Software Engineer/Senior Software Engineer - AI Platform (Agent Cell)

Workday•Pleasanton, CA

9d•$148,200 - $264,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Workday is seeking a Software Engineer/Senior Software Engineer for their AI Platform team, specifically the Agent Runtime group. This role involves designing and building the secure execution platform for enterprise AI agents, focusing on enforcing policy by architecture with deterministic controls for data access, tool use, model routing, and auditability. The team's charter includes runtime isolation, policy enforcement, model mediation, and observability at scale, collaborating with other engineering and platform teams to deliver a multi-language, enterprise-grade agent runtime. The position offers the opportunity to work on high-impact technical areas and contribute to a culture rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm, with a focus on meaningful work and employee growth.

Requirements

5+ years experience in software development engineering including designing, developing, and deploying software solutions (for Software Engineer).
8+ years experience in software development engineering, architecting, building, and scaling robust and efficient software systems (for Senior Software Engineer).
6+ years of software engineering experience with platform systems (for Senior Software Engineer).
Strong experience with distributed systems, APIs, and service-oriented architecture.
Proficiency in at least one systems or backend language (for example, Python, Rust, Java or Go).
Proficiency with IaC tools such as Terraform.
Experience building secure systems with least-privilege patterns and policy controls.
Experience operating production services with strong reliability and observability practices.
Demonstrated ownership of complex technical projects from design through production.
Strong collaboration and communication skills in cross-functional environments.

Responsibilities

Design and implement core runtime services for secure, isolated agent execution.
Build deterministic enforcement pathways for data, context, tool, and model boundaries.
Define and evolve service interfaces and contracts across maincar and sidecar components.
Improve performance, scalability, and resilience for high-concurrency workloads.
Build deep observability into runtime behavior, policy decisions, and audit traces.
Partner with cross-functional teams to integrate data prep, context assembly, tool gating, and model mediation.
Participate in architecture reviews, incident response, and operational hardening.
Mentor engineers and help raise engineering quality across the team.
Build backend services and runtime components for cell lifecycle and execution control.
Implement policy-aware data, context, tool, and model access pathways.
Contribute to interface development between runtime components and partner systems.
Write high-quality, testable code and participate in code and design reviews.
Develop telemetry and logging capabilities for traceability and operational insight.
Support production operations, performance tuning, and incident follow-through.
Collaborate closely with senior engineers and partner teams on roadmap delivery.