Principal Software Engineer, AI Email Applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Required - Work From Home
Next Step Systems Open · verified Oct 24, 2026 At a glance
Senior Engineering Leadership role at Next Step Systems. Remote, United States · full-time · $160,000–$190,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Set engineering direction across backend, mobile and desktop, then carry that plan through delivery
- Design AI workflows that manage state, tool calls, retries and failures reliably
- Build APIs and shared layers that turn AI capabilities into usable product features
- Lead senior engineers through design and code reviews, while mentoring hands-on
- Balance speed, reliability, cost, security and user experience, and strengthen production monitoring and testing
What you bring
- AI experience is required, along with a record of leading engineering for complex products or systems
- You have shipped production backend systems and built products using AI or modern ML and LLM capabilities
- Bring deep expertise in at least one client or backend platform, with working range across both
- Show sound technical judgment, strong code quality and a habit of taking work through to real-world use
Who this fits
This suits a hands-on technical leader who wants to guide a small senior team while staying close to the code. The role is fully remote, and applicants must be willing to complete a one-hour coding assessment.
From the employer
Principal Software Engineer, AI Email Applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Required - Work From Home
As the Principal Software Engineer, AI Email Applications, you own the engineering layer that turns Artificial Intelligence (AI) capability into a reliable product. You will shape the architecture across backend services, APIs, and client applications, while leading a small team of senior engineers. This is a hands-on leadership role. You stay close to the code, make critical architectural decisions, and ensure the system remains fast, reliable, and coherent as it scales. This position is 100% Remote.
MUST BE WILLING TO TAKE A 60 MINUTE CODING ASSESSMENT.
Principal Software Engineer Responsibilities:
- Own the application engineering strategy and execution across backend, mobile, and desktop.
- Design reliable systems for AI-powered workflows, including state, orchestration, tool use, retries, fallbacks, and failure handling.
- Build the APIs and abstractions that connect Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to real-world product experiences.
- Lead a small, senior engineering team and raise the technical bar through design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on mentorship.
- Make high-impact trade-offs across latency, reliability, cost, security, and user experience.
- Establish strong production foundations: observability, monitoring, testing, and operational excellence.
- Partner closely with Machine Learning (ML) leadership to turn model capabilities into robust, shippable product experiences.
- Move quickly while keeping the architecture simple, maintainable, and ready to scale.
Principal Software Engineer Outcomes:
- Production systems are observable, monitored, and stable under real-world load.
- Decisions consistently balance speed, cost, reliability, and user experience.
- Features across backend, mobile, and desktop work smoothly and reliably.
- Latency and reliability improve measurably over time.
Principal Software Engineer Qualifications:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) experience is required.
- Significant experience leading application or product engineering for complex systems.
- Strong hands-on background building and shipping backend systems used in production.
- Experience building AI-powered products or systems that integrate with modern Machine Learning (ML)/Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities.
- Strong technical judgment and the ability to make decisions with incomplete information.
- Comfortable working across backend and client platforms, with deep expertise in at least one.
- A strong bias toward ownership, shipping, and learning from real-world usage.
- High standards for code quality, reliability, and engineering fundamentals.
Benefits include medical insurance, Dental, Vision, Savings Plan Options, PTO, etc.
Keywords: San Francisco CA Jobs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, AI Email Applications, APIs, Backend, Desktop, IT Lead, LLM, Large Language Model, ML, Machine Learning, Mobile, Principal Software Engineer, Work From Home, Remote, California Recruiters, IT Jobs, California Recruiting
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Please check out all of our jobs at www.nextstepsystems.com.
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