Senior Manager, Software Development Engineering

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

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 click here.

Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton

Primary 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.

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.

Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law.

Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law.

If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email accommodations@workday.com, as far in advance as possible.

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