Principal AI Engineer

Cornerstone; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Cornerstone is seeking a Principal AI Engineer to design, build, and scale AI-driven systems across product platforms in Hyderabad, India. You will lead by hands-on contribution, shaping architecture and delivering reliable, scalable AI-enabled solutions that drive business impact.

The ideal candidate has 8-10 years of software engineering experience, strong Java backend skills, mandatory AWS expertise, and a track record of integrating AI and Generative AI into production systems.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of hands-on software engineering experience in production systems.
• Strong, hands-on experience with Java in backend and distributed systems.
• Mandatory, hands-on experience with AWS and cloud-native workloads.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases in production environments.
• 3+ years building AI-powered applications, including ML/LLM-based systems.
• API-first architectures (REST, GraphQL) and container ecosystems (Docker/Kubernetes).
• Ability to own systems end-to-end and influence architecture.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate AI-powered applications including LLM-based services.
• Integrate AI capabilities into Java-based backend systems and cloud platforms.
• Design scalable API-first services (REST & GraphQL).
• Implement data pipelines for feature engineering and retrieval-augmented generation.
• Mentor engineers and drive AI and cloud engineering excellence.

Tools

Java backend

AWS

AI-powered apps

API-first architectures

Docker

Kubernetes (EKS)

SQL & NoSQL

LLM/ML

Job description

Job Title: Principal AI Engineer

Location: Hyderabad, India

Years of Experience: 8-10 years of hands-on software engineering experience, including building and scaling AI-powered systems in production

Position Overview

We are seeking a Principal AI Engineer to design, build, and scale AI-driven systems across our product platforms. This role is ideal for a deeply technical engineer who leads through hands-on contribution, solves complex problems, and drives the adoption of AI into real-world products.

The ideal candidate brings strong backend and cloud fundamentals, mandatory experience with Java and AWS, and proven experience integrating AI and Generative AI capabilities into production systems. You will work closely with product, architecture, and engineering teams to deliver reliable, scalable, AI-enabled solutions that create meaningful business impact.

In this role you will…

AI Engineering & System Design

• Design, build, and operate AI-powered applications, including LLM-based services, ML-driven workflows, and intelligent automation.
• Integrate AI capabilities into Java-based backend systems and cloud-native platforms.
• Design scalable API-first services (REST & GraphQL) exposing AI capabilities across products.
• Implement data pipelines supporting feature engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector search, and inference.
• Apply best practices for prompt design, model orchestration, evaluation, and observability.

Cloud & Platform Engineering (AWS - Must Have)

• Build and operate cloud-native AI systems on AWS, including EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, and EKS.
• Design containerized workloads using Docker and Kubernetes (EKS).
• Optimize systems for scalability, latency, reliability, and cost efficiency.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code using Terraform or AWS CDK.

Data & Distributed Systems

• Design and operate relational (SQL) and NoSQL data stores for high-scale, distributed systems.
• Make informed trade-offs around data consistency, availability, and performance.
• Work with event-driven and asynchronous architectures where appropriate.

Technical Leadership & Impact

• Lead complex technical initiatives end-to-end, from design through production deployment.
• Influence system design and engineering standards across teams through design reviews and technical guidance.
• Mentor senior engineers and raise the overall bar for AI and cloud engineering excellence.
• Collaborate with Product, Data, UX, Security, and DevOps teams to deliver AI-driven product capabilities.

You've got what it takes if you have…

Required (Must Have)

• 8-10 years of hands-on software engineering experience building large-scale, production systems.
• Strong, hands-on experience with Java in backend and distributed systems.
• Mandatory, hands-on experience with AWS, including designing and operating cloud-native workloads.
• Strong experience with SQL and NoSQL databases in production environments.
• 3+ years of experience building AI-powered applications, including ML or LLM-based systems.
• Experience with API-first architectures (REST, GraphQL).
• Hands-on experience with Docker and Kubernetes (EKS).
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to own systems end-to-end.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Generative AI platforms and frameworks (AWS Bedrock, OpenAI APIs, LangChain, LlamaIndex).
• Experience with vector databases and semantic search.
• Familiarity with MLOps practices, model monitoring, and evaluation frameworks.
• Experience working in product-driven, agile environments.

Leveling Guidance

• Senior AI Engineer: Owns complex components and services; strong execution and technical depth.
• Principal AI Engineer: Owns multi-team technical initiatives; influences architecture and engineering standards across the organization.

Why Join Us

• Real AI Impact: Build AI systems that ship, scale, and deliver customer value.
• Hands-On Leadership: Lead through deep technical contribution.
• Modern Stack: Java, AWS, Kubernetes (EKS), SQL/NoSQL, and Generative AI.
• Collaboration: Work with strong product, data, and engineering partners.
• Core Values: Be part of a company that lives by Shattering Boundaries, Sparking Greatness, and Sharing Success.

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