Software Development Engineer - AI Tools

Workday, Inc.; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 130,400 - 195,600; Full time

Job summary

Workday, Inc. is seeking a software engineer to develop the infrastructure for enterprise AI in Atlanta. The role involves building MCP servers and developer tools, with a focus on enhancing workflows within the engineering team.

Successful candidates will have over 3 years of software engineering experience, particularly in Python or TypeScript, along with a strong understanding of AI security and responsible AI practices. This position also offers competitive compensation including base salary and potential bonuses.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of software engineering experience.
• Production experience in developing backend services or developer tooling.
• Familiarity with LLM APIs and prompt engineering concepts.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain MCP servers and developer tools.
• Write scripts to streamline AI tool onboarding.
• Work with Security and compliance on policy requirements.

Skills

Backend services development

Python

TypeScript

AI security knowledge

DevOps practices

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

REST APIs

Job description

About the Team

The AITools team at Workday identifies, deploys, and scales AI‑powered tools that eliminate friction from the developer experience and extend those capabilities across the organization. We build the AI platform layer that powers code generation, AI‑assisted code review, agentic workflows, and enterprise‑wide developer tooling. We own the MCP registry and gateway that connects Workday’s developers to AI capabilities, and we build the technical guardrails that operationalize responsible AI usage across the company.

About the Role

We are looking for a software engineer excited to build the infrastructure behind enterprise AI. You will work across our MCP server ecosystem, LLM gateway, and developer‑facing tooling – writing real production code that Workday engineers use every day. This is a high‑impact, high‑ownership role on a small team that moves quickly, offering room to grow fast and direct collaboration with engineers as they use the tools.

In this role you will:

• Build and maintain MCP servers, AI integrations, and developer tools that improve daily workflow for Workday’s engineering organization.
• Write scripts and automation that streamline AI tool onboarding, configuration, and fleet management.
• Instrument services with logging and monitoring to keep our platform observable and reliable.
• Work with Security and compliance partners to implement policy requirements in our tooling.
• Participate in code review and help maintain a high standard for the team’s codebase.
• Stay current on the AI tooling landscape and contribute ideas for what the team should build or adopt next.

About You

Basic Qualifications

• 3+ years of software engineering experience.
• Production experience building backend services or developer tooling in Python and/or TypeScript.
• Familiarity with LLM APIs and basic prompt engineering concepts.
• Working understanding of AI security and responsible AI principles, including awareness of prompt injection, data handling risks, and how to build AI integrations that respect policy and compliance boundaries.
• Genuine excitement about the cutting edge of AI and a habit of staying current on new tools, models, and frameworks.

Other Qualifications

• Understanding of AI agent architectures, including the ReAct pattern and how agents reason, plan, and use tools iteratively; hands‑on experience building or experimenting with agents is a plus.
• Experience building MCP servers, skills, or tool‑use integrations; comfort reading and contributing to the MCP ecosystem.
• Experience building or consuming REST APIs.
• Working knowledge of Docker and container‑based deployments; experience with Kubernetes is a plus, and exposure to workflow orchestration or infrastructure‑as‑code tooling is welcome.
• Familiarity with DevOps practices and CI/CD systems.
• Understanding of authentication and authorization fundamentals (OAuth, SSO, API keys).
• Comfort working in a cloud environment (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Experience adding observability to services – logging, metrics, alerting.
• Comfort partnering directly with the engineers who use your tools and happy to answer questions, support adoption, and treat user feedback as input, not interruption.
• Strong written communication skills; able to document your work clearly for other developers.

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. This role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role‑specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. 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 – GA – Atlanta – Base Pay Range: $130,400 USD – $195,600 USD. Additional U.S. Locations Base Pay Range: $123,900 USD – $222,000 USD.

Equal Opportunity & Fair Chance

Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.