Software Development Engineer, SRE (US Federal)

About the role

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 Role

This role will support one or more direct or indirect contracts with the U.S. Federal Government which, due to federal government security requirements, mandates that all Workday personnel working on the contracts be United States citizens (naturalized or native).

Location Note

May be required to be on site at client locations in the DC, MD, and VA (DMV) area.

Role Overview

As a Software Development Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in guiding Workday's efforts to build, deploy, and scale solutions for our Kubernetes platform in AWS GovCloud. You will lead infrastructure automation, enhance CI/CD pipelines, build robust observability tools, and drive air-gapped deployment methodologies.

You have a growth mindset and thrive in a collaborative, outcome-driven environment where cross-team partnership is key. You will be part of a team promoting a diverse and inclusive culture where you and your teammates are energized, engaged, and excited to solve complex engineering challenges together every day.

Responsibilities

• Platform & Workload Management: Run, manage, and scale complex containerized workloads on Kubernetes clusters deployed in AWS GovCloud environments.
• Infrastructure Automation: Provision and automate infrastructure, configurations, and deployment pipelines using Terraform, Terragrunt, Docker, AWS, and Argo CD.
• Air-Gapped & Secure Deployments: Design, implement, and maintain air-gapped deployment methodologies to support strict security, compliance, and isolation requirements.
• Observability & Reliability: Build, maintain, and optimize comprehensive monitoring, logging, and alerting systems to ensure high availability and visibility into our managed services.
• Distributed Systems Troubleshooting: Apply deep expertise in troubleshooting distributed systems to quickly diagnose and resolve complex platform, infrastructure, and network issues.
• Collaboration & Results: Work closely with peer development teams, security leaders, and cross-functional partners across multiple locations to deliver reliable, high-impact outcomes.
• Security & Compliance: Implement and maintain enterprise security standards for the platform, ensuring full compliance with federal industry standards.
• Knowledge Sharing & Documentation: Author clear technical documentation, participate in architectural reviews, and actively mentor team members to foster a culture of continuous learning.

Clearance & Eligibility Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship: Required due to federal government contract requirements.
• Security Clearance: Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government TS/SCI security clearance with CI Polygraph. An active TS/SCI w/ CI Poly is strongly preferred.

Basic Qualifications (Mid-Level/ P3)

• Experience: 3+ years of hands-on experience building, scaling, and maintaining production cloud infrastructure, DevOps pipelines, or platform engineering systems.
• Infrastructure as Code: Proven proficiency (2+ years) with infrastructure automation tools such as Terraform or Terragrunt.
• CI/CD & GitOps: Hands-on experience (2+ years) managing continuous delivery pipelines using tools like Argo CD, Jenkins, or GitLab CI.
• Software Development: Proficiency in (2+ years) modern scripting or programming languages, with a preference for Go or Python.
• Technical Leadership: Demonstrated ability (1+ years) to independently lead technical initiatives, troubleshoot distributed systems, and mentor junior engineers.

Basic Qualifications (Senior/ P4)

• Experience: 5+ years of hands-on experience building, scaling, and maintaining production cloud infrastructure, DevOps pipelines, or platform engineering systems.
• Infrastructure as Code: Proven proficiency (3+ years) with infrastructure automation tools such as Terraform or Terragrunt.
• CI/CD & GitOps: Hands-on experience (3+ years) managing continuous delivery pipelines using tools like Argo CD, Jenkins, or GitLab CI.
• Software Development: Proficiency in (3+ years) modern scripting or programming languages, with a preference for Go or Python.
• Technical Leadership: Demonstrated ability (3+ years) to independently lead technical initiatives, troubleshoot distributed systems, and mentor junior engineers.

Other Qualifications (preferred)

• Kubernetes & AWS: Deep production experience managing containerized workloads in AWS (ideally AWS GovCloud) using Kubernetes and Docker.
• Air-Gapped Systems: Practical experience implementing or managing air-gapped deployment methodologies and isolated cloud architectures.
• Observability & Telemetry: Background in building robust monitoring, logging, and alerting systems for distributed platforms (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, etc).
• Security & Compliance: Familiarity with federal security frameworks (e.g., FedRAMP, NIST 800-53, Zero Trust architecture).
• Certifications: DoD 8570/8140 compliance at IAT Level II or higher (e.g., CompTIA Security+, CySA+, CASP+) along with a current Computing Environment credential.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent military / practical engineering experience in lieu of a degree).

Pay and benefits

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

Primary Location: USA.VA.Reston

Primary Location Base Pay Range

$137,000 USD - $205,400 USD

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range

$123,900 USD - $222,000 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.

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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