Principal AI Platform Engineer
About this role
Building enterprise AI platforms, tools, services, and integrations for large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, and agentic software development forms the core daily work. This highest-level individual contributor role operates within the software engineering framework at Compeer Financial, driving technical leadership across portfolios and expanding responsible artificial intelligence use. The person in this position establishes operational excellence through reusable components, evaluation frameworks, monitoring, and production support for AI tools.
Accountable for strategic software initiatives from discovery through operation, the individual delivers complex solutions while partnering with risk management, legal, and information security teams. Success in this position requires extensive experience designing distributed systems, translating governance requirements into technical controls, and mentoring engineering talent across the cooperative. Qualified candidates bring a strong background in cloud artificial intelligence services, architecture trade-offs, and enterprise engineering strategy.
What you will do
- Lead AI platform engineering and adoption by building enterprise platforms, tools, services, and integrations for LLMs, RAG, vector search, and agentic software development.
- Establish AI operational excellence through reusable components, guardrails, evaluation frameworks, monitoring, and output validation.
- Partner with Risk Management, Information Security, Legal, Compliance, and Data Governance to translate requirements into access controls, data protection, and use-case risk tiering.
- Own AI-enabled and Agentic AI engineering delivery for strategic and ambiguous software initiatives from discovery through sustained operation.
- Develop engineers and technical leaders through mentoring, communities of practice, training, and reusable guidance on AI-assisted development and responsible scaling.
- Advance technical mastery across architecture, distributed systems, integration, cloud-native engineering, DevSecOps, and reliability while evaluating emerging technologies.
- Connect engineering to business outcomes by translating strategy, client needs, and regulatory obligations into multi-year roadmaps and investment options.
What you need
- Hold a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline, or possess equivalent experience along with extensive background in building complex software systems and platforms.
- Demonstrate hands-on experience designing and building artificial intelligence applications using LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, agent orchestration, and cloud AI services like Azure OpenAI.
- Bring experience scaling responsible AI-enabled engineering and Agentic AI across the software lifecycle, including prompt versioning, safety testing, and performance monitoring.
- Possess working knowledge of responsible AI governance, model risk management, privacy, bias, auditability, and human oversight, preferably within a regulated industry like financial services or agriculture.
- Show distinguished software engineering expertise spanning application development, APIs, event-driven architectures, data security, DevSecOps, and observability.
- Exhibit exceptional communication, influence, leadership, and learning agility to advise executives, resolve cross-organizational dependencies, and mentor senior technical talent.
Nice to have
- Experience in financial services, agriculture, or another regulated industry
Benefits
- Hybrid model with up to 50% work from home
- Flexible schedules including summer flexibility
- Up to 9% towards 401k including 3% fixed contribution and up to 6% match
- Medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, life and AD&D insurance, short-term and long-term disability
- Wellness program and EAP, vacation, sick leave, holidays, parental leave, and volunteer paid time off
- Professional membership and certification reimbursement
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy for this position?
This position offers a hybrid work option up to 50% and is open to any Compeer office location in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Team members benefit from a culture that provides a flexible, hybrid work environment.
What is the salary range for this role?
The base pay range is $133,000 to $180,000 USD. The actual title and base pay offered depend on factors such as training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and market demands.
What technology stack and tools will I work with?
You will build enterprise AI platforms, tools, services, and integrations for LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, agents, Model Context Protocol, and cloud AI services such as Azure OpenAI or Azure AI Foundry.
Is employment visa sponsorship available?
Candidates must be authorized to work for any employer in the United States. Compeer is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.
The application is on the official Compeer Financial careers page.
Apply on company site