As a Principal Engineer, you will operate as one of the organisation's most senior individual contributors, helping define the future of software engineering through AI-enabled development practices and platforms.
Responsibilities include:
Designing and building AI-powered engineering platforms, tools, frameworks, and developer workflows
Creating scalable solutions that enable safe, secure, and effective AI-assisted software development
Driving AI adoption across engineering teams through technical leadership, proof of concepts, and best-practice guidance
Establishing engineering standards relating to AI governance, security, code quality, and software delivery
Building developer tooling, automation frameworks, guardrails, and internal engineering capabilities
Evaluating emerging technologies, AI platforms, and engineering tools to support strategic objectives
Developing metrics, telemetry, and measurement frameworks to improve engineering effectiveness
Building prototypes and technical proofs of concept that reduce risk and accelerate innovation
Collaborating with senior technical stakeholders across engineering, product, and delivery teams
Mentoring senior engineers and contributing to architectural decision-making through influence rather than authority
This is a hands-on technical leadership role with no direct people management responsibilities, offering significant influence over engineering practices, architecture, developer experience, and AI adoption across a large technology organisation.
Skills & Experience:
Minimum 10+ years of software engineering experience in senior, staff, principal, or equivalent engineering roles
Deep expertise in at least two of the following technologies:
Java
.NET
React
Flutter
Strong understanding of cloud-native architecture and distributed systems
Experience with AWS, microservices, API design, event-driven architecture, and CI/CD practices
Hands-on experience building developer platforms, engineering tooling, internal frameworks, or AI-driven systems
Experience working with Large Language Models (LLMs), prompt engineering, AI agents, retrieval systems, evaluation frameworks, and AI governance
Strong software architecture and systems design capabilities
Ability to solve ambiguous, large-scale technical challenges
Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills
Ability to drive technical change through influence and expertise
Experience in complex, high-scale technology environments would be advantageous
Qualification:
Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Engineering, or a related field
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Principle Engineer | AI-Augmented Engineering Systems • Cape Town, South Africa