Distinguished Architect

Your work days are brighter here.

Were 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 were shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join youll 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. Were 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 youre building smarter solutions supporting customers or creating a space where everyone belongs youll do meaningful work with Workmates whove got your return well 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 youve found a match in Workday and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

About the Role

As a member of the Core Services Architecture team the Distinguished Architect will work with innovative and experienced engineers to design the projects that will help define the future of the core Workday architecturetransforming it from a system of record into an intelligent system of action. You will take on the challenge of architecting the underlying infrastructure to support massive scale zero downtime and the operationalization of a multi-agent environment all while optimizing operational costs.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a primary technical advisor and subject matter expert on core platform architecture and Agentic AI strategies for the CEO the President of Product & Technology and the Senior Vice President/General Manager Platform.

• Articulate and defend highly complex architectural visions and technical roadmaps to the most senior executive leaders linking technical investment to clear business outcomes and competitive advantage.

• Drive and influence executive-level decisions regarding large-scale architectural transformations strategic acquisitions and the long-term direction of Workdays technology platform.

• Participate in and help drive the design of Workdays future architecture with a significant focus on the Agentic AI Platform (Workday Illuminate).

• Provide complete architectural oversight for how we design implement and integrate the infrastructure required to host and scale Intelligent Agents (e.g. conversational AI workflow automation agents).

• Define the architecture for integrating and standardizing technology from key acquisitions (such as Sanas enterprise knowledge tools Paradoxs conversational recruiting agent and Evisorts contract intelligence) into the Workday core platform.

• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to define the architecture for governed explainable and trustworthy AI that operates on Workdays proprietary data.

• Produce high-quality design documents and architecture drawings for distributed systems emphasizing high availability performance and the security of AI workflows.

• Be responsible for system performance and stability with a focus on optimizing the latency and cost associated with large-scale agent-mediated workflows and LLM interactions.

• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to senior and junior developers on modern architectural patterns including agentic design and workflow orchestration.

• Lead and participate in design reviews across the entire engineering organization ensuring alignment with executive strategic intent.

About You

The ideal candidate is an experienced technologist who can work both independently and across teams. Skilled or has potential to excel in advanced implementations including distributed systems application platforms and persistence and operations at scale with an added focus on AI infrastructure. Experienced in enterprise scale production rollout and support.

• 20 years of software engineering and architecture experience with a proven track record of delivering enterprise class mission-critical products.

• 10 years of distributed system architecture and design including leadership positions within high profile large scale mission critical projects.

• Proven ability to communicate and influence at the highest executive levels (C-Suite and SVP/GM) distilling complex technical concepts into clear strategic business language.

• Critical thinker. Able to analyze others ideas and provide constructive feedback including alternative approaches.

• Be comfortable driving innovation and change while also taking responsibility for the continued success of our Production system and customers.

• Proven ability to take a leadership role in complex multi-team projects that have direct impact on Workdays long-term platform strategy.

• Superb written and verbal communication and presentation skills required for engaging with both engineering teams and executive leadership.

• Expert in areas of enterprise software including highly available distributed systems public cloud platforms open standards best practices implementing at scale and data integrity and regulatory issues.

• Advanced knowledge of in-memory databases metadata driven development and metadata oriented architecture.

Other Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science or related fields. Graduate degree is a bonus.

• Demonstrated experience in designing and scaling platforms for Agentic AI GenAI or LLM-based applications in an enterprise environment.

• Deep understanding of conversational AI retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and the architecture required for autonomous or semi-autonomous software agents.

• Experience in database design and/or implementation.

• Experience using or building distributed systems with an understanding of scalability data integrity and performance.

• Experience with Java.

• Ability to mentor/teach others and champion new technologies like agentic frameworks across the engineering organization.

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. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidates compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including but not limited to geography experience skills job duties and business need among other things. For more information regarding Workdays comprehensive benefits please click here.

Our Approach to Flexible Work

With Flex Work were 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 youll 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.

At Workday we are committed to providing an accessible and inclusive hiring experience where all candidates can fully demonstrate their skills. If you require assistance or an accommodation at any point please email .

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