Senior Principal Software Engineer

Shutterfly•Fort Mill, SC

2d•Remote

About The Position

At Shutterfly, we make life’s experiences unforgettable. We believe there is extraordinary power in the self-expression. That’s why our family of brands helps customers create products and capture moments that reflect who they uniquely are. We are seeking a Senior Principal Software Engineer to lead the design and development of next-generation Agentic AI platforms and applications that power personalization, lifecycle engagement, and customer journeys across Shutterfly. This is a high-impact, hands-on technical leadership role responsible for shaping the architecture, design and implementation of AI systems that directly drive conversion, customer satisfaction, and long-term growth.

Requirements

Bachelors degree in an Engineering discipline or Computer Science
12+ years of software engineering experience with deep expertise in distributed systems
Proven track record of architecting and delivering large-scale, high-impact systems
Experience influencing and leading cross-organizational technical strategy
Strong hands-on coding and system design skills
Experience operating large-scale, highly available cloud systems
Demonstrated ability to translate advanced technology into business impact

Nice To Haves

Masters degree in an Engineering discipline or Computer Science
Experience building 0→1 AI platforms or products in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
Experience building AI/ML systems, especially with: LLMs, agent frameworks, and retrieval systems
Multi-agent architectures and orchestration
Experience in consumer-facing products or ecommerce platforms

Responsibilities

Own and Build Agentic AI Platforms: Architect and build scalable agentic AI systems that power various seamless experiences for customers that drive conversion and customer delight.
Develop multi-agent systems that reason, plan, and take actions across tools and services
Build Autonomous agents operating across end-to-end customer journeys
Build reusable platforms, not one-off solutions
Enable multiple teams to innovate independently
Drive End-to-End Technical Strategy: Define platform abstractions and reusable capabilities that enable teams across the organization to build and deploy AI-powered experiences independently
Contribute to, define and lead architecture for AI platforms integrated into Shutterfly
Build foundational capabilities including: Evaluation frameworks for AI quality, safety, and business impact
Scalable inference and orchestration infrastructure
Ensure systems are highly available, performant, and production-grade at scale
Be Deeply Hands-On: Maintain deep hands-on involvement in prototyping, architecture, and critical production systems, setting the standard for engineering excellence.
Leverage modern AI tooling (LLMs, agents, vector databases, orchestration frameworks)
Set the standard for AI-driven engineering productivity and development practices
Lead by example in coding, design reviews, and system debugging
Deliver Measurable Business Impact: Define and track AI-specific success metrics, including model quality, latency, cost efficiency, and business KPIs
Partner with Product, UX, and Data teams to translate AI capabilities into: Increased conversion and revenue
Improved customer experience and engagement
Faster time-to-market for new capabilities
Drive experimentation (A/B testing) and ensure AI systems deliver quantifiable outcomes
Lead Across the Organization: Influence architecture and execution across multiple teams and domains: Ecommerce platform (shopping, cart, checkout)
Creation flows and personalization systems
Marketing technology and lifecycle platforms
Mentor senior engineers and leaders; raise the bar on AI and system design excellence
Champion adoption of agentic AI and AI-first development practices across engineering