Principal Engineer (AI)

Location: Remote within the United States; listed locations include Poughkeepsie, Lowell, Rochester, Tucson, Research Triangle Park, Armonk, Boston, Bellevue, Atlanta, San Jose, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, and Seattle. Some travel may be required based on business demand.

Salary: $192,000–$358,000 per year.

Company

IBM Software develops AI-powered, cloud-native products and hybrid cloud and data platforms for enterprise customers.

What you will do

• Define the strategy and roadmap for internal agentic AI capabilities, smart assistants, and AI-driven engineering workflows.
• Identify and resolve productivity bottlenecks across the product and software development lifecycle.
• Partner with Engineering, Trust, Security, and IT to integrate AI capabilities responsibly and at scale.
• Lead delivery of agentic workflows, balancing hands-on execution with strategic direction.
• Drive measurable adoption of AI tooling and define KPIs for usage lift, automation ROI, and reduced manual work.
• Develop internal playbooks and contribute to conferences, podcasts, and customer briefings.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; a master’s degree is preferred.
• 8+ years of experience driving strategic productivity initiatives in SaaS, cloud platforms, or developer tools.
• Expertise in distributed systems and the infrastructure or tools that support them.
• Hands-on experience with AI or AI/ML platforms, LLM integration, workflow automation, and responsible AI governance.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams, influencing senior stakeholders, and delivering products or features with measurable business value.
• Applicants must be based in the United States for this remote role.

Nice to have

• Experience with cloud-native platforms or developer ecosystems.
• Leadership experience scaling internal AI platforms or driving AI adoption across large organizations.
• Background in real-time data, event-driven architecture, or platform engineering.

Culture & Benefits

• Healthcare coverage including medical, prescription, dental, vision, and mental health benefits.
• 401(k), pension, employee stock purchase, insurance, financial counseling, and performance-based salary incentive programs.
• Paid holidays, sick time, vacation, parental bonding leave, and other paid care leave programs.
• AI-driven learning resources, training, and industry-recognized certification opportunities.
• Inclusive employee resource groups, volunteer opportunities, and product and service discounts.