Sr Director, Software Development Engineering

Workday; Atlanta (GA); Hybrid; USD 282,000 - 422,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday seeks an executive leader for two engineering portfolios: Database Engineering and Public Cloud Migration. You will shape multi-year strategies, align across product, security, and operations, and drive reliable, scalable cloud-native platforms for enterprise workloads.

Lead senior engineers and managers, set priorities, and deliver on complex programs while advancing automation and observability to improve customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in database engineering, cloud infra, platform engineering, or related field.
• 8+ years leading and developing directors/senior managers.
• 10+ years building high-performing technical teams and delivering complex programs.
• Experience leading large-scale database eng, cloud platform, infra reliability, or public-cloud migration orgs.
• Experience with multi-cloud architectures (AWS, GCP).
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead two engineering organizations: Database Engineering and Public Cloud Migration.
• Define strategy, priorities, and roadmaps across both portfolios.
• Develop senior leaders, manage investments, and align cross-functionally.
• Balance reliability of database platforms with migration delivery and automation.

Skills

Database leadership

Cloud infrastructure

Platform engineering

Executive leadership

Multi-cloud (AWS/GCP)

Education

BS in CS/Engineering

Tools

Kubernetes

IaC

CI/CD

SQL databases

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 Database Engineering team is the foundation of Workday’s data persistence layer. We manage and scale the core MySQL and PostgreSQL infrastructure that supports the Workday platform, while leading public-cloud migration efforts that help customers transition safely and efficiently from private-cloud to public-cloud environments.

Our work enables Workday’s growth and long-term platform resilience. The team tackles complex engineering challenges, including database capacity planning at scale, platform scalability, and migration of large enterprise customers with terabytes of data.

We are a deeply technical organization that takes pride in stewarding Workday’s most critical data. If you are energized by solving infrastructure challenges at enterprise scale and shaping how Workday operates in the cloud, this is the team for you.

About The Role

As the Senior Director, Database Engineering & Public Cloud Migration, you will lead two closely aligned engineering organizations: Database Engineering and Public Cloud Migration Engineering. You will establish a cohesive strategy across both portfolios while maintaining clear accountability, priorities, roadmaps, and operating models for each.

This executive leadership role is responsible for organizational strategy, talent development, investment prioritization, cross-functional alignment, and delivery management.

Database Engineering

You will set the strategy and organizational direction for database platform reliability, availability, security, scalability, and performance. You will lead the evolution from manual database operations to highly automated, observable, and resilient cloud-native platforms.

You will establish standards for reliability engineering, incident management, disaster recovery, capacity planning, service-level objectives, and operational excellence.

In partnership with Infrastructure, Cloud Operations, Security, and Product Engineering leaders, you will ensure the database platform meets current and future business needs, building an organization that reduces operational toil, improves recovery outcomes, and continuously strengthens platform resiliency.

Public Cloud Migration Engineering

You will define the strategy, operating model, and multi-year roadmap for public-cloud customer migrations. You will lead the development and scaling of migration platforms, automation, tooling, and processes that enable secure, dependable, and efficient migrations.

You will partner with Product, Customer Support, Cloud Operations, and customer-facing teams to align migration capacity, eligibility, priorities, customer commitments, and risk management.

You will improve migration predictability, throughput, and customer experience, while advancing multi-cloud capabilities and platform standardization.

Leadership

You will lead and develop senior engineering leaders, managers, and high-performing technical teams across both portfolios. You will set clear organizational goals, success measures, investment priorities, and delivery commitments.

You will balance the distinct needs of database reliability and migration delivery while identifying opportunities for shared platforms, automation, and operating practices.

You will represent both organizations in executive planning, cross-functional reviews, and strategic decision-making. You will foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, technical excellence, continuous improvement, and customer focus.

About You

Basic Qualifications:

• 15+ years of experience in database engineering, cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, software engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 8+ years of experience leading and developing management leaders, including Directors and Senior Managers.
• 10+ years of experience building high-performing technical teams and delivering complex projects or programs.
• Experience leading large-scale database engineering, cloud platform, infrastructure reliability, or public-cloud migration organizations.
• Experience setting and delivering multi-year organizational and technology strategies in complex enterprise environments.
• Experience with multi-cloud architectures, including AWS and GCP, and migration of global enterprise workloads.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Other Qualifications:

• Deep understanding of database reliability, disaster recovery, observability, incident management, performance engineering, and capacity planning.
• Architectural knowledge of database internals, including replication topologies, engine tuning, and distributed-systems latency.
• Experience with Kubernetes, container platforms, infrastructure as code, CI/CD principles, and automated operations.
• Familiarity with AWS and GCP cloud environments and associated database services.
• Demonstrated success improving platform reliability, migration throughput, operational efficiency, and customer experience.
• Ability to influence and align executive partners across Engineering, Product, Customer Support, Cloud Operations, Security, and other functions.
• Excellent executive communication, organizational leadership, relationship-building, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

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.

Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton

Primary Location Base Pay Range: $281,600 USD - $422,400 USD

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $231,800 USD - $422,400 USD

Additional Considerations:

If performed in Colorado, the pay range for this job is $244,000 - $366,000 USD based on min and max pay range for that role if performed in CO.

The application deadline for this role is the same as the posting end date stated as below: 08/24/2026

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.

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.

Are you being referred to one of our roles? If so, ask your connection at Workday about our Employee Referral process!