Principal Cybersecurity Engineer

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.

The Principal Cybersecurity Engineer is a key technical leader responsible for defining and driving the strategic direction and implementation of security controls across the organization's infrastructure. This role requires deep technical expertise in infrastructure security and strong coding/automation skills to industrialize compliance and security processes. The Principal Engineer is expected to lead complex projects, mentor junior staff, and significantly influence security governance decisions.

Responsibilities include: 

• Champion the principle of translating security policies directly into testable, automated code to ensure non-bypassable compliance.
• Conceptualize, architect, and champion the adoption of groundbreaking, enterprise-wide security architectures and strategic initiatives that address current and future threats at massive scale.
• Lead applied research and innovation in security, anticipating future threats, evaluating disruptive technologies, and pioneering novel solutions to maintain Workday's security posture.
• Establish, govern, and evolve the highest-level security architectural standards, principles, and patterns across the organization, ensuring their rigorous application and measurable effectiveness.
• Mentor, inspire, and cultivate other engineers and senior technical leaders across Workday; drive a culture of profound security understanding, innovation, and accountability.
• Advise executive leadership (VPs, Directors, C-suite) on critical security risks, strategic investments, and the company's overall security posture. Lead and unify security efforts across disparate engineering organizations on high-impact initiatives.
• Solve the most complex, ambiguous, and high-stakes security challenges that require novel approaches and deep, multi-disciplinary expertise, often with company-wide implications.
• Drive transformative security improvements across Workday’s people, processes, and technology.

Basic Qualifications:

• 10+ years of distinguished, progressive experience in security engineering and architecture, with a demonstrable track record of setting technical vision, leading security architecture for large-scale, complex systems, and driving enterprise-wide security transformations.
• Highly proficient in architecting, implementing, evolving, and securing complex, mission-critical services and infrastructure across multiple major cloud service providers (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and large-scale enterprise environments.
• Pioneering understanding and application of cloud security principles, advanced architectural patterns, and emerging technologies, with a history of defining and implementing industry-leading security controls.
• Strong proficiency in at least one scripting language (e.g., Python, Go, Bash, Ruby) with the ability to develop automation for security operations, configuration management, and compliance.
• Unparalleled expertise and recognized authority in multiple core security domains (e.g., network security, platform hardening, application security, data protection, identity and access management, cryptography) and their strategic interplay in complex, distributed ecosystems.

Listed below is the base salary range applicable to this position. Workday pay ranges (and the precise pay offered to the successful candidate) are based on a number of objective criteria such as relevant experience and skills, and educational qualifications, level of responsibility, demands of the role, work location and business need. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants awarded by Workday Inc. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.

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