Distinguished Architect - CTO

Workday•Pleasanton, CA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The CTO Organization is the architectural heartbeat and strategic engine of Workday. Led by Gabe Monroy, this organization is responsible for the strategy and execution of the company’s global platform, spanning data, developer, and AI platforms, product engineering, core systems, and infrastructure. We are the stewards of Workday’s technical future, ensuring our foundation is as resilient as it is innovative. We are currently leading Workday’s most significant technological pivot: the transition to an AI-native foundation. This mission involves building the "enterprise rails" for agentic AI—the APIs, data foundations, and high-stakes trust layers required to run autonomous agents safely and at scale across the global HR and Finance suite. As the principal technical advisor to the CTO, you will define the architectural North Star that drives Workday’s high-stakes transition into an AI-native powerhouse. You will be the mastermind behind Workday Illuminate, building the foundational enterprise rails for our next-generation Agentic AI platform and seamlessly integrating cutting-edge acquisitions into a unified technical fabric. Beyond orchestrating massive-scale distributed systems for maximum resilience and efficiency, you will define the rigorous ethical frameworks that ensure our autonomous, agent-mediated workflows remain highly secure and trustworthy. By championing these transformative roadmaps and mentoring our elite engineering talent, you will serve as a critical force multiplier who shapes the very future of enterprise technology.

Requirements

20+ years of software engineering and architecture experience, with a definitive track record of delivering mission-critical, enterprise-class products at global scale.
10+ years specifically dedicated to distributed system architecture and design, including lead roles in high-profile projects that are foundational to a company’s success.
Proven ability to command the room at the C-Suite and SVP level. You must be able to distill "black box" technical complexities into clear, strategic business narratives that drive investment and competitive advantage.
Deeply comfortable balancing the "innovation" of tomorrow with the "production" of today. You take personal accountability for the stability and success of systems serving 65M+ users.
A critical thinker who can dissect complex architectures and provide high-level constructive feedback, offering alternative paths that align with long-term platform strategy.
Expert-level knowledge of highly available distributed systems, public cloud platforms (AWS/GCP), and the complexities of data integrity/regulatory compliance at scale.
Superb written and verbal skills, with the ability to move seamlessly between deep-dive technical reviews with engineers and high-level strategy presentations for executives.
Demonstrated experience designing and scaling platforms for Agentic AI, GenAI, or LLM-based applications within a rigorous enterprise environment.
A deep conceptual and practical understanding of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), conversational AI, and the orchestration layers required for autonomous software agents.
Hands-on experience building or evolving distributed systems with an expert's grasp of scalability, persistence, and performance tuning.
High proficiency in Java and modern cloud-native toolsets.
A passion for being a "teacher-leader," with a proven ability to champion new technologies (like agentic frameworks) and mentor the next generation of Principal and Staff engineers.
BS in Computer Science or a related field; a Graduate degree (MS/PhD) is a strong plus but secondary to significant industry impact

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal technical advisor to the CTO, defining the long-term architectural North Star for the core platform and Workday’s transition to an AI-native foundation.
Articulate and defend high-stakes architectural roadmaps to the Board and senior executive leadership, directly linking deep-tech investments (like Agentic AI) to Workday’s market-defining competitive advantage.
Drive executive-level consensus on massive-scale transformations and strategic acquisitions, ensuring our technology stack remains a cohesive, world-class engine rather than a collection of silos.
Lead the fundamental design of Workday’s next-generation Agentic AI Platform, ensuring the "enterprise rails" are built to support reasoning, planning, and autonomous execution at global scale.
Provide end-to-end architectural authority over the infrastructure required to host, orchestrate, and scale Intelligent Agents, ensuring conversational and workflow-driven AI is deeply integrated into the Workday core.
Architect the unified technical fabric that standardizes and scales technology from key acquisitions—including Sana, Paradox, and Evisort—into a seamless, high-performance experience within the core platform. This role will also serve as the central point of contact for all technical due diligence activities.
Define the architectural standards for governed, explainable, and trustworthy AI, ensuring that agent-mediated workflows operating on Workday’s proprietary data maintain the highest levels of integrity and security.
Oversee the performance, stability, and unit economics of our most complex distributed systems, with a specific focus on optimizing latency and cost for large-scale LLM interactions and agentic workflows.
Lead high-level design reviews across the entire engineering organization, ensuring that local team decisions align with the global strategic intent of the CTO organization.
Elevate the craft of engineering across Workday by mentoring the company’s most senior Principal and Staff Engineers, fostering a culture of architectural rigor and forward-thinking innovation.