Senior Director, AI and Data Product Management – Data Cloud

Workday, Inc.; Pleasanton (CA); Hybrid; USD 272,000 - 408,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday, Inc. is seeking a Senior Director of AI and Data Product Management to own the strategy, roadmap, and execution for agentic workloads within the Data Cloud.

You will translate complex AI use cases into data platform requirements, define toolkits for autonomous actions, and establish trust and evaluation frameworks to deploy AI securely at an enterprise scale. You will lead cross-functional teams and communicate strategic visions to executives and customers.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in product management, AI/ML strategy, data platforms, technology, or equivalent degree.
• Strong enterprise SaaS platform experience.
• Experience with generative AI, LLM evaluation, or agentic frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Define product vision and roadmap for agentic workloads on the Data Cloud.
• Gather requirements with internal teams and enterprise customers to power agents.
• Bridge AI research and commercial reality to drive adoption and value.
• Lead MCP toolkits and skills, define secure guardrails and API ecosystem.
• Establish evaluation and auditability frameworks for AI trust and security.
• Collaborate across Data Cloud engineering and ML teams to ensure integration.
• Translate AI capabilities into clear executive narratives.

Skills

Product management

AI/ML strategy

Data platforms

Cross-functional collaboration

Enterprise SaaS

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in CS / Cognitive Science / Business / related field

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 Data Cloud organization is at the forefront of Workday’s next major wave of innovation, driven by a bold mandate to build the industry’s first true Platform for Agents. We are a high-energy, ambitious team that balances Workday's deep foundational expertise with fresh, forward-thinking perspectives to accelerate our pace of delivery and unlock massive new commercial value. By leveraging Workday’s unique business context, trusted data, and identity guardrails, we are building the critical engine that will power the future of AI and agentic workflows across the enterprise. As a team, we value organizational clarity, deep cross-functional collaboration, and rapid execution, working together to evolve our architecture and aggressively scale our impact in the market.

About the Role

As the Senior Director of AI and Data Product Management, you will own the product strategy, roadmap, and execution for agentic workloads within the Data Cloud. You will translate complex AI use cases into robust data platform requirements, define the toolkits that empower autonomous action, and establish the trust and evaluation frameworks necessary to deploy AI securely at an enterprise scale.

Agentic Strategy & Vision

Platform for Agents Roadmap: Define the product vision and capabilities required to support both analytical agents (conversational reasoning over data) and operational agents (secure, multi-step actions and state changes) on the Data Cloud.

Agent Requirements Gathering: Partner closely with internal Workday application teams, first-part AI developers, and key enterprise customers to deeply understand and capture the data, semantic, and routing requirements necessary to power next-generation agents.

Use-Case Commercialization: Bridge the gap between AI research and commercial reality, ensuring new agentic capabilities directly drive adoption, continuous compute consumption, and value realization for our premium Data Cloud offerings.

MCP Toolkits & Skill Orchestration

Define Action Schemas: Lead the product definition for Model Context Protocol (MCP) toolkits and skills natively hosted within the Data Cloud, empowering agents to dynamically discover and execute authorized enterprise tasks.

The Secure Write-Path: Design the product guardrails for operational agents, defining how multi-step transactions, staging states, and native rollbacks are securely orchestrated back into the core Workday ecosystem.

API & Framework Ecosystem: Ensure that all AI tools, semantic models, and routing rules are engine-agnostic and consumable via standard APIs, fueling a robust 1P and 3P developer ecosystem.

Evaluation Frameworks & AI Trust

Align Eval Frameworks: Establish and own the rigorous LLM and agent evaluation (eval) frameworks for the Data Cloud. Define the metrics for accuracy, deterministic grounding, and hallucination mitigation.

Performance & Security Gating: Ensure all AI capabilities adhere to Workday’s sacrosanct dimensions of engine readiness: Performance, Coverage, Correctness, and Security.

Immutable Auditability: Drive product requirements for AI telemetry and trust layers, ensuring every reasoning path and automated state change generates an immutable audit trail for enterprise financial and HR compliance.

Cross-Functional Leadership

AI & Data Synergy: Act as the primary connective tissue between Data Cloud engineering, specialized AI/ML teams, and Workday's broader product organization to ensure seamless platform integration.

Market & Competitive Pulse: Maintain a deep understanding of the rapidly evolving AI landscape, evaluating emerging frameworks, orchestration layers, and competitive platforms to keep Workday’s Data Cloud strategy steps ahead of the market.

Executive Storytelling: Translate complex AI/ML platform capabilities into clear, compelling narratives for executive leadership, go-to-market teams, and industry analysts.

About You

• Basic Qualifications: 10+ years of experience in product management, AI/ML strategy, data platforms, technology, or equivalent BA, BS, or equivalent degree in Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Business, or a related field
• Other Qualifications: Deep experience in an enterprise SaaS environment with a strong focus on platform ecosystems
• Generative AI, LLM evaluation, or agentic framework (MCP) focused experience, or experience working closely with applied AI and cross-functional ML teams
• Demonstrated experience in gathering complex technical requirements and defining API toolkits or skills for autonomous workflows
• Ability to collaborate across teams to create strategic storyboards, go-to-market narratives, and quarterly board materials for relevant parties
• Ability to learn quickly within a fast-paced team, including highly technical topics such as AI trust frameworks and data security protocols
• Ability to handle interpersonal relationships with a high degree of emotional intelligence and self-awareness

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: $272,000 USD - $408,000 USD

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $220,400 USD - $408,000 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.

Equal Opportunity and Accommodation

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.

Workday is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Workday are considered without regards to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Further, pursuant to applicable local ordinances, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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