner teams to define clear, evolvable API contracts and data models, using OpenAPI and internal standards.
• Drive performance and scalability improvements, including latency optimization, capacity planning, and resiliency strategies for mission‑critical product flows.
• Design and implement observability for product APIs (metrics, tracing, structured logging), and use data to drive technical decisions and SLOs.
• Collaborate on frameworks, tools, and patterns that make it simpler for other Product Engineering teams to define, publish, and maintain APIs.
• Work with data platform teams to define patterns for exposing data safely and efficiently to API and agent workflows.
• Provide technical leadership through design reviews, RFCs, spike investigations, and coaching junior engineers.
• Participate in and improve on‑call and incident response processes; own root cause analysis and long‑term remediation for significant issues.
• Act as a trusted technical partner to teams across Product Engineering, helping them make API and integration decisions.

About You

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years experience in software development engineering, architecting, building, and scaling robust and efficient software systems.
• 5+ years experience in the following programming languages and technologies: TypeScript or Python. 
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

Other Qualifications

• Strong ability in Algorithmic Thinking, including advanced data structures and algorithms such as graphs, concurrent data structures, and caching/eviction strategies, to design and optimize solutions for complex API orchestration, request routing, and high-throughput workloads.
• Solid experience with API Development, including REST, SOAP, and GraphQL, OpenAPI/Swagger-driven design, and experience in designing and building scalable, secure APIs and API integration patterns.
• Strong understanding of Code Testing methodologies, such as contract testing, performance testing, and system/integration testing, and experience with advanced testing tools or frameworks (e.g., JUnit, ScalaTest, Postman, Mockito, and coverage tools such as Jacoco or Scoverage).
• Strong understanding of Object-Oriented Design (OOD) principles like SOLID, domain-driven design concepts, and common architectural patterns (e.g., layered architecture, hexagonal architecture) and their application in designing scalable software architectures.
• Solid understanding of Software Development principles and advanced development methodologies such as continuous delivery, trunk-based development, and test-driven or behavior-driven development.
• Solid experience with Source Control Management (SCM) tools such as Git and advanced branching and merging strategies across multiple teams or services.
• Proven ability to lead Team Collaboration within a software development team and mentor junior and mid-level engineers through design reviews, technical guidance, and knowledge sharing.
• Strong skills in creating Technical Writing Documentation for comprehensive technical specifications, design documents, RFCs, and API and integration best-practice guides.
• Experience leveraging AI‑assisted code generation and review tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) to improve development speed and quality.
• Exposure to MCP or similar models is a strong plus.

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: $176,000 USD - $264,000 USD

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $148,200 USD - $264,000 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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