Principal AI Engineer

Alkami is the digital sales and service platform provider for U.S. banks and credit unions. Our unified Platform integrates onboarding, digital banking, and data and marketing—each solution can stand alone, but together they deliver more—to help institutions onboard, engage, and grow relationships. As the future shifts toward Anticipatory Banking, we help data-informed bankers meet the moment with technology that drives action.

Founded in 2009, we continue to be recognized for our intentional culture and tremendous growth (Best Place to Work in Fintech; Best & Brightest to Work For Nationally; and Comparably’s Best Company Culture, Best Career Growth, Best Engineering Team, and Best Places to Work in Dallas, among others). We’re building a culture where each Alkamist can perform to their highest potential, and we’re always on the lookout for the best and brightest minds. If you’re ready to experience the power of alchemy - transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary - come join one of the fastest growing SaaS companies in the U.S.

As a remote-first company, most of our positions can be remote in the US, except for key roles, which will be indicated in the Job Title.

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The Principal AI Engineer is a hands-on senior technical leader responsible for architecting and enabling AI augmented software engineering across the enterprise. This role drives the adoption of Generative AI, AI code assistants, and agentic workflows to transform the software development lifecycle (SDLC), accelerate engineering productivity, modernize legacy systems, and improve software quality.
The individual will combine deep expertise in cloud-native architecture, distributed systems, and enterprise software development with advanced proficiency in AI-assisted engineering tools and agent frameworks. This role will design and implement AI-driven development platforms, agentic automation pipelines, and context-aware code generation capabilities that enable engineering teams to build and operate scalable, secure, and reliable software systems.
As a Principal AI Engineer, this individual will influence enterprise architecture decisions, engineering productivity strategies, AI governance frameworks, and responsible AI adoption across the organization.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

 ● Lead & drive with hands-on coding experience, the enterprise adoption of AI-assisted development practices,  integrating tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude code, and other AI coding assistants into engineering  workflows.           

● Design and implement AI-augmented SDLC frameworks, enabling context-driven code generation, automated  testing, and intelligent code review. 

● Develop agentic automation systems to accelerate development tasks including bug fixing, code refactoring,  documentation generation, and test automation. 

● Build AI-enabled engineering platforms that integrate LLM capabilities directly into development environments  and CI/CD pipelines. 

● Design and implement agent-based engineering systems using frameworks such as n8n, OpenClaw, and other  orchestration platforms. 

● Develop multi-agent workflows for engineering automation including:Automated debugging,Intelligent test  generation,Code remediation,Security vulnerability detection 

● Implement architectures based on Agent frameworks, MCP (Model Context Protocol), and A2A (Agent-to Agent) communication protocols. 

● Architect scalable, resilient cloud-native AI engineering platforms on modern cloud infrastructure.

● Drive enterprise architectural decisions related to AI-enabled development platforms, developer productivity  systems, and AI engineering infrastructure. 

● Implement Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices and cloud automation frameworks.

● Design systems with strong focus on security, scalability, reliability, and cost optimization.

● Develop context-aware AI development systems that leverage codebases, documentation, architecture  diagrams, and telemetry to improve code generation quality. 

● Partner with platform engineering teams to integrate AI capabilities into CI/CD pipelines and DevOps platforms.

● Lead initiatives leveraging AI for large-scale legacy modernization, including automated code translation and  refactoring. 

● Design frameworks that use AI to migrate legacy systems to modern cloud-native architectures.

● Develop automation pipelines for codebase analysis, dependency mapping, and modernization strategies.

● Develop best practices for secure and ethical AI adoption within engineering workflows.

● Implement AI-driven telemetry, observability, and operational intelligence frameworks.

● Ensure AI-generated systems meet enterprise standards for security, reliability, and operational resilience.

● Provide technical mentorship and guidance to engineering teams adopting AI-augmented development  practices. 

● Lead architecture reviews and engineering strategy discussions related to AI-enabled software development.

● Influence engineering leadership on next-generation development paradigms driven by AI and automation.

● Establishing and maintaining standards for the engineering organization           .

Required 

 ● Typically requires 15+ years of experience in software engineering, distributed systems, cloud-native  development, or AI-augmented engineering transformation    

● Experience leading or contributing to AI-driven SDLC transformation initiatives, including adoption of AI coding  assistants, context-aware code generation, automated testing, and agentic workflow automation across the  software development lifecycle with hands-on coding. 

● Experience applying AI to improve developer productivity, software quality, legacy modernization, bug  remediation, and engineering automation. 

● Exposure to implementing AI-enabled engineering practices across one or more stages of the SDLC, including  design, development, testing, deployment, and operations. 

● Possess expert knowledge in performance, scalability, distributed architecture, and engineering best practices.

● Strong programming skills in an object-oriented language such as Java or C#, python with proven work  experience as a full stack developer 

● Experience working with modern Javascript frameworks like React and Angular, HTML, and CSS

● Proficient in API fundamentals and best practices, REST API architecture 

● In-depth understanding of the entire software development process (design, development and deployment)

● Advanced experience developing and deploying applications for Cloud Native Infrastructure, using CI/CD tools  following best practices 

● Experience building applications in microservice architecture with API-first mindset.

● Collaborates effectively within the agile framework with a problem-solving attitude and willing to take a variety  of approaches 

● Excellent analytical and time management skills, with a proven ability to deliver cross-organization impact independently 

● Proven ability to work cross-functionally, experience with planning and leading complicated technical projects  that work with several teams within the company. 

● Excellent leadership, written and verbal communication skills     

Preferred 

● Master’s degree in engineering, technology or related field 

● Experience working with SaaS offerings in the technology and financial industries 

● Experience building and deploying applications on Amazon Web Services 

● Experience and familiarity with mobile application development.

The salary range for this position is: TBDCool Things to Know

Not Just Any Company: Alkami has an awesome diverse and inclusive environment. We have a FUN culture and offer great benefits, including remote-first environment, unlimited paid time off, 401(k) with employer match, and more.

Work Authorization: We cannot offer employment sponsorship at this time. Candidates must be eligible to work in the US for full-time employment.

Recruiters: We are not looking for outside recruiting firms to help us in this search. Thank you for understanding.

Pay Transparency: As of January 1, 2023, new states and locales have enacted pay equity laws that require more pay transparency by employers in the following states: California, Colorado (effective January 1, 2021), Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington.

The Important Stuff

Alkami Technology is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibits Discrimination and Harassment of Any Kind: Alkami is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at Alkami are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Alkami will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Alkami encourages applicants of all ages.

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