Senior Software Engineer II (People Systems)

Overview

For over 20 years, Smartsheet has helped people and teams achieve–well, anything. From seamless work management to smart, scalable solutions, we’ve always worked with flow. We’re building tools that empower teams to automate the manual, uncover insights, and scale smarter. But more than that, we’re creating space– space to think big, take action, and unlock the kind of work that truly matters. Because when challenge meets purpose, and passion turns into progress, that’s magic at work, and it’s what we show up for everyday.

Corporate Systems Engineering builds and operates the software platforms, integrations, and automations that power Smartsheet’s core business functions across Finance, Sales/GTM, and People & Culture. Our team owns mission-critical systems and workflows that enable how the company hires, sells, bills, pays, reports, and scales. We operate at the intersection of software engineering, enterprise platforms, and business-critical data, treating internal systems with the same rigor, reliability, and product mindset as customer-facing software.

The People Systems team engineers and operates platforms that support the employee lifecycle, including HR, payroll, learning, and talent systems. We balance deep platform configuration with extensibility, integrations, and data integrity to deliver reliable, compliant systems that scale with the organization.

As a Senior Software Engineer II on the People Systems team, you will operate as a technical leader within the People & Culture (P&C) domain, owning complex, high-impact engineering work that extends beyond traditional application configuration. This role focuses on building scalable, reliable, and extensible solutions across Workday, People data, integrations, and automation that support the full employee lifecycle and enable the business to operate with accuracy, speed, and insight. You will work at the intersection of enterprise platforms, custom engineering, and data, helping evolve People Systems from primarily UI-driven administration into a product-grade, engineering-led capability within Product Engineering.

This role is suited for a senior engineer who is comfortable working across configuration, code, integrations, and data - and who enjoys solving ambiguous, cross-functional problems in a regulated enterprise environment.

You Will

• Act as a senior technical owner within the People Systems domain, responsible for designing and delivering complex solutions across Workday, integrations, and supporting platforms
• Lead engineering efforts related to People data flows, including hire-to-retire lifecycle events, data synchronization, and downstream consumption by Finance, Security, and Analytics
• Design and implement custom extensions and integrations using tools such as Workday Studio, APIs, middleware, or AWS-based services
• Partner with Integrations and Automation teams to build event-driven, automated People workflows (e.g., joiner/mover/leaver, access provisioning, data updates)
• Own the technical design and implementation of People-related integrations and data contracts, ensuring reliability, auditability, and clear ownership
• Contribute to People reporting and analytics initiatives by enabling high-quality, well-modeled People data for BI, compliance, and workforce insights
• Identify opportunities to reduce manual People operations through automation, configuration-as-code patterns, and reusable components
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to other People Systems engineers, reviewing designs and code and setting quality standards
• Partner closely with Product Managers, HR stakeholders, Security, and Compliance to translate People domain needs into robust technical solutions
• Participate in on-call rotations and operational ownership for People Systems, ensuring reliability and rapid issue resolution
  
  

• 6-8 years experience building and supporting enterprise systems, with deep exposure to HR/People platforms such as Workday
• Experience extending enterprise platforms through custom development, APIs, middleware, or platform-specific tooling (e.g., Workday Studio or similar)
• Strong understanding of system-to-system integrations, data modeling, and event-driven workflows
• Comfort working across both UI-driven configuration and code-based solutions
• Experience operating in environments with compliance, audit, and security requirements (SOX, ITGC, access controls)
• Ability to lead technical initiatives independently and make sound architectural decisions
• Strong communication skills and comfort collaborating with non-technical stakeholders
• Experience mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar of a team
• Experience with People data analytics, reporting pipelines, or workforce metrics
• Familiarity with identity lifecycle management and security integrations tied to HR systems
• Experience building internal tools or automations that support HR or People Operations teams
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS), scripting languages, or automation frameworks
• Experience working in Product Engineering organizations rather than traditional IT
  
  

At Smartsheet, your ideas are heard, your potential is supported, and your contributions have real impact. You’ll have the freedom to explore, push boundaries, and grow beyond your role. We welcome diverse perspectives and nontraditional paths—because we know that impact comes from individuals who care deeply and challenge thoughtfully. When you’re doing work that stretches you, excites you, and connects you to something bigger, that’s magic at work. Let’s build what’s next, together.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Smartsheet is an Equal Opportunity (EEO) employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment with the best employees. It is our policy to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants in accordance with applicable laws in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Costa Rica, Japan, Bulgaria, and India. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

If there are preparations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.