Principal AI Engineer

RBC • Toronto, ON

2d • Onsite

About The Position

Be the organization's foremost technical authority on AI platform engineering, setting the long-term technical trajectory for enterprise AI systems. As Principal AI Engineer, you'll operate with high autonomy to design systems that will underpin the organization for years, serve as a multiplier across engineering teams, and make complex technical decisions legible to senior stakeholders. This role combines architectural vision with hands-on engineering depth—owning foundational infrastructure choices, mentoring senior engineers, and ensuring the AI platform remains resilient, scalable, and strategically differentiated at enterprise scale.

Requirements

• 10+ years software or platform engineering experience, with at least 5 years focused on AI/ML infrastructure, API platform engineering, or large-scale distributed systems
• Demonstrated track record designing and delivering enterprise-grade AI platforms with direct, hands-on engineering contribution at the most complex levels
• Deep expertise in LLM API integration and production deployment (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or equivalent at enterprise scale)
• Strong proficiency in API design and gateway engineering including RESTful patterns, authentication/authorization (OAuth2, JWT), rate limiting, and observability
• Hands-on experience with vector databases and RAG pipeline architecture (Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector, Chroma, or equivalent)

Nice To Haves

• Experience operating in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare) with familiarity of compliance and security constraints for AI infrastructure
• Hands-on experience implementing AI security controls including prompt injection mitigation, output filtering, and PII detection
• Familiarity with AI governance frameworks and responsible AI engineering practices including model audit logging and fairness monitoring
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction at organizational level through architecture reviews and cross-functional stakeholder engagement
• Contributions to open-source AI/platform engineering projects, technical publications, or conference presentations at recognized forums

Responsibilities

• Serve as the enterprise's foremost technical authority on AI platform architecture, owning foundational decisions on infrastructure design, component composition, and platform evolution
• Define and maintain reference architectures covering API gateway design, LLM access patterns, model serving infrastructure, orchestration layers, and integration frameworks
• Design, build, and own the enterprise AI API layer including internal APIs and SDKs providing standardized, secure access to AI capabilities across the organization
• Lead multi-year platform roadmap planning with senior leadership, translating enterprise AI ambitions into phased, executable architecture decisions with defined success criteria
• Design and implement API gateway, rate-limiting framework, and authentication/authorization standards for LLM access, balancing cost controls, fairness, and reliability
• Own the platform's non-functional requirements—performance, reliability, observability, security—and drive engineering decisions ensuring enterprise-grade service standards
• Mentor and coach senior engineers, provide hands-on technical guidance, conduct architecture reviews, and sponsor deep engineering expertise development
• Lead technical due diligence for strategic vendor and tooling decisions, synthesizing evaluations into clear recommendations that weigh capability, cost, and long-term fit

Benefits

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation, commissions, and stock where applicable
• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities
• Ability to make a difference and lasting impact
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team
• A world-class training program in financial services
• Flexible work/life balance options
• Opportunities to do challenging work

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed