Principal AI Engineer, Payments

GoodLeap•Austin, TX

16d•$202,000 - $237,000

About The Position

We’re looking for a passionate and experienced Principal AI Agent Engineer to join our team that owns the core of our payments technology. In this role, you’ll help design, build, and scale both our payments platform and customer-facing payment products, ensuring they are secure, reliable, and performant. You’ll collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and fellow engineers to deliver seamless payments experiences that power every transaction.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in backend development, with at least 2+ years working with AI/ML solutions or LLMs
Experience developing and deploying MCP Servers and working with the Model Context Protocol ecosystem
Hands-on experience designing and implementing agentic workflows using LLMs, including orchestration across APIs, tools, and data sources
Experience working with vector databases, embeddings, and semantic search
Familiarity with MLOps, CI/CD for AI pipelines, and AI observability tools
Strong experience in one or more of the following languages: Node.js , Python, C#, TypeScript
Strong experience designing and building APIs, including REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and event-driven architectures (e.g., Webhooks, Pub/Sub, Kafka)
Strong experience with cloud architecture on at least one major provider (AWS, GCP, or Azure)

Nice To Haves

Experience with frameworks for Agent orchestration (e.g., LangChain, Semantic Kernel, Haystack, or custom-built frameworks)
Familiarity with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) patterns in production systems
Knowledge of payments infrastructure, PCI compliance, and financial-grade security practices is a plus
Track record of technical leadership, including mentoring and influencing engineering culture
Experience with AWS Bedrock
Strong collaboration skills with a willingness to mentor junior developers and contribute to code reviews
Problem-solving ability: capable of breaking down complex problems and taking ownership of tasks from start to finish
Customer-centric mindset: ability to align development decisions with delivering an excellent user experience

Responsibilities

Design and lead backend architecture that supports AI/ML-powered features across Web, Mobile, SMS/Voice, and API surfaces
Own end-to-end technical strategy for embedding LLMs, embedding stores, MCP Servers, and personalized content delivery
Architect and implement agentic workflows, enabling LLM-powered Agents to orchestrate tools, APIs, and data sources to deliver intelligent, adaptive payment experiences
Partner with product and design to scope features, validate feasibility, and ensure execution aligns with business impact
Build tools and services (including MCP Server integrations) to help other team members experiment and ship AI-enhanced features responsibly and efficiently
Influence engineering standards and promote excellence in observability, performance, and security
Mentor engineers across teams, helping them level up in areas of backend architecture, AI integration, and delivery quality
Collaborate with cross-functional partners across QA, Mobile, Data, Product, and Marketing

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