Principal AI Engineer

The Opportunity

A leading technology organisation is seeking a Principal AI Engineer to drive the development of internal AI platforms, intelligent agents, and engineering tools that improve productivity across a large engineering function.

This is a senior hands-on technical role focused on designing, building, and scaling AI infrastructure. You will act as the technical authority for AI engineering, solving complex challenges while mentoring senior engineers and influencing technical standards across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

* Lead the design and development of AI platforms, autonomous agents, and AI infrastructure.
* Own architecture for LLM integrations, RAG solutions, model operations, evaluation frameworks, and governance.
* Remain hands-on with system design and software development.
* Define AI engineering standards, best practices, and technical strategy.
* Partner with engineering, security, and platform teams to deliver safe and scalable AI solutions.
* Mentor engineers and raise technical capability across the wider organisation.

Requirements

* 10+ years' experience in software engineering.
* Previous Staff or Principal Engineer experience delivering complex distributed systems.
* Proven experience building and deploying AI solutions using LLMs, RAG, AI agents, or applied machine learning.
* Strong background in cloud platforms (Azure and/or GCP), backend systems, and platform architecture.
* Experience influencing technical direction and mentoring senior engineers.
* Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Desirable Skills

* Multi-cloud and modern DevOps experience.
* AI governance, evaluation, or responsible AI practices.
* Experience within regulated or privacy-focused environments.
* Technical community leadership, advocacy, speaking, or educational experience.
* Founder, CTO, or highly autonomous leadership background.

What's on Offer

* Opportunity to shape AI strategy and adoption at scale.
* High-impact role with visibility across the organisation.
* Access to senior leadership and influence over enterprise-wide AI initiatives.
* Chance to work on cutting-edge AI technologies in a highly technical environment.