Workday · 10 hours ago
Distinguished Architect
USA, CA, Pleasanton
Full-time
Hybrid
Lead/Staff
$288K/yr - $432K/yr
20+ years expWorkday is a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform focused on managing people, money, and agents. They are seeking a Distinguished Architect to work with the Core Services Architecture team, responsible for designing the future of Workday’s core architecture and optimizing it for massive scale and operational efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud ComputingEnterprise SoftwareHuman ResourcesSaaSSoftware
Responsibilities
Serve as a primary technical advisor and subject matter expert on core platform architecture and Agentic AI strategies for the CEO, the President of Product & Technology, and the Senior Vice President/General Manager Platform
Articulate and defend highly complex architectural visions and technical roadmaps to the most senior executive leaders, linking technical investment to clear business outcomes and competitive advantage
Drive and influence executive-level decisions regarding large-scale architectural transformations, strategic acquisitions, and the long-term direction of Workday's technology platform
Participate in and help drive the design of Workday’s future architecture, with a significant focus on the Agentic AI Platform (Workday Illuminate)
Provide complete architectural oversight for how we design, implement, and integrate the infrastructure required to host and scale Intelligent Agents (e.g., conversational AI, workflow automation agents)
Define the architecture for integrating and standardizing technology from key acquisitions (such as Sana's enterprise knowledge tools, Paradox's conversational recruiting agent, and Evisort's contract intelligence) into the Workday core platform
Collaborate with product and engineering teams to define the architecture for governed, explainable, and trustworthy AI that operates on Workday's proprietary data
Produce high-quality design documents and architecture drawings for distributed systems, emphasizing high availability, performance, and the security of AI workflows
Be responsible for system performance and stability, with a focus on optimizing the latency and cost associated with large-scale, agent-mediated workflows and LLM interactions
Provide technical guidance and mentorship to senior and junior developers on modern architectural patterns, including agentic design and workflow orchestration
Lead and participate in design reviews across the entire engineering organization, ensuring alignment with executive strategic intent
Qualification
Required
20+ years of software engineering and architecture experience with a proven track record of delivering enterprise class, mission-critical products
10+ years of distributed system architecture and design, including leadership positions within high profile, large scale, mission critical projects
Proven ability to communicate and influence at the highest executive levels (C-Suite and SVP/GM), distilling complex technical concepts into clear, strategic business language
Critical thinker. Able to analyze others' ideas and provide constructive feedback including alternative approaches
Be comfortable driving innovation and change while also taking responsibility for the continued success of our Production system and customers
Proven ability to take a leadership role in complex, multi-team projects that have direct impact on Workday's long-term platform strategy
Superb written and verbal communication and presentation skills required for engaging with both engineering teams and executive leadership
Expert in areas of enterprise software including highly available distributed systems, public cloud platforms, open standards, best practices, implementing at scale, and data integrity and regulatory issues
Advanced knowledge of in-memory databases, metadata driven development, and metadata oriented architecture
BS in Computer Science or related fields. Graduate degree is a bonus
Demonstrated experience in designing and scaling platforms for Agentic AI, GenAI, or LLM-based applications in an enterprise environment
Deep understanding of conversational AI, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and the architecture required for autonomous or semi-autonomous software agents
Experience in database design and/or implementation
Experience using or building distributed systems with an understanding of scalability, data integrity, and performance
Experience with Java
Ability to mentor/teach others and champion new technologies like agentic frameworks across the engineering organization
Benefits
Workday Bonus Plan
Annual refresh stock grants
Company
Workday
Workday provides SaaS-based enterprise solutions for a company's human resources and financial management activities.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Workday has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (331)
2024 (388)
2023 (262)
2022 (503)
2021 (290)
2020 (229)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$2.23BKey Investors
Elliott Management Corp.New Enterprise AssociatesGreylock
2025-09-16Post Ipo Equity· $2B
2012-10-12IPO
2011-10-24Series F· $85M
Leadership Team
Aneel Bhusri
CEO and Co-Founder
Peter Bailis
Chief Technology Officer
Recent News
2026-01-25
2026-01-23
GlobeNewswire
2026-01-23
Company data provided by crunchbase