Workday

Senior Manager, Software Development Engineering

Workday$209K — $314K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years in software engineering leadership with a focus on cloud systems and AI applications
  • 10+ years in software design for enterprise-scale systems
  • 2+ years leading teams in LLMs or generative AI design
  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant technical field
  • Proven talent for hiring and retaining top engineering talent
  • In-depth knowledge of modern generative AI technologies and frameworks
  • Expertise in managing products in distributed environments concerning API integration and system responsiveness

Responsibilities

  • Build and mentor a high-performing AI engineering team
  • Ensure on-time delivery of robust AI agent projects
  • Translate business requirements into technical solutions alongside stakeholders
  • Collaborate with architects for seamless platform integration
  • Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement
  • Integrate cutting-edge AI technologies into solutions
  • Implement rigorous testing and feedback loops for agent performance

Benefits

  • Flexible work arrangements combining in-person and remote work
  • Opportunity to engage with customers and partners in the field
  • Strong culture of collaboration and innovation
  • Access to cutting-edge AI technologies and resources
  • Commitment to career growth and professional development
Full Job Description

About the Team

Agent Factory is where Workday’s next chapter gets built. We’re forming small, senior, cross-functional AI teams that bring together product leaders, AI engineers, and full-stack builders to create intelligent agents used by millions of people every day. This is production-grade AI—deeply embedded into Workday’s platform—not research experiments or maintenance work. Teams own problems end to end, collaborate tightly across disciplines, and use the right tools to solve real customer challenges at global scale. You’ll work at the intersection of AI, platform architecture, and human workflows, with the autonomy to shape how agents reason, act, and scale responsibly. High trust, high expectations, and real impact. Engineering, but brighter.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled and visionary Senior Manager to lead the development of AI agents for our HR and Finance business. You will be responsible for building and mentoring a high-performing engineering team, driving technical excellence and ensuring the delivery of robust, scalable and secure AI agent solutions that seamlessly integrate with our Workday ecosystem and deliver outstanding experiences for our customers.

Responsibilities:

  • Build, lead, and mentor a team of exceptional AI agent engineers.

  • Ensure timely project delivery to exceptional standards of our AI agents.

  • Work closely with product managers, data scientists and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions

  • Collaborate with architects and principal engineers to ensure seamless integration with the Workday platform

  • Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement and learning.

  • Evaluate and integrate cutting-edge AI technologies, including LLMs, RAG, and orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangGraph)

  • Collaborate with external vendors and open-source communities to leverage best-in-class AI technologies

  • Ensure all AI solutions adhere to data privacy, security, and compliance standards

  • Implement robust testing, monitoring and feedback loops to ensure agent performance and reliability

  • Ensure the scalability, reliability, and security of AI agent solutions within the Workday environment.

About You

Basic Qualifications

  • 5+ years of professional experience in software engineering leadership (managing direct reports), with a strong focus on cloud-based systems and product-facing AI/ML applications.

  • 10+ years of total professional experience in software design and development for mission-critical, enterprise-scale systems.

  • 2+ years of leadership experience directing teams focused specifically on LLMs, generative AI application design, or advanced AI orchestration.

Other Qualifications

  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.

  • Talent Magnet: Proven ability to seek out, hire, and retain highest-performing engineering professionals to build cutting-edge, ambiguous products.

  • AI Domain Fluency: Deep understanding of the modern generative AI stack, including LLMs, RAG patterns, multi-agent frameworks, and vector databases.

  • Enterprise Execution: Experience managing product constraints in distributed environments, focusing specifically on API integration, token utilization, and system responsiveness.

  • Responsible AI Stewardship: Passion for and commitment to building secure, governed AI systems that respect enterprise-grade data privacy and compliance.

  • Communication & Influence: Strong problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills, with a knack for translating complex AI capabilities into clear strategic milestones for stakeholders.

  • Experience with the Workday platform 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 .

Primary Location: USA.CA.PleasantonPrimary Location Base Pay Range: $209,600 USD - $314,400 USD


 

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $174,800 USD - $314,400 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.

About Workday

Workday, Inc. is a provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources. The Company delivers financial management, human capital management and analytics applications designed for various companies, educational institutions and government agencies. As part of its applications, the Company provides embedded analytics that capture the content and context of everyday business events, facilitating informed decision-making from wherever users are working. Its applications include Workday Financial Management, Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) and Other Applications. It also provides open, standards-based Web-services application programming interfaces, and pre-built packaged integrations and connectors. Workday, Inc. is headquartered in Pleasanton, California.
Learn more about Workday
Size
15,932 employees
Market Cap
$42.2 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$282.4 million
Founded
2005
5 Year Trend
+26.7%
Revenue
$4.3 billion
NASDAQ

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