Software Development Engineer

About the Team

The Database Engineering Team at Workday designs, builds, develops, maintains, and supervises database infrastructure to meet data‑related needs with dedication and scale while providing high availability. We are a fast‑paced and diverse team of database specialists and software engineers responsible for designing, automating, managing and running databases on private and public cloud platforms.

We are looking for individuals who have strong experience in backend development specializing in database as a service with deep experience in open‑source database technologies such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, CloudSQL and other cloud‑native database technologies.

• Architect, design, develop, and manage the DBaaS service for Workday Database Infrastructure.
• Design and develop APIs to improve the availability, scalability, and performance of databases running on multiple clouds.
• Write APIs and develop dashboards to measure database KPIs.
• Keep observability as a focus for all database monitoring and improve or implement auto‑remediation techniques.
• Provide support for large‑scale database instances across production, non‑production and development environments.
• Serve in an on‑call rotation supporting database infrastructure.
• Partner with service and performance teams for continuous architecture improvements, resiliency, and performance.

• 4+ years of experience in designing, developing, automating, and managing mission‑critical production workloads on MySQL, PostgreSQL, CloudSQL and other cloud‑native databases.
• 4+ years of experience in backend development using modern programming languages (Golang, Python, Java) with architecture, design and development.
• 4+ years hands‑on experience in cloud hyperscalers (AWS, Google Cloud and/or Microsoft Azure).
• 4+ years of experience managing clustered, highly available database services deployed on different flavors of Linux.
• Minimum 4+ years working experience in modern Dev Ops technologies and container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker), service deployment, monitoring and scaling.
• Familiarity with AWS Gov Cloud.

• Knowledge of automation tools such as Terraform, Chef and Ansible.
• Familiarity with Ceph Storage, Gluster, Orchestrator for MySQL, Percona MHA, Percona Galera, Vitess, Pure Storage.
• Experience with database architecture, design, replication, clustering, high‑availability and disaster recovery.
• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills.
• Self‑starter, highly motivated and able to learn quickly.
• Excellent team player with extraordinary written and verbal communication skills.
• BS or MS degree in Computer Science.

Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We are committed to providing an accessible and inclusive hiring experience. If you require assistance or an accommodation at any point, please email

The annualized base salary for this role ranges from USD 137,000 to USD 205,400 for the primary location in Reston, VA, and USD 123,900 to USD 222,000 for additional U.S. locations. The role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan, a role‑specific commission/bonus, and annual stock grants.

Our approach to flexible work combines the best of in‑person and remote. Workday requires at least 50% of time in the office each quarter, but you have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that meets your personal and team needs.