kadence · 1 day ago
Principal Engineer
United States
Full-time
Remote
Lead/Staff
8+ years expKadence is a high-growth, AI-native product organization building intelligent software for a traditionally underserved professional domain. They are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead technical strategy and architecture for AI-driven services, ensuring systems are scalable, reliable, and performant while collaborating with cross-functional teams.
Staffing & Recruiting
Hiring Manager
Hannah Twomey
Responsibilities
Design and implement core backend systems that power generative AI agents, orchestration layers, and complex workflows
Own the technical architecture for AI-driven services, ensuring systems are scalable, reliable, and adaptable as models, tools, and use cases evolve
Lead the design of APIs and backend logic supporting real-time, multi-turn AI interactions
Set architectural direction and engineering best practices across backend and AI-adjacent systems
Make high-impact technical decisions around data models, system boundaries, performance tradeoffs, and platform evolution
Establish strong opinions on testing, observability, and reliability for AI-first systems operating at scale
Ensure systems are secure, resilient, and performant across large-scale datasets and high-volume AI interactions
Identify bottlenecks and lead initiatives to improve latency, throughput, and cost efficiency
Partner with infrastructure teams to evolve cloud and deployment strategies as the platform scales
Work deeply with AI/ML engineers, product managers, frontend engineers, and designers to ship cohesive, end-to-end AI experiences
Translate ambiguous product and research goals into clear technical execution plans
Lead large initiatives or workstreams spanning multiple teams
Mentor senior and mid-level engineers, raising the technical bar across the organization
Contribute to hiring and team growth by helping define technical expectations and assessing senior-level talent
Foster a culture of experimentation, rigor, and continuous improvement
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
8+ years of backend or platform engineering experience building and scaling production systems
Deep expertise in Python, with hands-on experience using frameworks such as FastAPI and relational databases like PostgreSQL
Strong experience designing distributed systems, APIs, and data models
Proven ability to operate at both architectural and implementation levels
Excellent debugging, systems-thinking, and problem-solving skills
Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to influence across functions
Comfort operating in fast-changing, ambiguous environments
Preferred
Experience building AI-driven systems, agent-based architectures, or orchestration layers
Hands-on integration with LLM APIs or AI platforms from leading providers
Familiarity with vector databases, embeddings, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), or search-driven AI systems
Strong opinions on backend testing strategies, automation, and production reliability for AI workloads
Passion for AI-native software and emerging engineering paradigms
Company
kadence
Kadence - We place elite AI talent at the intersection of science & engineering, from PHD to Executive.
2-10 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageCompany data provided by crunchbase