Senior Principal AI Engineer, Agentic AI Platform & Control Tower Ops

Vertex Inc.•Boston, MA

2d•$188,000 - $282,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Vertex is seeking a Sr. Principal AI Engineer, Agentic AI Platform & Control Tower Ops to define and build the foundational enterprise AI platform that powers intelligent applications across the enterprise. This role will lead the design and implementation of scalable, secure, and reusable capabilities for agentic AI, with a strong focus on retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), orchestration frameworks, evaluation systems, and platform architecture. In addition to building out the core platform, this leader will own the vision for a centralized AI Control Tower / Control Plane / Gateway that enables agent monitoring, observability, policy enforcement, governance, and operational controls across AI solutions at Vertex. This is a highly strategic and hands-on role for an experienced AI engineering leader who is excited to shape enterprise AI architecture, standards, and long-term technical direction.

Requirements

Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related technical field; or equivalent combination of education and experience
10+ years of experience designing and building enterprise-grade AI/ML platforms and distributed systems
Deep expertise in agentic AI architectures, LLM-based applications, and platform engineering
Proven experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, vector search, document retrieval, and knowledge integration patterns
Strong experience with AI orchestration frameworks, workflow engines, and multi-step agent execution patterns
Demonstrated experience designing centralized operational platforms for monitoring, governance, observability, and control
Demonstrated experience using AI-assisted software development and autonomous coding agents to design, generate, test, review, debug, optimize, and refactor code across complex enterprise systems.
Deep understanding of AI-native software engineering practices and experience establishing standards, governance, and best practices for the responsible use of AI coding assistants and software engineering agents across engineering teams
Experience defining architecture, standards, and reusable services for large-scale enterprise environments
Strong understanding of AI system evaluation, quality measurement, and performance optimization
Experience partnering with cross-functional stakeholders and influencing technical direction across teams
Excellent communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills
Ability to balance strategic architecture leadership with hands-on technical execution

Nice To Haves

Experience building enterprise AI platforms in regulated or highly governed environments
Familiarity with human-in-the-loop workflows and responsible AI practices
Experience implementing policy engines, guardrails, and audit frameworks for AI applications
Knowledge of ML infrastructure, model serving, and production AI operations
Experience with cloud-native architectures and modern DevOps/MLOps practices
Exposure to user experience considerations for AI-powered applications and intelligent systems
Ability to translate complex technical capabilities into scalable enterprise adoption strategies
Experience leading technical teams through platform transformation initiatives

Responsibilities

Define the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for Vertex’s enterprise agentic AI platform
Design and build reusable platform services that accelerate development of safe, reliable, and scalable AI-powered applications
Lead architecture and implementation for RAG pipelines, knowledge retrieval systems, prompt workflows, tool use, and agent orchestration
Establish core frameworks for agent lifecycle management, including deployment, monitoring, observability, evaluation, and continuous improvement
Build and evolve a centralized AI Control Tower / Gateway to provide: Agent monitoring and health visibility, Operational observability and telemetry, Policy enforcement and guardrails, Security, governance, and compliance controls, Usage analytics, auditability, and operational reporting
Develop scalable infrastructure patterns for enterprise AI workloads, including model integration, data access, and orchestration services
Partner closely with product, engineering, data, security, and UX teams to deliver common AI platform capabilities that support multiple use cases across Vertex
Establish best practices for AI reliability, evaluation, safety, and performance measurement
Drive technical standards for platform APIs, service contracts, architecture patterns, and reusable components
Evaluate emerging technologies, frameworks, and vendors in the AI/agentic ecosystem and make strategic recommendations
Mentor engineers and influence cross-functional technical teams through architectural leadership and hands-on guidance
Ensure platform solutions align with enterprise requirements for scalability, resilience, security, and maintainability
Contribute to Vertex’s long-term AI strategy by identifying opportunities to expand platform capabilities and increase enterprise adoption