Principal Software Development Engineer at Workday

Pleasanton, California, United States -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

18 Jul, 26

Salary

309600.0

Posted On

19 Apr, 26

Experience

10 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Distributed systems, Cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, CNCF, Go, Python, Ruby, Linux, Automation, CI/CD, Platform engineering, AWS, GCP, Architecture design, Observability, Scalability

Industry

Software Development

Description

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 Multi-Cloud Platform Engineering team is the architectural backbone of Workday. We don’t simply consume cloud infrastructure, we engineer the abstraction layer that allows one of the world’s largest enterprise SaaS platforms to operate seamlessly across AWS and GCP. Our team develops the core infrastructure services, automation frameworks, and operational tooling that power Workday’s multi-cloud environment. These platform capabilities are used by internal engineering teams, consultants, and technical partners to provision environments, onboard customers, and operate the Workday platform at scale. We work at the nexus of distributed systems, infrastructure engineering, and platform reliability, tackling complex technical challenges while empowering the broader engineering organization to innovate faster and operate more safely in the cloud. About the Role As a Principal Software Engineer, you will shape the technical direction and long-term architecture of Workday’s multi-cloud platform. You will lead the design of large-scale distributed systems, drive cross-team initiatives, and influence platform strategy across the organization. This role requires deep expertise in distributed systems and cloud infrastructure, combined with the ability to provide sound technical solutions to meet business requirements, solve complex technical challenges and drive alignment across multiple teams. What You’ll Do Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of multi-cloud platform services, ensuring they are secure, scalable, and highly available. Design and deliver large-scale, resilient distributed systems that support mission-critical workloads with strong performance and reliability guarantees. Drive cross-organizational technical strategy and initiatives to improve reliability, scalability, performance, and operational excellence across the platform. Identify, define, and drive solutions for complex, ambiguous platform challenges that span multiple teams, domains, and services. Establish and champion best practices for distributed systems design, reliability, observability, and automation, and ensure they are adopted across engineering teams. Provide technical leadership and mentorship to senior and staff engineers, raising the overall technical bar and fostering a culture of engineering excellence. Improve end-to-end observability, reliability, and automated recovery for platform services, including proactive detection, self-healing, and robust incident response. Accelerate onboarding of new customers, regions, and products through automation, standardization, and repeatable platform patterns. Drive cloud efficiency and infrastructure optimization at scale, including cost optimization, capacity planning, and effective use of cloud-native capabilities. About You Basic Qualifications: 12+ years building large-scale distributed systems or infrastructure platforms 10+ years of experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure, or Oracle) at scale 8+ years of production grade expertise with Kubernetes and the CNCF ecosystem 10+ years of proven experience designing scalable and resilient distributed systems 5+ years of development experience in Go 5+ years of experience with Python, Ruby, or Linux-based automation/scripting Other Qualifications: Experience building internal platforms used by multiple engineering teams Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure (networking, storage, compute) Experience leading large multi-quarter cross-organizational technical initiatives Strong background in automation, CI/CD, and platform engineering Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction without direct authority 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: $206,400 USD - $309,600 USD Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $173,300 USD - $309,600 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 accommodations@workday.com. 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. 🌟 Join Our Talent Community here! Stay connected with Workday: Get the latest news & content Be first to hear about new roles Never miss an opportunity 🌐 Career Site 💡 Benefits 🌟 Join Our Talent Community 📰 Workday Life Blog 🤝 Inclusion and Belonging 📄 Application and Interview Tips 🎓 Early Careers / Internships 📋Contractor Job Site 👩‍💻 Engineering, but brighter. 💼 Sales, but brighter. 🤝 CX & Consulting, but brighter. Visit our Career Site here. Read more below to learn more on our stance on being a proud equal opportunity workplace, pay transparency and accommodation support. Workday is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Workday are considered without regards to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Further, pursuant to applicable local ordinances, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We do not accept resumes from headhunters, placement agencies, or other suppliers that have not signed a formal agreement with us. You may view the Workday's Pay Transparency Policy, and Know Your Rights Notice, by clicking on their corresponding links. Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities, disabled veterans, and others during our application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability or for religious reasons, contact us at accommodations@workday.com.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of multi-cloud platform services to ensure they are secure, scalable, and highly available. Drive cross-organizational technical strategy and initiatives to improve reliability, performance, and operational excellence across the platform.