Software Development Engineer, Product Engineering - Agent‑Ready APIs & Data

Workday; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday, Inc. in the United States seeks a Software Development Engineer in Product Engineering to help build and maintain APIs and backend services critical to Workday products and agent-driven experiences.

You will work with TypeScript and Python to create scalable, resilient systems, delivering high-quality software across teams and time zones. Join a role focused on API design, governance, and observing system performance, contributing to robust, enterprise-grade solutions that power our

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience building scalable backend services or platforms.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain product APIs and backend services.
• Implement routing, validation, authentication/authorization, transformation, and error handling.
• Contribute to high-throughput, low-latency components and integrations.
• Apply API contract and governance with OpenAPI/Swagger.
• Build and improve frameworks/tools to define, publish, and maintain APIs (REST, SOAP, Graph).
• Use observability to monitor production and improve performance and reliability.
• Write clean, well-documented, testable code; contribute tests.
• Participate in design/code reviews and mentoring.
• Own small to medium services end-to-end, from design to rollout and support.
• Collaborate with cross-team partners across Workday.

Skills

Backend design

TypeScript

Python

Web services

Distributed systems

OpenAPI/Swagger

Testing

Git/GitHub

CI/CD

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

OpenAPI/Swagger

Postman

JUnit/ScalaTest

Gradle

AWS

Kubernetes

Cursor

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

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

Product Engineering builds the end-to-end product experiences that Workday customers use. Many of these experiences are now powered by agents and AI, which depend on a strong API foundation. This role sits in Product Engineering but operates across product pillars. You will work closely with Product Engineering teams as well as partner organizations. You will shape the API foundation, architecture and operating model that makes it easy for Product Engineering to build agent-ready, high-quality APIs.

About the Role

As a Software Development Engineer in Product Engineering, you will help build and maintain the APIs and backend services that sit on the critical path for Workday products and agentic experiences. You will work with technologies such as TypeScript/Python and Workday frameworks to develop scalable, resilient distributed systems and great internal developer experiences.

Your work will directly impact how quickly Workday can build, deploy, and iterate on agent-driven capabilities for customers.

What you'll do

• Design, develop, and maintain product APIs and backend services.
• Implement robust API behaviors including routing, validation, authentication/authorization, transformation, and error handling.
• Contribute to high-throughput, low-latency components and integrations, focusing on resiliency, scalability, and fault tolerance.
• Apply API contract and governance practices using OpenAPI/Swagger and internal standards.
• Build and improve frameworks and tooling used by Product Engineering teams to define, publish, and maintain APIs (REST, SOAP, Graph, etc.).
• Use observability (metrics, tracing, logging) to understand behavior in production and drive performance and reliability improvements.
• Write clean, well-documented, and testable code; contribute unit, integration, and contract tests.
• Participate in design and code reviews; share knowledge through documentation, talks, and mentoring.
• Own small to medium services or API areas end-to-end - from design and implementation through rollout, monitoring, and support.
• Collaborate with partners in other Workday code service and agent development teams.

About You

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in software engineering building scalable backend services or platforms.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience with TypeScript or Python or similar languages.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience with web service/API technologies such as REST, SOAP, JSON, XML Schema, WSDL, GraphQL, etc.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Other Qualifications

• Demonstrated proficiency with modern AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate high-quality software delivery.
• Solid algorithmic thinking (e.g., hash maps, trees, graph traversal, caching strategies) applied to routing, query planning, or data transformation.
• Familiarity with distributed systems concepts: concurrency/multithreading, horizontal scaling, high availability, and fault tolerance.
• Understanding of typical API gateway responsibilities: routing, validation, authentication, throttling/rate limiting, transformation, and security policies.
• Experience with API specifications and lifecycle (OpenAPI/Swagger, versioning, documentation).
• Good understanding of testing methodologies (unit, integration, contract, performance) and tools such as JUnit, ScalaTest, Postman, Mockito, and coverage tools.
• Experience with source control and modern dev tooling (Git/GitHub, Gradle, CI, debugging, profiling).
• Exposure to cloud-based development (e.g., AWS, Kubernetes) is a plus.
• Familiarity with MCP or similar integration models is a plus.
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset; comfortable working with teams across time zones.
• Curiosity;