Lead API Architect – Remote & Flexible Work

Workday; Pleasanton (CA); Hybrid; USD 206.000 - 310.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

Workday is seeking a Principal API Architect in Product Engineering to define API architecture, standards, and reference implementations. You will shape end-to-end API strategy across REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and data contracts, partnering with product and engineering leaders to translate requirements into scalable services.

You bring 12+ years building large-scale backend systems, hands-on design of API endpoints, and mentoring teams on API governance.

Qualifikationen

• 12+ years building large-scale backend systems and APIs.
• Experience leading cross-team API architecture initiatives.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering, or equivalent practice.
• Experience designing API endpoints that expose product functionality securely at scale.

Aufgaben

• Define and evolve the API architecture, standards, and governance model for Product Engineering, spanning REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and emerging integration patterns used by Workday's agents and products.
• Partner with product and engineering teams to design product capabilities end to end — domain models, service boundaries, object models, and API endpoints — translating product requirements into scalable backend services and well‑structured API contracts.
• Establish and maintain API standards, including OpenAPI contract guidelines, resource modeling and naming conventions, authentication and multi‑tenant patterns, and error handling, versioning, and deprecation policies.
• Partner with 'API champions' across product areas to shape API roadmaps, identify gaps or duplication, and drive convergence on shared patterns and building blocks.
• Define reference architectures for agent‑ready APIs used by the Agent Factory, data‑centric APIs that safely expose data through Data Cloud, and latency and observability standards across the request path.
• Lead cross‑team API design reviews and serve as the final decision‑maker on contentious or high‑impact design questions.
• Shape and run a single, transparent intake and prioritization process for Product Engineering's API investments, and evaluate build/borrow/buy decisions for supporting tools such as contract testing, catalogs, and developer tooling.
• Mentor senior engineers and managers on API architecture and integration best practices, build communities of practice across Product Engineering, and communicate the API vision and progress to senior stakeholders.

Kenntnisse

API architecture

Cross-team leadership

Backend systems design

Domain modeling

API governance

Ausbildung

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Java

TypeScript

Python

OpenAPI/Swagger

Jobbeschreibung

Workday is seeking a Principal API Architect in Product Engineering to define API architecture, standards, and reference implementations. You will shape end-to-end API strategy across REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and data contracts, partnering with product and engineering leaders to translate requirements into scalable services.

You bring 12+ years building large-scale backend systems, hands-on design of API endpoints, and mentoring teams on API governance.