Athene · 6 hours ago
Principal AI Platform Engineer
West Des Moines, Iowa
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
6+ years expAthene is a company dedicated to enhancing the software development lifecycle in the age of AI. They are seeking a Principal AI Platform Engineer to design and implement an AI-augmented software development lifecycle platform, collaborating with senior engineers and AI specialists to deliver high-quality software solutions.
FinanceFinancial ServicesInsuranceRetirement
Responsibilities
Contribute to the design and evolution of the AI-augmented SDLC platform: help architect and implement the next-generation developer experience integrating AI agents, MCPs, and automation across build, test, review, and release pipelines
Operationalize AI engineering best practices: establish frameworks for RAG, vector search, and model evaluation; define standards for prompt engineering, versioning, and observability
Engineer for reliability and scale: ensure systems are extensible, testable, and compliant, embedding best practices from DORA’s AI Capabilities Model (healthy data ecosystems, small batches, strong version control)
Lead by doing, embed with engineering teams to help implement AI-native workflows; provide mentorship and technical guidance to accelerate organizational adoption
Build agents and skills to assist with all aspects of software development — from architecture and code generation to deployment automation, testing, and operational diagnostics
Integrate AI capabilities into Athene’s Developer Portal to provide engineers with seamless access to intelligent tools, agents, and automation directly within their daily workflows
Collaborate across software, platform, and product teams to establish and maintain best practices in areas such as unit testing, branching strategies, architecture, cloud-native patterns, DevOps, and AI adoption
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience and 6+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or architecture, with 1+ years in Generative or Agentic AI systems
Proven success designing large-scale developer platforms or toolchains that improved velocity, reliability, and compliance, i.e. Backstage
Deep experience as a Software Engineer or a similar role, with a strong understanding of software development life cycles and methodologies
Strong proficiency in Python, TypeScript/Node.js, and cloud-native environments (AWS or Azure)
Working experience with Claude Code CLI and integrating AI assistants or agents into developer workflows
Experience with LLM ecosystems — LangChain, AutoGen, LlamaIndex, LangGraph, or equivalent
Demonstrated ability to integrate AI assistants and agents into SDLC workflows (e.g., code review, test generation, CI/CD, and deployment automation)
Experience defining and enforcing engineering standards and metrics (unit testing, branching strategies, deployment patterns, DORA metrics)
Working understanding of responsible AI principles and secure enterprise data handling in regulated industries
Experience mentoring engineers and working collaboratively across multiple teams to deliver systemic improvements
Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Able to assess complex technical challenges and deliver practical, scalable solutions
Company
Athene
Athene Holding is a life insurance company that provides retirement savings products for individuals and institutions.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Athene has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (11)
2024 (28)
2023 (24)
2022 (22)
2021 (22)
2020 (14)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$4.43B2025-06-24Post Ipo Debt· $600M
2025-05-14Post Ipo Debt· $1B
2024-10-07Post Ipo Debt· $600M
Leadership Team
Martin P. Klein
Executive VP & CFO
Mike Downing
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Athene Holding Ltd.
Recent News
The Motley Fool
2025-11-07
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
2025-11-04
Company data provided by crunchbase