Principal Software Development Engineer - Developer Platform

Workday•Pleasanton, CA

1d•$187,100 - $334,300•Hybrid

About The Position

The Developer Platform team is building the foundation for Workday's open developer ecosystem. We design and operate the platform capabilities, APIs, SDKs, and developer-facing services that enable external developers and partners to build on Workday products—including Peakon, HiredScore, VNDLY, and more. Our work sits at the intersection of platform engineering, developer experience, and product strategy: we set the standards that make the platform reliable, extensible, and easy to adopt at scale. We partner closely with product, engineering leadership, and external stakeholders to prioritize high-leverage capabilities and translate long-term vision into phased, executable plans. We take our mission seriously, approach decisions with clarity and purpose, and make space for the kind of open technical debate that produces durable architecture. If you are energized by shaping technical direction, mentoring senior engineers, and representing a platform to developer audiences, you will find meaningful ownership, strong collaboration, and a team that enjoys building together. As a Principal Software Development Engineer on the Developer Platform team, you will serve as a force multiplier for the organization—setting the technical vision for an open developer ecosystem and acting as a trusted advisor to engineering and product leadership on platform strategy, architecture, and long-term investment. You will define and drive the roadmap, lead API and SDK design at scale, and influence decisions that extend well beyond a single team or product line. You will bring outsized organizational impact by raising the technical bar across a distributed engineering organization, establishing the standards that govern how Workday builds for external developers, and representing the platform to the broader developer community. A key focus area for this role is leading the evolution of the Developer Portal front-end platform—from a monolithic UI into a set of decoupled, independently deployable applications with clear patterns for routing, state sharing, and application stitching. In this role, you will: Define and drive the platform roadmap toward an open developer ecosystem, including API design, SDK frameworks, reusable component libraries, and extensibility primitives that enable third‑party developers and partners. Lead the technical strategy for the Developer Portal front-end platform, defining the architecture and shared patterns for splitting a monolithic UI into decoupled, independently deployable frontend applications, including routing, state sharing, and application stitching. Partner with product, engineering leadership, and external stakeholders to identify and prioritize platform capabilities that unlock new growth vectors. Establish and champion API governance, versioning strategy, backward-compatibility standards, and other platform engineering best practices. Evaluate and influence build-vs-integrate decisions for foundational components with a long-term view toward extensibility and ecosystem health, and translate long-horizon goals into phased, executable engineering plans. Mentor and grow senior engineers across teams, and sponsor engineers working through complex, ambiguous problems. Represent the platform externally through developer documentation, technical blogs, or developer relations activities to build trust and adoption.

Requirements

12+ years of software engineering experience, including 3–5+ years at a principal or staff level leading front-end or platform architecture in large, distributed engineering organizations.
6+ years experience specifically focused on designing, building, and operating distributed systems.
Deep expertise in modern front-end technologies including React, HTML, and CSS, with extensive experience in advanced state management patterns and building reusable component libraries/design systems.
Experience owning the technical strategy for a complex web platform (such as a developer portal or multi-surface front-end) and driving platform-wide decisions from design through rollout.
Experience designing, building, or operating developer platforms or external-facing ecosystems at scale, including responsibility for end-to-end application observability (error tracking, metrics instrumentation, and product analytics).
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; a Master's degree (e.g., MS in Computer Science, Distributed Systems, or related field) is strongly preferred or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

Ability to establish API governance, SDK design standards, versioning strategy, and developer portal architecture that teams adopt consistently across the organization, not just within a single product or team.
Deep expertise in cloud-native infrastructure and Kubernetes, with demonstrated experience deploying, operating, and scaling services on GCP, AWS, or Azure in production environments.
Strong API design skills across REST and GraphQL, including authentication patterns such as OAuth 2.0 and OIDC, and the judgment to design public APIs that remain reliable, backward-compatible, and well-documented as they evolve.
Ability to translate long-horizon platform goals into phased, executable engineering plans and build cross-team alignment on technical direction without relying on direct authority.
Experience building platforms and developer portals consumed by external developers and partners, with a product-oriented approach to developer experience as a core quality bar.
Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to represent technical platforms externally through developer documentation, technical writing, or developer relations activities, and to explain complex architecture decisions clearly to varied audiences.
Hands-on experience with LLM-backed services, agent frameworks, or related tooling.
Knowledge of enterprise HCM, talent, or workforce management domains.
Experience building or operating developer portals, API catalogs, marketplace platforms, or self-serve onboarding flows.
Experience in multi-product or multi-tenant environments where a platform layer abstracts across distinct systems.
Cloud certifications (GKE, AWS Solutions Architect, etc.).

Responsibilities

Define and drive the platform roadmap toward an open developer ecosystem, including API design, SDK frameworks, reusable component libraries, and extensibility primitives that enable third‑party developers and partners.
Lead the technical strategy for the Developer Portal front-end platform, defining the architecture and shared patterns for splitting a monolithic UI into decoupled, independently deployable frontend applications, including routing, state sharing, and application stitching.
Partner with product, engineering leadership, and external stakeholders to identify and prioritize platform capabilities that unlock new growth vectors.
Establish and champion API governance, versioning strategy, backward-compatibility standards, and other platform engineering best practices.
Evaluate and influence build-vs-integrate decisions for foundational components with a long-term view toward extensibility and ecosystem health, and translate long-horizon goals into phased, executable engineering plans.
Mentor and grow senior engineers across teams, and sponsor engineers working through complex, ambiguous problems.
Represent the platform externally through developer documentation, technical blogs, or developer relations activities to build trust and adoption.