Principle Applied AI Engineer

Job Overview

As the Principal Applied AI Engineer, you will be the lead architect of the cognitive layer of Pennymac’s AI platform. While a Backend Principal builds deterministic infrastructure, you will engineer the probabilistic systems that power our Unified Context Library and Agentic Orchestration layer. You will design autonomous workflows that transform a Product Manager’s idea into a technical specification and a User Story into deployable code.

This role sits at the intersection of elite software engineering and applied artificial intelligence. You will master orchestration, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), and agentic systems using the AWS Bedrock Agent Core framework within the AI Platform Services division.

• Architect the autonomous workflow engine that drives our software delivery pipeline.

• Design and implement probabilistic systems for context understanding and agent orchestration.

• Develop production‑grade RAG services, including embedding pipelines and vector store integration.

• Collaborate with product managers to translate ideas into technical specifications and user stories.

• Ensure high‑performance, cloud‑native implementation using AWS serverless technologies (Lambda, API Gateway, Dynamo

DB) and Node.js/Type Script.

• Lead technical reviews, mentor team members, and influence engineering practices across the organization.

• Elite Engineering Core: Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent, with 8+ years of professional software engineering experience. You are a software engineer first, who has mastered AI tools.
• Type Script/Node.js Expert: Deep expertise in building backend services and AI chains in Node.js and Type Script.
• Applied AI & Agent
  
  Experience:
  
  Hands‑on experience building LLM‑powered applications; shipped products with Lang Chain, Strands, or AWS Bedrock.
• RAG Mastery: Proven track record of building production‑grade RAG systems; strong knowledge of embeddings, vector stores (e.g., Pinecone, Milvus), and semantic search.
• Cloud Native (AWS): Extensive experience with AWS serverless architecture (Lambda, API Gateway, Dynamo
  
  DB). Familiarity with AWS Bedrock and Agent Core is a significant advantage.
• Systems Thinking: Ability to design complex, asynchronous systems where state is fluid and outcomes are probabilistic.
• Startup Mentality: High ownership, high energy, and the ability to thrive in a fast‑paced, internal‑startup environment.

• Experience with evaluation frameworks such as Lang Smith or Ragas for automated LLM output testing.
• Familiarity with the Model Context Protocol for standardizing AI tool connections.
• Background in developer tools, including CLI tools, IDE plugins, or CI/CD automations.
• Understanding of graph databases (e.g., Neo4j) for knowledge graph implementation alongside vector search.

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage.
• Paid Time Off: vacation, holidays, illness, and parental leave.
• Wellness Programs, Employee Recognition Programs, onsite gyms and cafe‑style dining (select locations).
• Retirement benefits, life insurance, 401(k) match, and tuition reimbursement.
• Philanthropy Programs including matching gifts, volunteer grants, charitable grants, and corporate sponsor ships.

Salary ranges from $90,000 to $150,000. Compensation may vary based on role, location, and experience. Some roles may be eligible for performance‑based or stock‑based incentives.

Office‑based

We are committed to conducting business that makes positive contributions and promotes long‑term sustainable growth, fostering an equitable and inclusive environment where all employees and customers feel valued, respected, and supported. We comply with the Equal Employment Opportunity laws and regulations of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, and New Zealand.