Senior Software Engineer - Context and Semantics (AI)

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.

As a Senior Software Development Engineer in Context and Semantics, you will be a lead builder and technical anchor for the infrastructure powering Workday’s AI Agents. You will be hands-on in designing, coding, and scaling the backend systems that connect our foundational models to highly complex enterprise data.

Your day-to-day will sit at the intersection of distributed data engineering and applied AI. You will build advanced RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipelines, implement vector search infrastructure, and develop query federation layers (e.g., Trino/LDQ) that seamlessly route LLM data requests across our transactional (OMS) and analytical (Data Lake) stores. We are looking for a highly autonomous, product-minded engineer who thrives in ambiguity, writes exceptionally clean code, and is passionate about solving the unique latency, cost, and security constraints of enterprise AI.

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• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience focusing on backend architecture, data engineering, or distributed systems.

• 5+ years of strong hands-on programming expertise in Java, Python, Scala, or Go.

• 1+ years of dedicated experience building production-grade LLM applications, RAG pipelines, Vector Search systems, or Knowledge Graphs.

• Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent technical field.

• Experience building or optimizing distributed SQL query engines (e.g., Trino, Presto, Spark) and bridging operational and analytical data stores.

• Deep understanding of modern AI orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel) and embedding models.

• Proven ability to architect scalable, high-performance REST/gRPC APIs and microservices.

• Experience handling sensitive, highly regulated data with a strong understanding of enterprise security boundaries and data governance.

• Thrives in Ambiguity: A highly autonomous builder capable of taking open-ended AI product goals and breaking them down into concrete, scalable engineering realities.

• Experience with the Workday platform or enterprise SaaS architectures is a strong plus.

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below.  Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. 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. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.

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