Principal AI Engineer

Vanguard • Malvern, PA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

At Vanguard, we’re building next-generation AI-powered platforms to drive innovation and impact. As a Principal AI Engineer, you’ll work with cutting-edge tools, large language models (LLMs), and emerging frameworks to develop intelligent systems. You’ll collaborate with senior engineers and product teams—gaining hands-on experience while contributing to real-world AI solutions. As a Principal AI Engineer, you will be a pivotal technical leader driving the identification, design, and hands-on implementation of AI-powered solutions that directly address critical business and IT challenges. Your focus will include prompt engineering, guardrail design, and experimentation to ensure safe, scalable, and effective AI applications. You’ll also mentor junior peers and share practical insights gained through your work.

Requirements

• 7+ years of hands on Engineering experience with proven AI application development (LLMs, embeddings, vector search, RAG pipelines, and fine-tuning)
• 5+ years' hands on programming and/or scripting experience in one or more of the following: Java, Python, Shell scripting etc.
• 5+ years’ experience with Infrastructure as code (IaC) implementation using Terraform, Cross plane or any other industry equivalent solutions
• 5+ years’ experience with AWS Cloud Platform, and/or Microsoft Azure hands on experience
• 5+ years’ experience with enterprise grade automation solutions design and implementation experience using tools such as Ansible, Harness CD, GitHub Actions, Playwright etc.
• 2+ years of experience with AI, Gen AI, Agentic automation solutions design and development

Nice To Haves

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex projects with limited supervision and high accountability
• Proven track record in enterprise-scale AI deployments, model migration projects, and innovation initiatives
• Demonstrated thought leadership through the publication of at least one white paper and/or presentation at well‑known industry conferences.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance AI agents and backend systems for Vanguard’s AI platform, integrated with relevant pipelines and observability
• Evaluate LLMs and emerging technologies to identify innovation opportunities
• Design and optimize prompts for LLMs
• Implement safeguards to ensure secure, ethical AI responses
• Build APIs, microservices, and data integrations for AI features
• Write clean, maintainable code following industry best practices
• Provide vision, direction and expertise to leadership on implementing innovative and significant business solutions
• Lead the development team to build and orchestrate scalable and resilient AI applications powered by AI models, in close collaboration with cross functional teams within the organization
• Stay current on AI best practices and emerging technologies; recommend impactful innovations

What This Job Offers

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