Senior AI Native Engineer

Competency Expectations

Competency Expectations

Aligned with the Keyloop Engineering Career Framework, this role is assessed across five core competency domains:

Competency Domain

What We Expect

Technical Mastery & Innovation

Designs and implements robust, scalable solutions for complex, team-sized projects. Is a recognized technical expert within the team. Drives architectural decisions and champions engineering best practices.

Execution & Delivery

Owns the delivery of large, complex, multi-sprint projects. Is accountable for the operational health of the team's systems. Proactively identifies and mitigates technical risks.

Leadership & Influence

Consistently mentors and coaches IC1s and IC2s. Is a key driver of team culture and process improvements. Builds consensus around technical decisions and influences team direction.

Communication & Collaboration

Communicates complex technical ideas effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences. Facilitates technical discussions, design reviews, and cross-functional alignment.

Product & Business Impact

Deeply understands the team's product domain and user needs. Actively participates in product planning, shaping technical approaches based on business context and customer value.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement robust, scalable software solutions for complex, team-sized projects spanning multiple sprints
• Lead technical design and architecture discussions within the team, ensuring solutions align with platform strategy
• Own the end-to-end delivery of major features: from technical design through implementation, testing, deployment, and monitoring
• Drive engineering best practices including code quality standards, testing strategies, CI/CD improvements, and effective use of AI-assisted development tools
• Mentor and coach IC1 and IC2 engineers, accelerating their technical growth through pairing, code reviews, and guidance
• Be accountable for the operational health and reliability of the team's systems, including incident response and post-mortems
• Facilitate technical discussions and build consensus on architectural and design decisions
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and stakeholders to shape the team's roadmap and technical approach
• Identify and drive process improvements that increase team velocity, quality, and developer experience
• Proactively identify technical debt, risks, and opportunities, proposing and leading initiatives to address them
• Produce high-quality technical documentation including design documents, ADRs, and runbooks
• Represent the team's technical perspective in cross-team discussions and planning forums

Technical Skills & Qualifications

Required:

Deep software engineering fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, design patterns, system design, and distributed systems principles

Strong proficiency in at least one programming language, with a proven track record of picking up new languages, frameworks, and paradigms quickly

Proven ability to design and implement scalable, maintainable, and well-tested software systems regardless of the underlying tech stack

Strong experience with modern development practices: TDD/BDD, CI/CD, code reviews, and automated testing

Solid understanding of cloud-native concepts, infrastructure patterns, and platform-level thinking

Experience with data modelling, query optimization, and working across different database paradigms

Understanding of API design, service-oriented architectures, event-driven patterns, and integration strategies

Experience with monitoring, observability, and incident management practices

Proficiency in leveraging AI-assisted and AI-driven development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, agentic coding workflows) to accelerate development, architectural exploration, and technical problem-solving

A tech stack agnostic mindset: we value engineers who master fundamentals and use AI-assisted tooling to work effectively across any technology

Qualifications:

7+ years of professional software development experience, with demonstrated growth in scope and complexity

Nice to Have:

Experience working across multiple programming languages, frameworks, or tech stacks in production environments
Experience with containerization, orchestration, and infrastructure-as-code concepts
Experience leading or contributing to cross-team technical initiatives
Experience in the automotive, DMS, or SaaS product domain
Demonstrated ability to leverage AI-driven development workflows (agentic coding, multi-agent systems, prompt engineering) to solve complex engineering problems
Experience coaching or enabling teams to adopt AI-assisted development practices
SAFe or Agile certifications

Soft Skills & Behaviours

Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to convey complex ideas to diverse audiences
Strong mentoring and coaching ability, with a genuine commitment to developing others
Proven ability to build consensus and influence technical direction without formal authority
A proactive, ownership-driven mindset with accountability for the team's technical outcomes
Ability to facilitate productive technical discussions and navigate disagreements constructively
Strong product sense and ability to connect technical decisions to user value and business outcomes
Comfortable operating in ambiguity and making well-reasoned decisions with incomplete information

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 3 months, you have a deep understanding of the team's domain, codebase, and systems, and you are already leading design discussions and delivering complex features
Within 6 months, you are the go-to technical authority on your team, owning multi-sprint projects end-to-end and driving measurable improvements to code quality and engineering practices
Within 12 months, you have mentored IC1 and IC2 engineers with visible growth in their capabilities, and you have led at least one significant initiative that improved team velocity, reliability, or developer experience
You consistently identify and address technical debt and risks before they become blockers, and you proactively propose solutions
You are recognized across the team as someone who builds consensus, facilitates productive discussions, and connects technical decisions to product and business outcomes
You leverage AI-assisted and AI-driven tools not just for your own productivity, but to elevate the team's engineering practices and adoption of modern workflows

What Sets This Role Apart

confined to one. We invest in senior engineers who master fundamentals and leverage AI-assisted tooling to work effectively on any stack
AI-first engineering culture: as an IC3, you will shape how your team adopts AI-driven development practices within Keyloop's AI-Driven Development Program, influencing the next generation of engineering workflows
True technical ownership: you will own the architecture, delivery, and operational health of critical systems, with the autonomy to drive meaningful change
A clear, transparent career framework with defined competency expectations and pathways to Staff Engineer (IC4), Engineering Lead (M1), or other tracks that match your ambitions
Real platform impact: you will work on the Fusion Automotive Retail Platform, designing solutions that connect every phase of the vehicle lifecycle at scale
Investment in your leadership growth through continuous coaching, a Personal Development Plan (PDP), and the AI Champions enablement program

Our Guiding Principles

We are Bold: We challenge the status quo, explore new technologies, and champion high standards for quality.

We are Authentic: We engage in open, honest, and respectful dialogue. We admit when we are wrong and are transparent about risks.

We are United: We adopt a platform-first mentality, collaborate seamlessly across teams, and actively mentor others to elevate the entire team.