Principle Engineer | AI-Augmented Engineering Sys

Executive Placements · Bo-Kaap, Western Cape

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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

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