Principal Product Manager, Enterprise Applications

Workday; Pleasanton (CA); Hybrid; USD 196,000 - 294,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday is seeking an experienced Principal Product Manager to shape the future of digital work for thousands of Workmates globally. You will own vision, strategy, roadmap, and outcomes for enterprise productivity and collaboration capabilities, partnering with stakeholders, engineering, security, and legal.

You will translate employee and business needs into scalable, secure product experiences while applying AI thoughtfully to improve workflows and business results, balancing risk, privacy,

Qualifications

• 12+ years of product management, program management, or related experience delivering enterprise applications or digital products.
• 5+ years of experience owning product vision, strategy, roadmaps, backlog prioritization, and end-to-end product delivery in a complex enterprise environment.
• 5+ years of experience leading large, high-impact, cross-functional initiatives involving multiple engineering teams, platforms, stakeholders, and dependencies.
• 5+ years of experience working in Agile, Scrum, or similar product-development methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Establish and own a compelling product vision and strategic roadmap aligned to Workday’s corporate vision, business-unit priorities, cross-company initiatives and product maturity.
• Lead strategic engagements with business stakeholders to understand priorities, define problems, build alignment, and develop business cases and ROI models for roadmap investments.
• Define and measure product success through adoption, usage, employee experience, operational efficiency, reliability, cost, risk, and other relevant KPIs.
• Serve as the voice of the customer for employees and business stakeholders, conducting regular strategic engagements to understand user priorities, pain points, and improvement opportunities.
• Leverage AI-powered tools and product analytics to synthesize employee feedback, usage data, market trends into clear problem definitions, product opportunities, and value hypotheses.
• Prioritize product features, technical issue resolution, technical debt reduction, and vendor capabilities based on business value, user impact, risk, feasibility, and highest organizational impact.
• Translate strategic initiatives into clear product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, release plans, and measurable outcomes for globally distributed engineering and Scrum teams.
• Partner with Delivery Managers, Domain Architects, engineering leaders, and other cross-functional partners to drive discovery, proof-of-concept opportunities, technical solution design, and execution.

Skills

Product strategy

Roadmap development

Stakeholder management

Agile / Scrum

AI for enterprise

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Business/IT

MBA or advanced degree (plus)

Job 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 Digital Employee Experience team is part of Business Technology (BT) delivering innovative, engaging digital experiences for our global workforce. We understand the needs and challenges of Workmates and create solutions that improve productivity, engagement, and satisfaction. We partner closely with teams across Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, HR, Employee Communications, and other functions to deliver seamless, integrated experiences that support business operations and help Workmates do their best work. We are a collaborative, dynamic team that values creativity, innovation, customer empathy, and continuous improvement.

About The Role

We are seeking a highly strategic and experienced Principal Product Manager to shape the future of digital work at Workday. In this pivotal role, you will own the vision, strategy, roadmap, and product outcomes for critical enterprise productivity and collaboration capabilities that impact thousands of Workmates globally.

You will lead transformative initiatives across a complex internal ecosystem, partnering with business stakeholders, engineering, architecture, security, legal, procurement, vendors, and executive leadership. You will translate employee and business needs into scalable, secure, high-quality product experiences that advance Workday’s strategic goals and operational excellence. This role requires a strong combination of product strategy, enterprise technology expertise, executive influence, customer empathy, data-driven decision-making, and AI fluency. You will identify opportunities to responsibly apply modern AI capabilities to improve workflows, employee experiences, adoption, and business outcomes while balancing usability, security, risk, compliance, and return on investment.

Job Duties

• Establish and own a compelling product vision and strategic roadmap aligned to Workday’s corporate vision, business-unit priorities, cross-company initiatives and product maturity.
• Lead strategic engagements with business stakeholders to understand priorities, define problems, build alignment, and develop business cases and ROI models for roadmap investments.
• Define and measure product success through adoption, usage, employee experience, operational efficiency, reliability, cost, risk, and other relevant KPIs.
• Serve as the voice of the customer for employees and business stakeholders, conducting regular strategic engagements to understand user priorities, pain points, and improvement opportunities.
• Leverage AI-powered tools and product analytics to synthesize employee feedback, usage data, market trends into clear problem definitions, product opportunities, and value hypotheses.
• Prioritize product features, technical issue resolution, technical debt reduction, and vendor capabilities based on business value, user impact, risk, feasibility, and highest organizational impact.
• Translate strategic initiatives into clear product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, release plans, and measurable outcomes for globally distributed engineering and Scrum teams.
• Partner with Delivery Managers, Domain Architects, engineering leaders, and other cross-functional partners to drive discovery, proof-of-concept opportunities, technical solution design, and execution.

AI and Enterprise Technology Leadership

• Maintain current knowledge of modern AI capabilities, limitations, and emerging practices, particularly as they relate to enterprise SaaS products, agents, natural-language interfaces, automated insights, recommendations, and AI-driven analytics.
• Identify and prioritize practical AI opportunities that create measurable value for Workmates and the business.
• Evaluate vendor and SaaS AI capabilities critically, distinguishing deployable, value-creating features from marketing claims and ensuring alignment with business needs, enterprise data, security, privacy, compliance, and architecture requirements.

Cross-Functional Influence and Operational Excellence

• Build strong, trusted relationships and influence without direct authority to drive clarity, alignment, accountability, and shared outcomes across a broad stakeholder community.
• Navigate and contribute to enterprise governance processes, including security reviews, legal and privacy approvals, architecture governance, procurement, vendor management, and budget or spending oversight where applicable.

About You

Basic Qualifications

• 12+ years of product management, program management, or related experience delivering enterprise applications or digital products.
• 5+ years of experience owning product vision, strategy, roadmaps, backlog prioritization, and end-to-end product delivery in a complex enterprise environment.
• 5+ years of experience leading large, high-impact, cross-functional initiatives involving multiple engineering teams, platforms, stakeholders, and dependencies.
• 5+ years of experience working in Agile, Scrum, or similar product-development methodologies.

Other Qualifications

• Experience delivering employee-facing digital products, such as intranets, mobile applications, collaboration platforms, chatbots, knowledge tools, or other digital workplace capabilities.
• Proven expertise deploying or managing large employee communications platforms, collaboration technologies, productivity tools, or equivalent enterprise SaaS capabilities, preferably within technology companies.
• AI domain fluency, including a practical understanding of modern AI capabilities, limitations, governance considerations, and responsible enterprise application.
• Experience evaluating vendor or SaaS platforms, including AI-enabled products, against business requirements, technical feasibility, security, privacy, compliance, and ROI criteria.
• Proven ability to use data, analytics, qualitative feedback, and business context to generate insights, recommend priorities, and drive measurable product improvements.
• Strong business-case development and ROI-modeling skills.
• Deep understanding of UX principles and the ability to translate employee needs into effective product requirements, workflows, and experiences.
• Exceptional executive communication, stakeholder management, and influence skills, with the ability to tailor complex information for technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Track record of leading through ambiguity, resolving complex problems, and driving accountability for outcomes.
• Product Management, Scrum, Agile, AI, or related certifications are a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business, Information Technology, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree is a 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.

Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton

Primary Location Base Pay Range: $196,000 USD - $294,000 USD

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $167,200 USD - $294,000 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 [e-mail], as far in advance as possible.