Director, Software Development Engineering - PE Platforms

Workday•Pleasanton, CA

8d•$205,200 - $366,000•Hybrid

About The Position

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 Our engineering team builds, maintains and modernizes the platform capabilities that span the entire development and release lifecycle. The team’s portfolio includes core authoring frameworks, test engines, high-concurrency build & commit infrastructure and live system telemetry. We operate at the intersection of platform, tooling & AI enablement for our large developer community internally. Our team is responsible for scaling our internal agentic AI platform and skills repositories to drive developer productivity, all while ensuring high availability for core delivery operations. About the Role As the Director of Software Engineering, Platforms PE, you will lead a global team of ~60 engineers, engineering managers and architects across California, Atlanta, Dublin and Chennai. Reporting directly to the VP of Platforms and based on-site at our HQ in Pleasanton, CA, you will serve as the leader for our global organisation. In this role you will partner closely with our internal Product Management teams to build an agent-ready developer experience and delivery system. Your core mission is to scale build, test & release infrastructure to support an autonomous agentic development lifecycle.

Requirements

3+ years experience leading and developing senior software development engineering leaders (managers of managers) to build and scale large development organizations.
7+ years experience managing software development engineering teams, building high-performing teams and driving software development outcomes.
12+ years experience in software development engineering, defining and executing technical strategies for complex software products and platforms.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline; Master's degree preferred or equivalent practical experience.
Deep understanding of systems engineering, platform reliability & innovation.
A product mindset you bring to engineering & tooling.
Led and scaled a multi-site engineering organization.
Experience with agentic harnesses & AI products/infrastructure deployed in real-world environments.
Proven capability to balance high-growth platform innovation with the systematic deprecation and migration of legacy systems.

Nice To Haves

5+ years of experience mentoring engineering teams proficient in Java, Python, Go, or C++.
Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP), execution harnesses, and automated PR review or triage systems.

Responsibilities

Lead a global team of ~60 engineers, engineering managers and architects across California, Atlanta, Dublin and Chennai.
Serve as the leader for our global organisation.
Partner closely with internal Product Management teams to build an agent-ready developer experience and delivery system.
Scale build, test & release infrastructure to support an autonomous agentic development lifecycle.
Define and execute technical strategies for complex software products and platforms.
Manage high-throughput CI/CD build engines, Docker/Kubernetes, and AWS/GCP cloud infrastructure.
Deliver automated testing engines, pipeline orchestration, and system observability frameworks.
Partner with internal Product Management to operate platform tools as products.
Lead, mentor, and scale global engineering organizations (~60+ engineers across time zones).
Align technical strategy and influence cross-functional partners across Product, Security, and Architecture.
Deliver clear technical strategy presentations to executive leadership.