Principal Generative AI Engineer

TribeRecruit New Zealand; Auckland; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Tribe seeks a Principal Generative AI Engineer to establish and lead a Generative AI Centre of Excellence in New Zealand. You will stay hands-on in the code while guiding client delivery from POC through early builds, shaping standards for responsible AI and security.

You will design the system around the model, including harness design, loop engineering, and evaluation, with cross‑functional leadership and hands‑on delivery across stack technologies.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building and shipping production software with technical leadership.
• 12+ months hands-on development using an agentic coding tool as a core part of how you build.
• End-to-end experience applying AI agents across the full lifecycle with ongoing evaluation.
• Strong capability designing the “system around the model” including harness design, loop engineering, and evaluation.
• Hands-on experience building agentic systems as the deliverable.
• Strong coding ability in Python, C#/.NET or TypeScript, across the stack.
• Confident consulting and teaching capability: discovery, stakeholder management, and uplift via coaching.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Generative AI Centre of Excellence and guide client delivery from proofs of concept to early builds.
• Design and ship AI systems that operate with real users and data, with measured reliability.
• Develop internal enablement: workshops, paired programming, reference implementations.
• Set standards and guardrails around responsible AI, privacy, and security.

Skills

Production software leadership

Hands-on AI agent development

End-to-end AI lifecycle experience

System design around model

Agentic systems delivery

Python

C#/.NET

TypeScript

Stakeholder management

Tools

Microsoft Copilot Studio

Microsoft Foundry

Azure AI services

Fabric

Synapse

Power BI

Power Platform

Dynamics 365

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 9th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

Tribe is partnering with a highly regarded, New Zealand owned technology consultancy to appoint a Principal Generative AI Engineer to establish and lead a Generative AI Centre of Excellence.
This is a rare opportunity for someone who has already spent the last year genuinely building with AI agents as part of their daily workflow, not dabbling. The focus is practical delivery: designing and shipping AI systems that work with real users and real data, and closing the gap between an impressive demo and a reliable production outcome.
You will lead the practice while staying hands‑on in the code. The work spans client delivery (proofs of concept through to early‑stage builds), internal enablement (workshops, pairing, reference implementations), and setting standards and guardrails around responsible AI, privacy, and security.

What You’ll Bring

• 8+ years building and shipping production software, including technical leadership on complex delivery
• 12+ months of sustained hands‑on development using an agentic coding tool (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent) as a core part of how you build
• End‑to‑end experience applying AI agents across the full lifecycle (design, implementation, testing, deployment), with evaluation throughout rather than only at test time
• Strong capability designing the “system around the model”, including:
  • Harness design (tool definitions, context management, routing, permissions, approval gates, observability)
  • Loop engineering (plan, act, verify, repair) with termination conditions that produce evidence, not an agent’s assurance
  • Evaluation you can trust (eval suites, defining “done”, diagnosing failure modes, improving reliability over time)
• Hands‑on experience building agentic systems as the deliverable (not only using agents to write code faster)
• Strong coding ability in Python, C#/.NET or TypeScript, with the range to work across the stack
• Confident consulting and teaching capability: discovery, senior stakeholder management, clear advice on feasibility/cost/risk, and uplift of other engineers via coaching and workshops

Nice to Have

• Experience with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry (formerly Azure AI Foundry)
• Depth in Azure and its AI services (AWS also welcome), with sound judgement around privacy, security, and responsible AI
• Exposure across the Microsoft data platform (Fabric, Synapse, Power BI, Power Platform, Dynamics 365)
• Familiarity with NZ context (Privacy Act 2020, NZISM, public sector assurance, Māori data sovereignty principles)
• Experience establishing a practice or Centre of Excellence from an early stage

What’s on Offer

• A hands‑on principal‑level role where you will ship agentic AI systems, not just present strategy
• The opportunity to set the standards, patterns and guardrails a Centre of Excellence will build by
• Varied client work with high‑profile organisations and complex, real‑world delivery challenges
• A creative, stimulating environment with a genuine commitment to inclusivity and diversity
• The chance to build internal accelerators and tooling that scale what works across the wider organisation

Tribe is a group of specialist teams, each of who truly understand their world, and together they partner to understand yours. Whether you’re looking for your next opportunity or recruiting, we’re all about bringing people together for a shared purpose. Find your people.

For any questions give Paulina Gutek a call on [phone] and quote Job ID: 18413 for a confidential chat.