Principal Software Engineer, AI
Harnham
Boston, MA · Posted October 14, 2026
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Where Boston, MA ranks
Where Boston, MA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for life sciences and biotech jobs793 openings · of 41
- #1Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in New England390 jobs · of 14
- #1Best cities for AI-skill jobs in New England21% · of 28
- #1Best cities for software and engineering jobs in New England910 openings · of 24
- #1Best all-round cities for mid-career professionals in the Northeast71 / 100 · of 26
- #1Best all-round cities for mid-career professionals in New England71 / 100 · of 11
Rankings about data & analytics jobs
- Best cities for data and analytics jobs #1 New York (1,713 openings)
- Best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living #1 Foster ($232k)
- Most requested AI skills in data and analytics jobs #1 Machine learning engineering (17.1%)
- AI tools named most often in data and analytics jobs #1 Databricks (7.6%)
- Employers with the most data and analytics jobs #1 Amazon (711 roles)
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Pay compared with the market
This listing does not state pay. Across 103 open principal software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $206,500 to $320,000 and the median is $275,000.
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How AI is used in this kind of work
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Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
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About the job
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Principal Software Engineer, AI
Boston, MA – Fully Remote
$240,000-260,000 Base Salary
THE COMPANY
Our client is a high-growth AI and technology business focused on helping organizations unlock value through advanced analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence. Working at the intersection of AI, business transformation, and enterprise technology, the company develops proprietary platforms that enable organizations to better understand, optimize, and improve their operations.
Backed by leadership and talent from leading technology, analytics, and consulting firms, the organization is building innovative solutions that help businesses adopt AI with confidence, delivering measurable outcomes through data-driven transformation.
As the business continues its next phase of growth, it is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to play a key role in shaping both its technology platform and engineering culture.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Lead the technical vision, architecture, and strategic direction of a sophisticated AI-powered enterprise platform.
Mentor and develop a multidisciplinary engineering team through code reviews, design reviews, and hands-on collaboration.
Design and experiment with cutting-edge large language model (LLM) solutions and AI capabilities for production use cases.
Architect and build scalable services using Python and modern AI orchestration frameworks.
Partner closely with engineering, data, and leadership teams to design and optimize cloud-based data platforms and services.
Build and maintain cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, security controls, and deployment processes.
Translate complex business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
Drive engineering excellence through testing, documentation, observability, monitoring, and best-practice development standards.
Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to incorporate them into the platform roadmap.
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Required
8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including experience operating at Technical Lead, Staff Engineer, or Principal Engineer level.
Strong Python development experience, including production-grade applications, analytics platforms, and data pipelines.
Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS, or Azure, including data services, infrastructure, and security management.
Strong SQL and data modeling expertise for large-scale analytical workloads.
Proven ability to lead projects and make architectural decisions in fast-paced, evolving environments.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Experience building and deploying production LLM applications using modern orchestration frameworks and multiple model providers.
Preferred
Experience with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and Infrastructure-as-Code.
Familiarity with AI observability, monitoring, and evaluation frameworks.
Previous experience in consulting, private equity-backed organizations, or high-growth technology environments.
Background working on AI, machine learning, analytics, or enterprise transformation initiatives.
BENEFITS
Competitive base salary.
Meaningful early-stage equity participation.
Health, dental, and vision coverage.
Retirement savings plan.
Generous paid time off.
Flexible hybrid or remote working options.
HOW TO APPLY
Please register your interest by sending your CV via the Apply link on this page.
KEY TERMS
Principal Software Engineer | Staff Engineer | Technical Lead | Python | Generative AI | LLMs | LangChain | LangGraph | Cloud Engineering | GCP | AWS | Azure | BigQuery | PostgreSQL | Data Engineering | AI Applications | Machine Learning | Software Architecture | CI/CD | Docker | Infrastructure as Code | Remote | Hybrid | Enterprise Technology | Digital Transformation | Analytics Platform | AI Platform Engineering
To Apply for this Job Click Here