Sr. Software Engineer (Distributed Systems)

Workday•Atlanta, GA

2d•$160,100 - $285,100•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 Developer Platform team empowers our customers to expand the business capabilities of Workday by building on our existing technologies with AI capabilities. The mission of the Core Platform Service team is to establish the foundation for Workday Extend providing best in class services such as Event Messaging Platform, Identity Management and Provision services. This team builds critical backend infrastructure services for Workday Extend including security components, inter-service control and communication components using open source and latest technologies. We work on scalable microservices and distributed systems, leveraging AI-driven development tools and modern coding practices. Our mission is to solve complex technical challenges, accelerating product velocity while ensuring our core services remain resilient and secure. About the Role As a Senior Software Engineer, you will play a key role in designing and scaling Workday’s Dev core services platform. We are looking for a product-minded engineer with a startup mentality—someone who can wear multiple hats, thrive in ambiguous environments, and act as an owner to drive core platform initiatives from conception to completion. You will lead the architecture of critical distributed subsystems, drive technical execution within the team, and collaborate closely with cross-functional partners to deliver robust solutions. This role requires deep hands-on expertise in distributed systems and microservices, along with a proven track record of translating complex product requirements into scalable code. You are not just building software to a specification; you possess a deep curiosity about how your components integrate into the broader business ecosystem, a relentless focus on customer adoption, and mastery of AI-driven engineering tools to drastically reduce delivery cycles. You will tackle sophisticated technical challenges, champion engineering best practices, and help mentor team members to ensure high-velocity, reliable delivery.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
8+ years of software engineering experience with a strong focus on backend microservice architectures and distributed systems; 5+ years in Java or Scala.
2+ years of full-stack experience building modern frontend UIs with JavaScript frameworks (e.g., React, Angular, or Vue).
5+ years delivering and operating cloud-based production services, with strong preference for AWS or GCP.
5+ years with containerization and orchestration technologies, specifically Docker and Kubernetes.
1+ year working with modern architectural standards including Model Context Protocol (MCP) for spec-driven development.
1+ year of expert-level AI-augmented development (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot), with a demonstrated ability to direct, prompt, audit, and validate agentic-generated code.

Nice To Haves

Previous experience as a technical founder or early-stage engineer at a startup (<50 headcount) is highly preferred.
Deep backend proficiency in Java or Scala, with strong command of design patterns, distributed systems, and high-availability architecture.
Expert API development and contract management skills, including familiarity with modern protocols (e.g., MCP) to support a spec-driven development approach.
Strong full-stack competency with modern frontend frameworks (React/TypeScript), algorithmic thinking, and a track record of translating complex requirements into scalable code.
Service ownership mindset: end-to-end accountability for operational health, test automation, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-native observability.
Hands-on experience integrating AI capabilities into software products and using AI-augmented workflows to accelerate delivery.
Proven ability to lead cloud infrastructure cost optimization initiatives across large-scale AWS/GCP deployments, balancing performance with financial scalability.
Strong collaborator and communicator — able to partner with PMs, designers, and engineers to break down features into sprint tasks and clearly articulate technical tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Experience with Developer Platforms, DevTools, or core engineering platforms is a plus.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and evolve secure, scalable microservices and intuitive frontend experiences that power mission-critical product features with strong performance and reliability.
Own major platform initiatives end-to-end translating ambiguous technical and product concepts into clean, functional software with clear accountability.
Champion best practices in domain-driven design, API contract management, testing, observability, and architectural modernization to reduce technical debt and elevate code quality.
Leverage AI-assisted engineering tools and autonomous coding agents (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code) as an expert power-user to accelerate delivery and raise baseline quality.
Lead and unblock a small, high-velocity team (1–3 developers), providing technical guidance, mentorship, and constructive code reviews to foster a culture of continuous learning.