Principal Software Development Engineer - Applied AI

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Principal Software Development Engineer - Applied AI based in Canada.

This role offers the opportunity to define the future of AI-powered software development within a mission-driven technology environment. You will shape the architecture, standards, and engineering practices behind advanced AI products and agentic workflows. The position combines deep technical leadership, distributed systems expertise, and applied AI innovation. You will influence engineering strategy across teams while enabling scalable, secure, and reliable AI solutions. Working closely with engineers and leadership, you will translate complex AI opportunities into practical business outcomes. This is a high-impact opportunity for a principal-level engineer who thrives on ambiguity, innovation, and building systems that create meaningful value for customers.

Accountabilities:: The Principal Software Development Engineer - Applied AI will provide organization-wide technical leadership for AI product development, platform architecture, and engineering transformation. This role requires strong strategic thinking, hands-on technical expertise, and the ability to guide teams toward scalable, secure, and high-quality solutions.

Define and own the technical strategy for AI products, platforms, and agentic development workflows across the organization.

Create architecture decision records, technical standards, and engineering guidelines that influence multiple teams.

Establish clear boundaries between AI services and the broader product ecosystem while building reusable platform capabilities.

Lead architectural decisions related to AI infrastructure, distributed systems, persistence strategies, evaluation frameworks, observability, and quality controls.

Define standards for AI feature validation, including evaluation processes, monitoring, release criteria, and responsible AI practices.

Guide the adoption of agentic development practices and help evolve engineering workflows toward increased automation while maintaining quality and compliance.

Make data-driven build-versus-buy recommendations, including vendor evaluations, cost models, and long-term technology considerations.

Act as a technical advisor across engineering teams, resolving complex challenges and improving organizational decision-making.

Mentor senior engineers through collaboration, technical guidance, design reviews, and knowledge sharing.

Contribute to the development of reliable, scalable, and high-performing customer-facing systems beyond AI-specific initiatives.

Requirements:

The ideal candidate is a highly experienced software engineering leader with a strong background in applied AI, architecture, and large-scale system design. You should have demonstrated experience influencing engineering organizations, building innovative solutions, and operating effectively in complex technical environments.

10+ years of professional software engineering experience with increasing technical impact and leadership responsibility.

Several years of experience designing and operating production-level LLM, AI, or agentic systems at Staff Engineer level or above.

Proven experience designing distributed systems and microservices for complex business domains.

Strong understanding of architecture principles, including domain-driven design, clean architecture, scalability, and system performance.

Broad full-stack engineering knowledge, including modern frontend technologies and Python-based backend systems.

Experience creating architecture standards, technical decision documents, and engineering practices adopted across teams.

Demonstrated ability to evaluate AI platforms, vendors, and infrastructure solutions using measurable criteria and cost analysis.

Deep knowledge of modern AI engineering concepts, including agent orchestration, interoperability frameworks, evaluation pipelines, vector-based storage, and AI observability.

Experience defining AI platform strategies, including decisions around model selection, APIs, fine-tuning, cost optimization, latency, and control.

Strong understanding of security, governance, responsible AI practices, and compliance considerations in regulated environments.

Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs to both engineering teams and business leaders.

Strong mentoring abilities and a track record of increasing team effectiveness through collaboration and technical leadership.

High level of ownership, curiosity, and ability to create solutions where established patterns do not yet exist.

Benefits:

Fully remote work environment with flexibility to work from anywhere in Canada.

Competitive annual salary range of CAD $200,000 – $220,000.

Opportunity to directly influence the future of AI-powered products and engineering practices.

Collaborative culture focused on innovation, learning, and meaningful impact.

Professional development opportunities and support for continuous growth.

Flexible and autonomous work environment designed to support work-life balance.

Opportunity to work with talented engineers, researchers, and technology leaders on complex challenges.

Inclusive workplace culture focused on respect, collaboration, and belonging.

Virtual-first recruitment and work experience with accommodations available throughout the hiring process.

How Jobgether works: We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team. We appreciate your interest and wish you the best!  Why Apply Through Jobgether?    Data Privacy Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Jobgether will process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy and share relevant information with the hiring employer. This processing is based on legitimate interest and pre-contractual measures under applicable data protection laws (including GDPR). You may exercise your rights (access, rectification, erasure, objection) at any time.     #LI-CL1