Software Engineer/Senior Software Engineer (AI Platform, Agent Cell)

Workday; Boulder (CO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday is seeking a Senior Software Development Engineer to design and build core runtime capabilities for policy-governed agent execution. You will own high-impact areas across sandbox execution, sidecar interfaces, and enforcement flows, driving performance and reliability in a multi-language enterprise platform.

You will mentor engineers, contribute to architecture reviews, and partner with cross-functional teams to deliver secure, observable runtime services at scale.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience across architecting, building, and scaling systems.
• 6+ years building backend or platform systems with production reliability.
• Strong experience with distributed systems, APIs, and service-oriented architecture.
• Experience operating production services with reliability and observability practices.
• Proven ownership of complex technical projects from design through production.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement core runtime services for secure, isolated agent execution.
• Build deterministic enforcement pathways for data, context, tool, and model boundaries.
• Mentor engineers and help raise engineering quality across the team.
• Participate in architecture reviews, incident response, and operational hardening.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on roadmap delivery.

Skills

Backend languages (Java)

Go

Rust

Python

Job description

• The Agent Runtime team builds Workday’s secure execution platform for enterprise AI agents
• We are creating the runtime substrate that enforces policy by architecture, not by prompt, with deterministic controls for data access, tool use, model routing, and auditability
• Our charter spans runtime isolation, policy enforcement boundaries, model mediation, and observability at scale
• We partner closely with other engineering and platform teams at Workday to deliver a multi-language, enterprise-grade agent runtime
• As a Senior Software Development Engineer, you will design and build core runtime capabilities for policy-governed agent execution. You will own high-impact technical areas across sandbox execution, sidecar interfaces, enforcement flows, and production reliability
• Design and implement core runtime services for secure, isolated agent execution
• Build deterministic enforcement pathways for data, context, tool, and model boundaries
• Define and evolve service interfaces and contracts across maincar and sidecar components
• Improve performance, scalability, and resilience for high-concurrency workloads
• Build deep observability into runtime behavior, policy decisions, and audit traces
• Partner with cross-functional teams to integrate data prep, context assembly, tool gating, and model mediation
• Participate in architecture reviews, incident response, and operational hardening
• Mentor engineers and help raise engineering quality across the team
• As a Software Development Engineer, you will implement key runtime components and services that power secure agent execution. You will contribute to design, coding, testing, and operations for systems that enforce policy and reliability guarantees in production
• Build backend services and runtime components for cell lifecycle and execution control
• Implement policy-aware data, context, tool, and model access pathways
• Contribute to interface development between runtime components and partner systems
• Write high-quality, testable code and participate in code and design reviews
• Develop telemetry and logging capabilities for traceability and operational insight
• Support production operations, performance tuning, and incident follow-through
• Collaborate closely with senior engineers and partner teams on roadmap delivery

• Proficiency in at least one systems or backend language (for example, Java, Go, Rust, or Python)
• 8+ years experience in software development engineering, architecting, building, and scaling robust and efficient software systems
• 6+ years of software engineering experience building backend or platform systems
• Strong experience with distributed systems, APIs, and service-oriented architecture
• Experience operating production services with strong reliability and observability practices
• Experience building secure systems with least-privilege patterns and policy controls
• Strong collaboration and communication skills in cross-functional environments
• Demonstrated ownership of complex technical projects from design through production
• 5+ years experience in software development engineering including designing, developing, and deploying software solutions