About this role
Appian Corporation needs a Principal Applied AI Engineer to solve the challenge of driving AI automation and enterprise-grade orchestration for large-scale operations. Operating from headquarters in McLean, Virginia, this team member will serve as the technical linchpin for applied AI, designing and operating production LLM systems that shape the AI-Powered Process Automation platform. The role exists to set the technical bar, mentor engineers, and ensure reliable, scalable AI integrations across complex application layers.
This position suits a senior practitioner with deep hands-on expertise in code generation, agents, retrieval, model routing, and observability. Candidates must be comfortable working on-site five days a week in a collaborative environment focused on technical precision, code quality, and continuous learning. Someone who thrives in cross-team influence, architecture delivery, and leveraging AI coding tools as a force multiplier will find success here.
What you will do
- Architect, build, and optimize high-performance production LLM systems while maintaining a strong personal technical presence on the team.
- Spearhead strategic technological changes and champion code refactoring efforts to keep the core codebase and AI systems modern and performant.
- Generate, review, and critically evaluate AI-assisted code to ship faster without compromising quality or correctness.
- Drive technical story breakdowns, architectural design, and prototyping across complex multi-tier and AI-powered application layers.
- Manage product availability, latency, scalability, and efficiency by engineering deep reliability into core software systems.
- Perform meticulous code reviews and build automation frameworks to prevent problem recurrence across the department.
- Actively coach and mentor engineers at multiple levels to close skill gaps and accelerate technical growth.
What you need
- Minimum of a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.
- Ten or more years of relevant software development experience with a Bachelor degree, or eight or more years with a Master degree.
- Deep hands-on experience designing and operating production LLM systems.
- Demonstrated expertise across code generation, agents, retrieval, structured generation, tool use, model routing, evaluation, and observability.
- Proven experience using AI coding assistants and evaluating AI-generated code in a production engineering context.
- Strong distributed-systems, API, security, and reliability foundations.
- Demonstrated ability to drive technical decisions and shape engineering practices beyond a single team scope.
Nice to have
- Experience with compilers, program analysis, formal or executable specifications, or legacy modernization
- Experience with enterprise platforms such as Salesforce or ServiceNow
Benefits
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Flexible time off
- Paid parental leave
- Medical, dental, and vision plans
- Life and disability insurance
- Tuition reimbursement
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy for this role?
This role is based at the headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Employees hired for this position are expected to be in the office 5 days a week to foster an in-person collaboration culture.
What is the salary range for the Principal Applied AI Engineer position?
The base salary range is $200,000 to $350,000 USD. Actual compensation depends on factors including relevant work experience, qualifications, internal peer equity, and market conditions.
What kind of AI systems and tooling will I work with?
You will drive the design and delivery of high-complexity AI systems spanning code generation, agents, retrieval, structured generation, tool use, model routing, evaluation, and observability. You will also use AI coding tools fluently as a force multiplier.
What are the educational requirements to qualify?
A minimum of a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science or a related technical/analytical discipline is required. Equivalent experience is not accepted in lieu of a degree.
The application is on the official Appian Corporation careers page.
Apply on company site