Irvine Company

Principal AI Engineer ($214,100 - $267,400)

Irvine Company$214K — $267K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field
  • 7-10 years in software development and leading technical teams
  • 3+ years of hands-on experience with LLMs or AI systems
  • Expertise in Python development and async programming
  • Proven experience with RAG applications and embedding strategies
  • Experience with vector and graph databases
  • Ability to communicate complex AI concepts to both technical and business leaders

Responsibilities

  • Lead the development of advanced AI solutions and multi-agent workflows
  • Design embedding and chunking strategies for RAG in enterprise data
  • Create integrations for AI agents with enterprise data systems
  • Develop asynchronous Python applications with robust error handling
  • Implement vector and graph databases for semantic search
  • Establish architecture and data flows across enterprise systems
  • Deploy AI agents on cloud platforms using CI/CD and infrastructure as code
  • Monitor agent interactions for reliability and effective debugging
  • Develop context engineering strategies for consistent LLM behavior
  • Engage with clients to translate business needs into AI architecture

Benefits

  • Paid time off
  • Matching 401(k)
  • Health benefits
  • Competitive benefits for full-time employees
Full Job Description
Position Summary:

Lead the design and implementation of advanced AI solutions, primarily utilizing LLMs for natural-language interaction with enterprise data. This Principal Engineer role involves designing and building production AI applications (including conversational agents and RAG systems) to turn business questions into actionable insights. Expertise in modern LLM framework, embeddings, chunkings, and enterprise integration patterns is required to deliver intelligent, scalable solutions. This client-facing position necessitates communicating complex AI system behaviors to both technical and business leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Lead the end-to-end development of advanced AI solutions, including agentic systems, RAG pipelines, and multi-agent workflows
  • Design and implement embedding and chunking strategies essential for effective Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) across enterprise data
  • Create integrations to connect AI agents with enterprise data systems, APIs, and services
  • Develop robust, production-grade asynchronous Python applications with proper error handling and session management
  • Implement vector database and graph database solutions for semantic search and knowledge representation
  • Establish agentic architecture, including data flows, interfaces, and mechanisms across all enterprise systems
  • Deploy and manage AI agents on cloud platforms using CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and managed AI services
  • Implement monitoring, logging, and observability for agent interactions to guarantee system reliability and support debugging
  • Develop context engineering strategies that assemble dynamic context for consistent and accurate Large Language Model (LLM) behavior
  • Engage with clients to translate business requirements into AI solution architectures, and balance feature development with technical debt management


Additional Skills:

  • Experience with AI/ML agent orchestration frameworks such as Google ADK, LangChain, or similar tools
  • Experience with multi-agent architectures and workflow orchestration patterns
  • Experience with LLM evaluation methodologies, including metrics design, hallucination detection, and A/B testing for prompt optimization
  • Understanding of context engineering principles, including dynamic context assembly, tool result formatting, and conversation state management
  • Experience with Snowflake or BigQuery, including query optimization and connection management
  • Experience managing data systems, including persistence selection, schema design, and read/write tradeoffs
  • Familiarity with MLOps patterns and model deployment pipelines


Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related computational field


Preferred Years of Relevant Work Experience:

  • 7 - 10 years in software development, including experience working in and leading technical teams


Additional Requirements:

  • 3+ years of hands-on experience with LLMs, AI agents, or applied AI systems
  • Expertise in Python development, async programming patterns, and modern web frameworks
  • Proven experience developing RAG applications, including embedding strategies, chunking approaches, and retrieval optimization
  • Hands-on experience with vector databases and graph databases for semantic search and knowledge representation
  • Experience with multiple LLM providers (Gemini, Claude, LLaMA) and understanding of cost vs. capability tradeoffs
  • Experience with enterprise application integration, including defining integration architecture, data flows, and interface design
  • Strong understanding of SOA, microservices, or similar architectural patterns
  • Experience with CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code for deploying AI applications
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate with client leadership and translate business requirements into technical solutions
  • Experience with fine-tuning or adapting foundation models for domain-specific applications
  • Experience balancing feature development with technical debt management to deliver business value while maintaining quality

Compensation:

Base Pay Range: $214,100.00 - $267,400.00

Actual placement within this range may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, base salary of internal peers, prior performance, business sector, and geographic location.

The Company also offers competitive benefits for full time employees including paid time off, matching 401(k), and health benefits.

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About Irvine Company

The Irvine Company is a privately held real-estate investment company headquartered in Newport Beach, California. It specializes in master-planned communities, luxury apartments, office, retail, and resort properties in Orange County, San Diego, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Chicago. The company was founded in 1864 and has been owned by the Irvine family for six generations. The company is known for its commitment to sustainability and has received numerous awards for its environmental initiatives. The Irvine Company is also a major philanthropic contributor to the communities in which it operates.
Learn more about Irvine Company
Size
1,600 employees
Industry
Founded
1864

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