Sr. Software Development Engineer - Distributed Systems ( Java​/Kotlin

Your work days are brighter here.

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.

At Workday, we love to have fun! From quirky sprint names to adventurous team outings, our team knows the importance of having fun together. Inclusivity and diversity are important for the team; everyone on the team takes training on Workday's VIBE (Value, Inclusion, Belonging, Equity) program.

Developer Platform App life cycle is the core of Workday's Developer Platform, providing the infrastructure to manage the full lifecycle of applications. This platform governs the promotion, deployment, installation, version management, and compiler orchestration of Extend apps. Built on AWS, our services are designed with core components focused on scalability, resilience, and robustness.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will play a key role in designing and scaling Workday's Developer core services platform. We are looking for a product‑mindful engineer with a strong sense of end‑to‑end ownership – 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.

• 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.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of software engineering with a strong focus on backend microservice architectures and distributed systems.
• 5+ years of experience in each of the following:
  • Programming:
    Java, Kotlin, or Go.
  • Cloud Platforms: AWS (preferred), GCP, or Azure, including expertise with S3, Lambda, EC2, Cloud Front, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, and MySQL.
  • Containerization/Orchestration:
    Docker and Kubernetes.
• 2+ years of full‑stack experience building modern frontend UIs (e.g., React, Angular, or Vue).
• 1+ year of experience with:
  • Modern architectural standards (e.g., Model Context Protocol/MCP).
  • Expert‑level AI‑augmented development (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Git Hub Copilot), with a demonstrated ability to direct, prompt, audit, and validate agentic‑generated code.

• Deep backend proficiency in Java or Kotlin, with a 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/Type Script), 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…