Principal AI & Emerging Tech Engineer

TAL; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

TAL is seeking a Principal Engineer, AI & Emerging Technology, to shape AI capabilities across the enterprise. You will lead the design of generative AI, agentic systems, and production ML, partnering with delivery teams to accelerate adoption and ensure secure, compliant deployments in a regulated life-insurance environment.

You will develop reference architectures, implement standards, and drive best practices to deliver scalable, business-valued AI solutions that advance TAL’s technology

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, AI, or related field.
• 10+ years in software, AI/ML or data engineering roles with production-scale AI solutions.
• Principal-level or senior technical leader experience, leading across teams.
• Deep expertise in generative AI, LLM-based and agentic systems, with MLOps/LLMOps.
• Hands-on with Azure cloud services, AI/ML APIs, containers, and modern integration patterns.
• Proficient in Python and AI-assisted software development workflows.
• Strong CI/CD, testing, observability, and software engineering principles.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction and reference architectures for AI solutions across the portfolio.
• Own critical design decisions in partnership with Architecture to align with TAL's strategy.
• Provide technical assurance on high-risk designs and complex trade-offs.
• Collaborate with delivery pods on complex engineering problems and integrations.
• Define and evolve engineering standards, patterns, and best practices for AI development.
• Champion reuse of shared AI platforms, gateways and governance tooling.
• Identify and address technical risks including model risk, data privacy and drift.
• Stay at the forefront of AI advancements and evaluate new technologies for TAL.

Skills

Generative AI

LLM-based systems

Agentic systems

MLOps / LLMOps

Azure cloud

Python

CI/CD

Observability

Software architecture leadership

Senior technical leader

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/SE/AI

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

Azure cloud platform

Containers

APIs

Job description

TAL is seeking a Principal Engineer, AI & Emerging Technology, to shape AI capabilities across the enterprise. You will lead the design of generative AI, agentic systems, and production ML, partnering with delivery teams to accelerate adoption and ensure secure, compliant deployments in a regulated life-insurance environment.

You will develop reference architectures, implement standards, and drive best practices to deliver scalable, business-valued AI solutions that advance TAL’s technology