Principle Engineer | AI-Augmented Engineering Sys
Executive Placements · Bo-Kaap, Western Cape
Stop applying one at a time.
JobAlertsZA auto-applies to South African jobs like this one for you, overnight. Upload your CV once — we do the applying.
Start free — we apply for you →Job Description
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 Compute
.special-hidden { display: none; }