Workday

Sr Software Development Engineer - Distributed Systems

Workday$190K — $285K *
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years in Software Engineering, Big Data Platform Architecture, or Distributed Systems.
  • 5+ years of designing production-level software using Java.
  • Expertise in large-scale data processing frameworks like Apache Spark, Iceberg, and Parquet.
  • Strong skills in managing data services in AWS and GCP cloud environments.
  • BSc, MSc, or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.

Responsibilities

  • Architect and build platform capabilities for the Apache Iceberg solution.
  • Deliver services that optimize data from Workday’s core applications.
  • Ensure advanced metadata management and schema evolution for data exposure.
  • Enable real-time and analytical data unification without costly duplication.
  • Facilitate multi-cloud data accessibility for internal and external consumers.

Benefits

  • Flexible work schedule combining in-office and remote options.
  • Opportunity to collaborate closely with team members and stakeholders.
  • Access to comprehensive benefits package including potential bonuses and stock grants.
Full Job Description

About the Team

The OMS Data Lake team is a critical component of the Workday Data Cloud platform. Our mission is foundational to Workday's enterprise strategy, directly supporting the Open Platform initiative. We build the core next-generation infrastructure that decouples storage and compute, eliminating traditional data silos and enabling seamless, secure, ecosystem-wide data access. By engineering high-throughput distributed platform services, we transform how massive enterprise datasets are managed, shared, and queried across the industry.

About the Role

In this role, you will be architecting, building, and delivering the platform capabilities and services that power our Apache Iceberg zero-copy data lake solution. You will work on unlocking and unifying real-time and analytical data from Workday’s core operational business applications—including Human Capital Management (HCM), Financial Management, Recruiting, and more—without costly data duplication or heavy ETL overhead.

You will focus on building robust, high-performance services that expose transactional application engine data as optimized Iceberg tables, ensuring strict consistency, advanced metadata management, schema evolution, and multi-cloud data accessibility for both internal analytical engines and external third-party consumers.

About You

As a Senior Software Engineer on the OMS Data Lake team, these are the Core Competencies we would expect you to have:

  • Programming Languages: Java (Primary), Scala, or Python

  • Data & Storage Engines: Apache Iceberg, Apache Spark, Large-scale Database Internals (Relational, NoSQL, and Columnar Engine Concepts)

  • Distributed Systems: Distributed Processing, Query Execution/Optimization, Storage-Compute Separation, High-Throughput Service Mesh

  • Cloud Infrastructure: Multi-Cloud Managed Services: Amazon Web Services (AWS) & Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Basic Qualifications:

  • 8+ years of deep experience in Software Engineering, Big Data Platform Architecture, Distributed Systems, or a related technical field.

  • 5+ years of production-level experience designing and implementing highly concurrent software using Java.

  • Proven expertise with large-scale data processing frameworks like Apache Spark or Trino, and modern open table formats such as Apache Iceberg and Parquet.

  • Strong working knowledge of deploying, tuning, and maintaining data services within cloud-managed ecosystems across AWS and GCP.

Other Qualifications:

  • BSc, MSc, or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or an equivalent technical field.

  • Deep foundational understanding of database technologies, transaction processing (ACID properties), query execution plans, and file formats.

  • Exposure to operating system concepts including memory and storage management, threading, concurrency control, and networking.

  • Proficient in designing and maintaining sophisticated object-oriented software following clean code principles and API design.

  • Experience with production resiliency, monitoring, and debugging massive data platform infrastructure (e.g., Grafana, Prometheus, Kibana).


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: $190,100 USD - $285,100 USD


 

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $160,100 USD - $285,100 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

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Workday

More Enterprise Technology Jobs

Find similar Sr Software Development Engineer - Distributed Systems jobs: