Principal AI Engineer - Hybrid in Bangalore

Smartsheet Inc; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 4,500,000 - 7,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Smartsheet Inc. is seeking a Principal AI Engineer to architect and own the AI platform in a hybrid Bengaluru setting. You will define standards for Data, Agents, Knowledge Graphs and orchestrate complex systems across multiple teams. Lead governance, security, and partner engagements with Databricks, AWS Bedrock, and MCP ecosystems.

You will prototype with speed, promote production-ready capabilities, and drive architectural decisions with measurable impact on platform scale and reliability.

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on experience architecting production agentic systems.
• Experience with Databricks Platform, AWS Bedrock/AgentCore, MCPs.
• Knowledge and context-graph based system design, ontology and retrieval patterns.
• Prototyping rapidly and shipping working software with adoption-driven validation.

Responsibilities

• Own target-state architecture for the AI platform and bind data, agents, knowledge graphs.
• Define agent harness and sub-agent framework including orchestration and lifecycle.
• Design schemas/ontologies, ingestion pipelines, and grounding patterns for reliable responses.
• Build and maintain a reference agent framework for cross-team reuse.
• Publish shared skills/tools library with clear interfaces and versioning.

Skills

Architectural design

Databricks Platform

AWS Bedrock

Agent orchestration

Knowledge graph

Governance

Observability

MLflow

Cross-functional

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Databricks

Bedrock

Strands SDK

MCP

Unity Catalog

Job description

Principal AI Engineer - Hybrid in Bangalore

For over 20 years, Smartsheet has empowered teams to manage work seamlessly and scale solutions smarter. Now, in our most ambitious chapter yet, we are uniting human teams with AI agents. By orchestrating the work agents do best, automating manual tasks and uncovering insights at scale, we create the space for people to focus on what truly matters: judgment, creativity, and big thinking. That is magic at work, and it’s what we show up for every day.

For over 20 years, Smartsheet has helped people and teams achieve–well, anything. As the Intelligent Work Management Platform, we are redefining the velocity of work by uniting people, data, and AI to move businesses forward. We don’t just automate tasks; we eliminate execution silos and turn strategic vision into measurable enterprise impact. We’re creating a space to think big and take action, because when challenge meets purpose and AI-powered execution meets human ingenuity, that’s magic at work. It’s what we show up for every day, helping organizations not just keep up with change, but thrive because of it.

Our India Global Capability Center isn't just supporting global operations—we’re leading global innovation. After scaling rapidly into a best-in-class hub, we deliver the product innovation and enterprise capabilities that accelerate our global growth, profitability, and scale. As we expand Smartsheet India, we’re searching for a Principal AI Engineer, who craves variety and ownership. You’ll have the opportunity to work across multiple teams and disciplines, building a versatile skillset while solving the complex challenges of a global platform.

You Will:

• Own the target-state architecture for Smartsheet's AI platform, defining the standards that bind Data, Agents, Knowledge Graph, Context Graph into one coherent system.
• Set the architecture for the agent harness and sub-agent framework including orchestration, lifecycle, hand-off contracts, Evals (Offline and Online) and capability-tier classification used across all agent teams.
• Design and own schema/ontology, ingestion and freshness pipelines, and the retrieval and grounding patterns that keep agent responses reliable.
• Build and maintain a reference agent framework that teams fork or extend, so no team re-solves orchestration, tracing, or deployment from scratch.
• Author and publish a shared skills and tools library with clear interface contracts and a versioning model any team can build on.
• Stand up fast, slim prototypes to de-risk architecture decisions (new sub-agent patterns, retrieval strategies, partner capabilities) before teams commit a roadmap to them, and own the criteria for promoting a prototype into a supported, shared capability.
• Define deployment, security, and governance patterns, including the standard path from prototype to production and the AI governance plane applied across platforms and agents.
• Serve as Smartsheet's primary technical lead for strategic technology partners — Databricks (Lakehouse, Unity Catalog, Unity AI Gateway), AWS (Bedrock, AgentCore), Anthropic (Claude, MCP, agent patterns), and others — running standing technical syncs and routing early-access programs through prototypes evaluated against real Smartsheet problems.
• Partner closely with Principal Engineers and team leads across Smartsheet, aligning to platform milestones through architecture authority in design and demonstrated prototypes.
• Engage with Forward Deployed Engineering (equipping the field team with reference frameworks and skills) and MCP/external parity (reviewing gate criteria before external commitments).
• Drive architecture decisions to close quickly and keep the escalation backlog near zero.

You Have:

• Deep, hands-on experience architecting production agentic systems on Databricks Platform, AWS Bedrock/AgentCore and MCPs
• Experience in Agent harness/orchestration design, sub-agent boundaries, tracing and observability (e.g., MLflow), Evals, Governance, Responsible AI and cost/latency instrumentation at platform scale.
• Strong background in Knowledge and Context graph based systems, including ontology design, ingestion pipelines, and retrieval/grounding evaluation.
• A builder's track record: you prototype rapidly, ship working software, and let adoption — not mandate — prove which patterns are right.
• Experience designing reusable, versioned software interfaces (skills, tools, libraries) that multiple teams adopt directly, with clear contracts and promotion criteria from prototype to production.
• Familiarity with modern LLM/agent tooling and standards, including Databricks, Bedrock, Strands SDK, and MCP (Model Context Protocol).
• Comfort operating as a technical DRI in strategic partner relationships (e.g., Databricks, AWS, Anthropic), translating partner roadmaps and early-access capabilities into platform decisions.
• Proven ability to set cross-team technical standards and drive alignment without formal management authority — influencing through design quality, working prototypes, and clear documentation rather than positional control.
• Strong judgment on architectural tradeoffs spanning model selection, inference patterns, deployment, and governance, balanced with respect for team-level autonomy over delivery.
• Excellent cross-functional communication skills and translating ambiguity into documented, decisive architecture calls.
• Legally eligible to work in India on an ongoing basis

Get to Know Us:

At Smartsheet, your ideas are heard, your potential is supported, and your contributions have real impact. You’ll have the freedom to explore, push boundaries, and grow beyond your role. We welcome diverse perspectives and nontraditional paths—because we know that impact comes from individuals who care deeply and challenge thoughtfully. When you’re doing work that stretches you, excites you, and connects you to something bigger, that’s magic at work. Let’s build what’s next, together.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Smartsheet is an Equal Opportunity (EEO) employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment with the best employees. It is our policy to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants in accordance with applicable laws in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Costa Rica, Japan, Bulgaria, India, and Singapore. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

If there are preparations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.

At Smartsheet, we strive to build an inclusive environment that encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices of our team members. Individuals seeking employment at Smartsheet are considered without regards to race, ethnicity, color, age, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, physical or mental disability, registered domestic partner status, caregiver status, marital status, veteran or military status, citizenship status, or any other legally protected category in the US, UK, and Australia.

Below is a set of voluntary demographic questions. If you choose to complete them, your responses will be used in aggregate to help us identify areas for improvement in our programs. Your responses, or your choice to not respond, will not be considered in the hiring process. Any information that you provide will be recorded and maintained confidentially.

We use Greenhouse's AI-powered Talent Matching tool to compare your application against our job requirements.