Sr. Engineering Manager: HR Technology (Hybrid - Seattle, WA)

Job Description Nordstrom’s People Technology organization is evolving rapidly, and we need a Senior Engineering Manager who can lead at scale across complex HR and Legal technology platforms. This role manages a team of Engineers, responsible for delivering and operating the Workday HCM / WFM platform, Cornerstone (Learning), and the integration ecosystem that connects them to Nordstrom’s enterprise architecture. As Senior Manager, you will own a portfolio of platforms, not just a single product. You will set engineering direction, build team capability including the evolving use of AI technologies, drive hiring, and serve as the senior technical voice for HR and Legal systems across Nordstrom Technology. You will partner closely with Product, Program, HR Business Partners, Legal Operations, and Senior Leadership to ensure the systems your team owns power Nordstrom’s workforce with reliability, security, and operational excellence. Platforms & Scope of Ownership Workday HCM Platform Workday configuration engineering: business process configuration, tenant management, security, reporting (BIRT, Prism Analytics) Integration engineering: Workday Studio, EIB, Core Connector, Cloud Connect, PECI/PICOF, REST/SOAP APIs Workday Extend custom application development (WXO) and Workday Prism Analytics HCM modules: Core HCM, Absence, Compensation, Talent, Recruiting, Payroll integrations Integration & Automation Engineering Lead the integration engineering function connecting HR/Legal platforms to enterprise systems Govern middleware, API strategy, and event-driven integration patterns (Kafka, REST, SOAP) Drive automation initiatives across configuration, deployment, and operational workflows Maintain integration health monitoring, MTTR standards, and incident response frameworks You will define and drive the AI and automation strategy across HR and Legal technology platforms, reshaping team dynamics toward AI-augmented delivery models and building engineering fluency in agentic workflows, LLM integration, and intelligent automation so your team are builders of AI-enabled HR systems, not just consumers of vendor-delivered features. Cornerstone - Learning & Development Platform Oversee engineering support for Cornerstone OnDemand (Learning Management System) Manage integrations between Cornerstone and Workday HCM for talent and learning data flows A Day in the Life Lead and develop a team of Engineers; conduct regular 1:1s, set performance goals, and build development plans Establish and communicate engineering roadmap across Workday HCM, Cornerstone, and integration platforms in alignment with Director and business stakeholders Remove blockers and escalate risks across multiple concurrent workstreams operating in a DevOps model Drive architectural decisions for integration, automation, and platform evolution, balancing speed, cost, and technical debt Partner with HR, Legal, and Finance business leaders to translate operational needs into engineering priorities Represent the HR Technology engineering team in leadership forums, program reviews, and cross-functional planning Own team hiring: define roles, lead structured interview loops, make recommendations, and onboard new leaders and engineers Govern operational excellence: define SLAs/SLOs, lead incident reviews, maintain platform reliability standards Apply continuous improvement principles across team delivery, flow metrics, OKRs, retrospectives, and shortened feedback loops Ensure team compliance with Nordstrom engineering standards, data governance, and security requirements Maintain staffing models across Integration, Configuration, Analysis, and Legal Engineering disciplines Define and drive the AI and automation strategy across HR and Legal technology platforms, reshaping team dynamics toward AI-augmented delivery models and building You Own This If You Have Leadership & Management 5+ years leading engineering teams, including 2+ years managing Engineering Managers or team leads Demonstrated ability to build, retain, and grow high-performing engineering teams across multiple disciplines Track record of hiring for technical roles; experience with structured interviewing and competency-based evaluation Experience managing organizational change, team restructuring, and capacity planning Technical Depth - HR Systems 5+ years hands-on experience with Workday HCM configuration, integration engineering, or platform development Proficiency with Workday Studio, EIB, Core Connector, PECI/PICOF, and Workday Extend (WXO) Understanding of Workday business processes, security roles, tenant configuration, and reporting (BIRT, Prism Analytics) Experience with HR data models, payroll integration patterns, and HCM module configuration (Core HCM, Absence, Compensation, Talent, Recruiting) Technical Depth – AI-Augmented Engineering Delivery You have hands-on experience delivering software in an AI-augmented engineering environment, knowing where AI accelerates (code generation, test automation, integration scaffolding) and where it introduces risk (hallucinated logic, security exposure, over-reliance without review discipline). You write effective prompts for engineering contexts, decomposing complex platform problems into discrete, well-scoped AI tasks, and you hold your team to the same standard. You have working knowledge of agentic workflow patterns: chaining LLM calls, tool use, RAG, and orchestration frameworks, and can identify where these apply inside HR and Legal technology contexts. You lead teams through the skill shift this requires, moving engineers toward prompt-driven development, AI-assisted code review, and human-in-the-loop validation, and you define the guardrails explicitly rather than leaving them to individual judgment Technical Depth - Integrations & Platforms Integration architecture experience: REST, SOAP, event-driven patterns, API management Experience with streaming and middleware