Staff / Principal Engineer - Learn & Build in AI

MCS Group; Dublin; On-site; EUR 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech startup in Dublin is seeking a Staff / Principal Engineer to develop scalable backend systems in a fast-paced environment. This role involves working with a modern tech stack including TypeScript and Node.js, while also integrating AI workflows. The ideal candidate will bring strong engineering skills and a passion for technology. This opportunity offers ownership, direct communication with founders, and a chance to influence the future of the company.

Benefits

Ownership and equity

Direct communication with founders

Career-defining environment

Qualifications

• Strong background in backend or full-stack engineering.
• Deep understanding of software engineering fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience with TypeScript and Node.js.
• Curiosity about AI and ML.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable backend systems for conversational data.
• Work with TypeScript, Node.js, and AWS infrastructure.
• Contribute to core services' performance and reliability.
• Collaborate with engineering team on AI integration.

Skills

Backend or full-stack engineering

Experience with distributed systems

Strong knowledge of TypeScript

Experience with Node.js

Understanding of relational databases

Familiarity with AWS

Tools

Postgres

CI/CD pipelines

gRPC/REST APIs

Job description

Staff / Principal Engineer - Learn & Build in AI

Location: Dublin City Centre (on-site, 5 days per week)
Compensation: Up to €130,000 + equity

We're working with a fast-moving startup building a product that transforms real conversations – from calls, meetings, and chats – into actionable insights for business leaders. Instead of relying on dashboards or KPIs, their platform helps companies understand what's actually happening across their people, products, and performance.

This role sits at the intersection of deep engineering and emerging AI – ideal for someone who loves solving complex system problems but wants to work in a space where AI is shaping what comes next.

Opportunity

As a Staff / Principal Engineer, you'll join a small, high-impact team where you'll own large parts of the backend and infrastructure that power the company's AI platform.

Roughly 80% of the work focuses on building, scaling, and optimising production-grade systems – with the remaining 20% dedicated to learning and applying AI and ML concepts alongside the founding team.

You'll work directly with the founding team & CTO who's happy to teach and mentor on the AI side – but what he really needs is someone who's confident designing clean architectures, spotting issues before they happen, and building systems that scale.

This is a founding-stage environment – fast-moving, highly collaborative, and ideal for someone who enjoys being hands-on while influencing technical direction.

What You'll Do

• Design and build scalable backend systems that process and structure large volumes of conversational data.
• Work with a modern stack: TypeScript, Node.js, gRPC/REST APIs, Postgres, Drizzle ORM, and AWS-based infrastructure.
• Contribute to performance, reliability, and observability of core services.
• Collaborate with the founding engineers to integrate emerging AI workflows (Python-based LLM orchestration, embeddings, retrieval, evaluation).
• Take ownership of infrastructure design, deployment pipelines, and developer experience.
• Play a key role in defining engineering best practices and setting the standard for future hires.

What You'll Bring

• Strong backend or full-stack engineering background, ideally with experience in distributed or high-scale systems.
• Deep understanding of software engineering fundamentals – clean code, testing, performance, and architecture.
• Strong hands-on experience with TypeScript, Node.js, and ideally some exposure to Python.
• Experience with relational databases (Postgres preferred) and modern schema management tools.
• Comfort with infrastructure (AWS, CI/CD pipelines, networking fundamentals).
• Curiosity about AI and ML – you don't need to be an expert, but you want to learn how these systems are designed and deployed in practice.
• A pragmatic, builder mindset – you like solving real problems and moving quickly without sacrificing quality.

Why Join

• Shape from the ground up: Join at a genuinely formative stage – a seven-person team where every engineer shapes architecture, culture, and delivery.
• Learn from experts: Work closely with founders who've built and sold tech companies before – and who’ll help you upskill in AI and ML as part of your role.
• Ownership & impact: Founding level equity, and complete visibility of your work in production.
• No bureaucracy: Direct communication, fast iteration, and meaningful autonomy.
• Career-defining environment: Perfect for an experienced engineer who’s curious about AI and wants to move into one of the most exciting problem spaces in tech.

If you're an experienced engineer who thrives on ownership, loves solving complex technical challenges, and wants to work at the cutting edge of AI – this is a rare chance to build something meaningful while expanding your skill set into one of the most transformative areas in technology.

To speak in absolute confidence about this opportunity please contact Jack Tyrrell, Specialist Recruitment Consultant at MCS Group 016994371 or send an up to date CV via the link provided.

If this position is not right for you, we may have others that are. Please visit www.mcsgroup.jobs to view a wide selection of our current jobs. All conversations will be treated in the strictest of confidence.