Principal API Architect, Product Engineering – Agent‑ APIs & Data

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. 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.

Product Engineering builds the end‑to‑end product experiences that Workday customers use. Many of these experiences are now powered by agents and AI, which depend on a strong API foundation.

This role sits in Product Engineering but operates across product pillars. You will work closely with Product Engineering teams as well as partner organizations. You will shape the API foundation, architecture and operating model that makes it easy for Product Engineering to build agent‑ready, high‑quality APIs.

We are seeking a Principal-level API Architect in Product Engineering to lead our API strategy for agentic, product-centric, and integration-heavy scenarios. You will own the API architecture vision for Product Engineering, set standards across API design and product integration patterns, and partner with engineering and product leaders to make them real.

The ideal candidate has deep hands‑on experience designing and building products end to end, from product and domain modeling through backend implementation, API design, and production operations. They should understand how product functionality is translated into scalable services and well‑modeled API endpoints, and they should be comfortable working across large-scale systems using strong object‑oriented modeling and software design principles.

In this role, you will:

• Define and evolve the API architecture, standards, and review processes that guide how Product Engineering teams design and deliver APIs.

• Partner with product and platform leaders to shape the operating model, including API champions across product pillars and a clear intake/prioritization path for API needs.

• Help Product Engineering teams think through product design, domain modeling, service boundaries, and API endpoints that support end‑to‑end product functionality.

• Ensure APIs are designed not only as technical interfaces, but as durable product contracts that reflect clear product capabilities, domain concepts, and customer use cases.

• Define the API architecture and governance model for Product Engineering, spanning REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and emerging integration models used by Workday agents and products.

• Partner with product and engineering teams to design product capabilities end to end, including domain models, service boundaries, object models, API endpoints, and integration flows.

• Translate product requirements and user workflows into scalable backend services and well‑structured API contracts.

• Establish and maintain API standards:

  • OpenAPI contract guidelines, review and approval process.

  • Resource modeling, naming and pagination conventions.

  • Authentication/authorization and multi‑tenant patterns.

  • Error handling, retry semantics, and idempotency guidelines.

  • Versioning and deprecation policies.

• Partner with Product Engineering leaders and “API champions” in each product area to:

  • Shape their API roadmaps.

  • Identify gaps or duplication.

  • Drive convergence on shared patterns and building blocks.

• Define reference…