Principal Agentic Engineer; Back-end

Overview

Apply Digital is a global experience transformation partner. We drive AI-powered change and measurable impact across complex, multi-brand ecosystems. We enable clients to modernize their organizations and maximize value for their business and customers.

Our 750+ team members have helped transform global companies like Kraft Heinz, NFL, Moderna, Lululemon, Dropbox, Atlassian, A+E Networks, and The Very Group. Apply Digital was founded in 2016 in Vancouver, Canada and has grown to ten cities across North America, South America, the UK, Europe, and India. We operate within a pod structure with senior leadership, subject matter experts, and cross-functional skill sets, aligned to a common tech and delivery framework.

We follow SHAPE values (smart, humble, active, positive, excellent) to support each other and enable growth. Visit our Careers page to learn how we can unlock your potential.

Location: Apply Digital is hybrid/remote friendly. The preferred candidate should be based in Canada, working in hours that align to ET (Eastern Timezone) or PT (Pacific Timezone).

The Principal Agentic Engineer (Back-end) is a senior technical leader responsible for designing, building, and scaling robust backend systems that support modern, AI-powered digital products. This role combines deep backend engineering expertise with strong architectural judgment, AI-system fluency, and client-facing leadership. You will lead technical direction across complex backend systems, mentor engineers, and partner with clients and internal teams to deliver production-grade solutions.

You will design distributed, cloud-native architectures and integrate large language models (LLMs), vector databases, and AI agents into real-world applications. You will engineer teams of coding agents to implement system requirements.

You bring proven leadership at a Staff or Lead level, with a track record of delivering complex software initiatives end-to-end. You operate with high autonomy and transform loosely defined goals into well-architected, shipped software.

• Lead the design and development of scalable, secure, and high-performance backend systems using Python and modern cloud-native patterns.
• Apply spec-driven development practices to ensure clarity, quality, and predictable delivery.
• Organize, distribute, and translate backlog requirements from Product, UX and other disciplines into detailed spec-driven requirements for Agents to implement.
• Coordinate teams of coding agents to deliver engineering requirements.
• Design and implement RESTful APIs to support frontend, mobile, and third-party integrations.
• Architect and deliver AI-powered backend solutions, including vector stores and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, integration with LLMs (e.g., Gemini, Claude, GPT-4/5), and use of AI coding agents and developer copilots to improve delivery velocity.
• Develop and maintain systems using Google Cloud Platform (GCP), with hands-on experience in Vertex AI and Google Gen AI APIs.
• Leverage Agent Development Kits (ADKs) to design and implement intelligent agent-based systems.
• Ensure systems are observable, reliable, and debuggable in production environments.
• Collaborate with engineers to design well-architected, maintainable solutions aligned with business goals.
• Mentor and guide engineers, fostering technical excellence and continuous learning.
• Partner with Project Managers and cross-functional teams to manage delivery risks and timelines.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including clients.

• Strong experience with Python 3 for backend development.
• Experience designing and consuming RESTful APIs.
• Proven experience with spec-driven development.
• Hands-on experience using AI coding agents (e.g., Copilot, Claude Code).
• Strong prompt engineering skills.
• Experience working with LLMs (e.g., Gemini 3, Claude Opus, GPT-4.x/5.x).
• Experience implementing vector stores and RAG architectures.
• Experience with Agent Development Kits (e.g., Google ADK).
• Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Hands-on experience with Vertex AI and Google Gen AI APIs.
• Exp…