Coupa's AI platform powers production agents, conversational AI (Navi), customer-built agents (Agent Studio), and a suite of ML models for classification, fraud detection, and supplier intelligence. The Principal Engineer, AI/ML Architecture will define the technical direction for the next generation of these capabilities, designing how we train, evaluate, and serve models that are deeply tuned to enterprise spend management. Reporting to the Sr. Director, you will be hands-on in architecture and prototyping while guiding a growing team of ML and data engineers.
What You'll Do:
- Define the architecture for model training, evaluation, and serving across Coupa's AI platform.
- Evaluate and select model approaches (open-weight, commercial, and hybrid) against enterprise accuracy and cost requirements.
- Design evaluation frameworks that measure model quality on Coupa's specific task categories.
- Drive technical partnership evaluations with AI infrastructure and model providers.
- Architect training data pipelines, including synthetic data generation and quality validation.
- Design retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems that extend our existing RAG infrastructure with structured knowledge retrieval.
- Establish technical standards for model safety, tenant data isolation, and responsible AI.
- Write code, review PRs, and prototype approaches, especially in the early phases.
- Mentor and guide ML and data engineers across US and India.
- Collaborate with product, existing AI platform, and cloud operations teams.
What You Will Bring to Coupa:
- 15+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years focused on ML/AI systems.
- Demonstrated experience training or fine-tuning large language models. Must have shipped a fine-tuned or domain-adapted model to production.
- Deep knowledge of transformer architectures, training optimization (LoRA, QLoRA, PEFT, RLHF, DPO), and inference serving.
- Experience with distributed training on GPU clusters.
- Strong understanding of RAG architectures, vector search, embedding models, and knowledge graph integration.
- Hands-on experience with cloud AI/ML services (model hosting, managed training, or equivalent).
- Experience designing and running custom evaluation suites for LLMs.
- Proficiency in Python, PyTorch, and ML infrastructure tooling.
- Advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or equivalent practical experience.
- Experience with enterprise B2B SaaS platforms preferred.
Coupa Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Health, dental, vision, and mental‑wellness resources for employees and dependents begin on the first day of employment. Recent updates to health‑insurance programs this year indicate active management of core coverage.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Flexible Time Off, floating holidays, paid parental leave, and dedicated volunteer time off are emphasized as part of standard offerings. A global minimum vacation allowance outside the U.S. is also advertised.
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Retirement Support — Competitive compensation is paired with retirement savings programs, including a U.S. 401(k) with company match. An Employee Stock Purchase Plan is also referenced as part of long‑term financial support.
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What We Do
Coupa is a global technology company that helps businesses run smarter by connecting all the ways they spend money — from procurement and expenses to payments and supply chain decisions — in one intelligent platform. In simple terms, Coupa gives organizations the visibility and control they need to make better financial choices, reduce waste, and drive real impact. It’s where technology meets purpose: helping companies manage their resources more responsibly while creating a positive ripple across their people, partners, and the planet.
Why Work With Us
At Coupa, we prioritize an inclusive and empathetic workplace where every voice is valued. Our teams are proactive and accountable, ensuring we collaborate effectively to achieve our goals. The foundation of our culture rests on our people; we believe in fostering an environment that encourages innovation and curiosity.
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