Principal AI Engineer

ManchesterEngineering – Software Development /HybridAre you ready to shape the future of data?Matillion is the company behind Maia, the AI Data Automation platform. In the AI economy, demand for data is exploding. Manual data engineering can’t keep up. Maia fixes that by combining 15 years of data expertise with agentic AI to eliminate the manual work that slows data teams down. Organisations like Cisco, DocuSign, and Slack are already using it to deliver real business impact, faster.We started in Manchester and now we’re global - with teams across the UK, US and India.We are driven, curious, energetic people who move fast, think big and hold ourselves to a high standard. We’re here to make a dent in the universe bigger than ourselves. And we’re looking for people who want to be part of it.About the roleAs a Principal Engineer on our Maia AI team, you'll be at the heart of everything we do: designing agentic AI systems, leveraging evals to continually validate their performance as model capabilities evolve, building new tools and integrations, and staying finger-on-the-pulse with the latest developments in Gen AI. This isn't BAU engineering – this is high-visibility, high-impact work where your decisions shape the product.You'll be driving architecture, mentoring engineers, and feeding into strategy. Things move quickly here. Requirements evolve, new opportunities emerge, and we need someone who thrives in that environment. If you have been working on Agentic AI projects and taking them into production environments – and you want to do that at scale in a world-class engineering team – this is the role for you.What you will be doing Lead technical architecture and design for the Maia team - working within a squad to define direction, validate proposals, and ensure we're building scalable, maintainable software at paceDrive agentic AI feature development - building new tools, integrations, and workflows that push the boundaries of what Maia can doStay ahead of the curve on Gen AI developments - trialling new models, tools, and approaches, feeding insights into team strategy and championing new ways of workingAct as technical mentor and coach to engineers across the team - raising the bar through code reviews, design input, and hands-on guidanceCollaborate closely with our Product Manager and Data Science team to translate product vision into technical reality, balancing innovation with code quality and delivery paceWhat we are looking forProven experience working on agentic AI systems - you understand how they differ from traditional systems, you've built and led features in this space, and you have a point of view on how to test and scale themDeep programming background, ideally with Java, combined with hands-on experience building scalable distributed systems on AWS - you write great code and think seriously about architectureTechnical leadership experience - you've been a tech lead, influenced architecture decisions, and helped other engineers grow; you can communicate complex concepts to non-technical stakeholders without breaking a sweatFull stack capability is a strong plus - particularly React, TypeScript, and Tailwind - and familiarity with frameworks like Langchain or Langgraph would be welcomeAdaptable and fast-moving - you thrive in an environment where requirements evolve, you're comfortable with ambiguity, and you have a genuine bias for action when it comes to adopting and championing new technologiesMore about MatillionWe operate a flexible working culture that promotes work-life balance, with benefits including:Company Equity30 days holiday + bank holiday5 days paid volunteering leavePrivate Health InsuranceLife InsurancePensionAccess to mental health supportYour SafetyMatillion recruiters will only contact you from @matillion.com email addresses. We occasionally work with trusted recruiting partners; they will always tell you they are working on our behalf. We will never ask for money, fees, or bank details at any point in the hiring process. If something feels off, trust that instinct. Don't click any links. Go straight to matillion.com/careers to verify open roles or reach us at [email protected].Want to know more?Don't tick every box? Apply anyway. We hire for potential, not just experience. A member of our Talent Acquisition team will be in touch.Cannot find anything suitable role right now? We still want to hear from you. Drop us a line at [email protected].Find out more about life on #TeamGreen here. Matillion is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all of our team. Matillion prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. Matillion does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by law. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.