Senior Director, HCM & WFM Engineering

Description

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.

How do you know you’ve found the right place to work? At Workday, we live our core values every day: Employees, Customer Service, Innovation, Integrity and Fun. We work hard, and we’re serious about what we do. But we like to have fun, too. We put people first, celebrate diversity, drive innovation, and do good in the communities where we live and work. We help the world’s largest organizations adapt to what’s next by bringing finance, HR, and planning into a single enterprise cloud.

HCM's mission is to reinvent how workers, managers, candidates, business leaders, and administrators interact with Workday. We are transforming Workday’s unmatched global data footprint into a living intelligence layer that makes work more transparent, engaging, insightful, and adaptable.

As the heartbeat of Workday, HCM represents more than $3B in revenue and serves over 6,000 customers worldwide. Our work powers moments that matter across the entire employee journey:

Transparency for candidates exploring new opportunities and seeking accurate pay ranges.

Engagement for employees looking for a holistic, personalized rewards experience.

Insight for managers making fair, informed compensation decisions.

Flexibility for business leaders adapting to a constantly changing world.

Come be part of this transformation and help shape the future of HCM, and the future of Workday.

About the Role

As the Senior Director of HCM Engineering, you will lead and support a 100+ person organization of software engineers and engineering leaders building the future of Workday HCM.

In this role, you will set the technical and organizational direction for a team focused on reinventing how workers, managers, and administrators interact with Workday. You will join a leadership team deeply grounded in Workday’s values and leadership principles, and you will play a central role in shaping the evolution of this critical product area.

Responsibilities

• Develop and communicate a strategic roadmap for HCM Engineering, aligned with business goals and the broader HCM product vision
• Lead and grow an organization of high-performing engineering teams responsible for delivering and supporting Workday HCM.
• Collaborate with product management, Agent Factory, platform and customer support teams to define product requirements and ensure timely, high-quality delivery of features and enhancements
• Champion the product vision and partner with product management and other key teams to deliver on product goals
• Coordinate delivery across multiple teams, providing estimates and assessments for proposed development efforts and ensuring on-time, high-quality outcomes
• Build and maintain relationships with customers, partners, and industry experts to stay informed about the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in HCM.
• Grow and develop your teams — supporting workmates in building their careers, leveraging their strengths, and achieving their aspirations

Requirements

• Basic Qualifications:
• 8+ years of experience leading and developing large software development engineering organizations, including managing Directors and Senior Managers
• 10+ years of experience managing software development engineering teams, building high-performing teams, and driving software development outcomes
• 15+ years of experience in software development engineering, defining and implementing technical strategies for complex software products and platforms
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; Master's degree preferred, or equivalent practical experience
• Other Qualifications:
• Mastery of Decision Making in the context of leading global engineering organizations — you evaluate complex, high-impact options with clarity, balancing risk assessment and long-term technical strategy to drive sound organizational decisions
• Recognized expertise in Engineering Leadership, with the ability to provide visionary direction and inspire innovation across a large engineering organization — you set the tone for technical excellence and foster an environment where teams do their best work
• Exceptional Influencing Skills, with experience driving organizational transformation and strategic technical adoption across senior leadership, cross-functional partners, and engineering teams — you build alignment through trust, clarity, and credibility
• Mastery of People Management principles, with a demonstrated ability to build and scale inclusive, high-performing software development organizations — you know how to motivate teams, develop engineering leaders, resolve challenges constructively, and foster a culture of continuous learning
• Deep expertise in Software Development and its strategic application, with experience guiding the architecture and delivery of complex, enterprise-scale platforms — you understand how to translate business and product goals into sound engineering strategies that drive innovation and results
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including the ability to deliver clear, compelling presentations to executive leadership and external partners and to adapt your style to different audiences
• Workday Pay Transparency Statement
• 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 .
• Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton
• Primary Location Base Pay Range: $281,600 USD - $422,400 USD
• Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $231,800 USD - $422,400 USD
• Our Approach to Flexible Work
• With 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.
• Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law.
• Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law.
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