Principal AI Engineer (San Francisco)

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.About the TeamAgent Factory is where Workday’s next chapter gets built. We’re forming small, senior, cross-functional AI teams that bring together product leaders, AI engineers, and full-stack builders to create intelligent agents used by millions of people every day. This is production-grade AI—deeply embedded into Workday’s platform—not research experiments or maintenance work. Teams own problems end to end, collaborate tightly across disciplines, and use the right tools to solve real customer challenges at global scale. You’ll work at the intersection of AI, platform architecture, and human workflows, with the autonomy to shape how agents reason, act, and scale responsibly. High trust, high expectations, and real impact. Engineering, but brighter.About the RoleAs a Principal AI Engineer in Agent Factory, you will lead the end-to-end system design, architectural framework, and product integration of Workday’s next generation of intelligent agents. While our ML Engineers focus on building, training, and optimizing foundational algorithms, your mission is intelligence orchestration and product delivery—connecting the brain to the product.Sitting at the intersection of AI capabilities, enterprise platforms, and human workflows, you will architect how foundational models are safely and reliably integrated into functional, production-grade software. You will own the design, experimentation, and orchestration of complex agentic workflows, translating cutting-edge AI capabilities into enterprise-grade business value. Because these agents interact with sensitive HR and financial data at a global scale, you will be a core champion for Responsible and Governed AI—architecting systems with strict guardrails for data privacy, predictability, and explainability. This role requires a balance of high-level system design and hands-on execution, solving critical product constraints like latency, cost, and reliability.About YouBasic Qualifications10+ years of professional software engineering experience with deep expertise in distributed systems, cloud computing, and API design, plus 2+ years of dedicated focus building production-grade LLM/agentic systems OR 7+ years of experience specifically within Machine Learning Engineering or AI application development, with 3+ years dedicated to shipping LLM-backed products.3+ years of hands-on experience integrating large models (LLMs, Foundation Models) and modern AI APIs into user-facing enterprise products.2+ years of experience designing and scaling complex AI orchestration architectures—including multi-agent frameworks, routing layers, and advanced RAG pipelines.6+ years of experience optimizing application performance (specifically tackling constraints like API latency and user interaction design), with 2+ years applied to modern LLM constraints (such as token management, cost optimization, and context-window efficiency).6+ years of proven experience leveraging cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP) to deploy highly responsive, scalable systems.Other QualificationsBachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent technical field.Responsible AI Stewardship: Deep understanding of how to implement governance, guardrails, security layers, and evaluation mechanisms necessary when deploying autonomous agents over sensitive enterprise HR and financial data.Proven track record of technically leading cross-functional pods, mentoring senior engineers, and steering the product development lifecycle from abstract concept to successful deployment.Product-First AI Mindset: Deep focus on business value, user experience, and applying deep learning/large models directly to solve practical end-user challenges.System Design & Integration: Expert-level ability to architect robust application layers that wrap around AI models, ensuring system predictability, error handling, and seamless UX integration.Experimentation & Evaluation: Skilled in rapid prototyping, benchmarking model outputs against product requirements, and managing continuous experimentation cycles for agentic behavior.Thrives in Ambiguity: Highly autonomous leader capable of taking complex, open-ended product goals and turning them into scalable, concrete engineering realities.Workday Pay Transparency StatementThe 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.Primary Location: USA.CA.PleasantonPrimary Location Base Pay Range: $246,000 USD - $370,000 USDAdditional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $206,000 USD - $370,000 USDAdditional Considerations: If performed in Colorado, the pay range for this job is $217,000 - $325,000 USD based on min and max pay range for that role if performed in CO.The application deadline for this role is the same as the posting end date stated as below:07/31/2026Our Approach to Flexible WorkWith Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote home office roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.At Workday, we are committed to providing an accessible and inclusive hiring experience where all candidates can fully demonstrate their skills. If you require assistance or an accommodation at any point, please email View email address on apply.placed-app.com you being referred to one of our roles? If so, ask your connection at Workday about our Employee Referral process!At Workday, we value our candidates’ privacy and data security. Workday will never ask candidates to apply to jobs through websites that are not Workday Careers. Please be aware of sites that may ask for you to input your data in connection with a job posting that appears to be from Workday but is not.In addition, Workday will never ask candidates to pay a recruiting fee, or pay for consulting or coaching services, in order to apply for a job at Workday.SummaryLocation: USA, CA, Pleasanton; USA, WA, Seattle; USA, GA, Atlanta; Canada, BC, Vancouver; USA, CO, Boulder; USA, CA, San Francisco; Canada, ON, TorontoType: Full Time