Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer - US

Workiva, Inc.; Ames (IA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Workiva is seeking a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer to define how AI is architected, deployed, and trusted across our enterprise-scale platform. You will own AI platform architecture and shape integration of ML, Generative AI, and agentic systems for production-grade deployments.

Typical requirements include 10+ years in software engineering and 5+ years in production ML, with expert Python and proficiency in Java/Go/Scala/C++.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including large-scale SaaS platforms.
• 5+ years designing, deploying, and operating production ML, AI, or data-intensive systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture of Workiva's AI platform and core AI services.
• Shape how ML, Generative AI, and agentic systems are integrated across products.
• Lead production-grade, enterprise-ready systems with strong governance and reliability.

Skills

Software engineering

Production ML systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Python

Java

Go

Scala

C++

Job description

Workiva is building a next-generation AI platform for mission-critical workflows used by some of the world's largest and most regulated organizations. We are seeking a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer to define how AI is architected, deployed, and trusted across our platform at enterprise scale, where accuracy, auditability, security, and reliability matter most.

What You'll Do

AI Platform Architecture

• Own the architecture of Workiva's AI platform and core AI services
• Shape how machine learning, Generative AI, and agentic systems are integrated across products
• Lead the move from early adoption to production-grade, enterprise-ready systems
• Define standards for model serving, retrieval, evaluation, governance, and platform reliability

Agentic AI and Generative AI Leadership

• Lead the design of enterprise agentic systems, including orchestration, workflow execution, memory, and multi-agent coordination
• Design and evolve Retrieval-Augmented Generation capabilities for enterprise content and knowledge workflows
• Establish evaluation methods and quality frameworks for Generative AI applications
• Assess emerging AI technologies and guide adoption strategy for Workiva's platform

Technical Leadership

• Influence technical direction across teams, products, and platform domains
• Mentor Staff and Senior Engineers and help raise the technical bar across the organization
• Partner closely with Product, Security, Infrastructure, and Architecture leaders
• Align teams around a shared vision for scalable, secure AI at Workiva

Security, Governance, and Reliability

• Lead secure AI platform design, including authorization, runtime isolation, governance, auditability, and compliance
• Establish best practices for AI safety, model governance, and customer data protection
• Ensure AI systems meet enterprise expectations for availability, resiliency, observability, and operational support
• Design for fault tolerance and operational excellence in regulated, security-conscious environments

What You'll Need

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including large-scale SaaS platforms
• 5+ years designing, deploying, and operating production ML, AI, or data-intensive systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing and operating enterprise AI platforms, including model serving, evaluation, observability, and governance.
• Deep expertise in RAG, agentic systems, and large-scale knowledge systems
• Strong understanding of foundation model ecosystems, including inference, routing, prompting, and provider tradeoffs
• Experience with AI evaluation, secure AI systems, and regulated enterprise environments
• Proven track record leading architecture across multiple teams or platform domains
• Strong distributed systems, cloud-native, API, reliability, and operational excellence experience
• Expert-level Python proficiency and proficiency in at least one production language such as Java, Go, Scala, or C++
• Proven record mentoring senior engineers and technical leaders

Working Conditions

• Less than 10% travel
• Reliable internet access for remote working opportunities

How You'll Be Rewarded

Salary range in the US:

A discretionary bonus typically paid annually

Restricted Stock Units granted at time of hire

401(k) match and comprehensive employee benefits package

The salary range represents the low and high end of the salary range for this job in the US. Minimums and maximums may vary based on location. The actual salary offer will carefully consider a wide range of factors, including your skills, qualifications, experience and other relevant factors.

Why Join Workiva

Workiva is the platform designed to bring confidence, control, and a competitive edge to the world's most complex organizations. Our AI-powered platform unifies finance, risk, and sustainability on a single, secure foundation-ensuring data is trusted, traceable, and ready to act on. With an unbroken path from source to output, leaders gain confidence in their numbers, visibility into current and emerging risks, and the ability to move with speed and precision in a constantly changing world.

At Workiva, you'll bring technology to market that executives, boards, and regulators depend on. The work you do here helps organizations navigate uncertainty, maintain trust, and make decisions that stand up to scrutiny. If you're energized by meaningful challenges, inspired by collaborative teams, and motivated to help organizations turn uncertainty into advantage, we'd love to meet you.

Employment decisions are made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status or any other protected characteristic.

Workiva employees are required to undergo comprehensive security and privacy training tailored to their roles, ensuring adherence to company policies and regulatory standards.

Workiva supports employees in working where they work best - either from an office or remotely from any location within their country of employment.