Principal Engineer - Ai Platform Architecture

Anonymous; Lisboa; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Anonymous is seeking a Principal Engineer - AI Platform Architecture to lead the architectural direction of a scalable, AI-native platform. You will shape agent runtimes, orchestration, APIs, and shared services across product teams, while maintaining hands-on involvement.

You will collaborate across Platform, Data, Security, and Product Management to define architectural patterns, platform capabilities, and engineering standards, driving value through scalable design.

Qualifications

• Experience designing large-scale cloud-native platforms and distributed systems.
• Hands-on expertise with microservices, asynchronous and event-driven architectures.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers and drive architectural decisions across teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve architecture of scalable AI-native platform.
• Provide architectural guidance across multiple teams and initiatives.
• Mentor senior engineers through design reviews and coaching.
• Champion developer experience, reliability, and operational efficiency.

Skills

Distributed systems

Cloud-native architecture

Microservices REST/API

Technical leadership

Architecture design

Tools

AI platforms

Agentic systems

Observability tooling

Job description

We are looking for a Principal Engineer – AI Platform Architecture to help define and evolve the architecture of a next‑generation, AI‑native platform. This is a hands‑on technical leadership position responsible for establishing the architectural foundations that enable intelligent applications, autonomous AI agents, workflows, and reusable platform services to scale across multiple products and engineering teams. You will define how AI agent runtimes, orchestration, APIs, distributed services, observability, developer tooling, security, and engineering standards work together as a unified platform. The role works closely across Product Engineering, Platform Engineering, Data, Security, and Product Management and is focused on technical direction and architecture rather than people management.

Key Responsibilities

Define and evolve the architecture of a scalable AI‑native software platform. Establish reusable architectural patterns for: AI agent orchestration and runtimes, Workflow execution, Tool integration, Memory and context management, Shared platform services. Define engineering standards across APIs, distributed systems, observability, testing, deployment, documentation, and operational excellence. Guide major architectural decisions across Product, Platform, Data, Security, and Engineering teams. Drive the evolution of an Agentic Software Development Lifecycle (ASDLC), increasing the use of AI, automation, and autonomous agents within engineering processes.

Identify reusable platform capabilities that reduce duplication and accelerate product development. Review technical designs and provide architectural guidance for strategic initiatives. Balance long‑term platform architecture with pragmatic product delivery. Evaluate emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and engineering approaches and introduce them where they provide measurable value. Mentor senior engineers through technical coaching, architecture discussions, and design reviews. Champion practices that improve developer experience, scalability, reliability, maintainability, and operational efficiency.

Key Requirements

Strong experience designing large‑scale software platforms and distributed systems. Deep understanding of cloud‑native application architecture and modern software engineering practices.

Proven experience defining technical standards across multiple engineering teams. Strong software engineering background with experience creating reusable platform capabilities. Hands‑on expertise with: Microservices REST/API architecture, Asynchronous systems, Event‑driven architecture, Distributed systems. Experience working with AI platforms, agentic systems, LLM‑based applications, or AI‑enabled software architectures would be highly valuable.

Ability to work across infrastructure, application engineering, AI systems, data, and product engineering. Demonstrated ability to simplify complex technical challenges into scalable architectural patterns. Experience providing technical leadership and mentoring senior engineers without requiring direct line‑management responsibility. Excellent communication and stakeholder‑management skills, with the ability to influence technical direction across different engineering disciplines.

Ideal Profile

You are a senior technical leader who can operate at both architecture and engineering level. You are comfortable defining long‑term platform direction while remaining close enough to implementation to understand the practical implications of architectural decisions. You bring a strong background in platform engineering and distributed systems, combined with an understanding of how modern AI and agentic architectures are changing the way software platforms are designed and built. We believe in equal opportunity for all and actively encourage applications from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Principal Engineer - Ai Platform Architecture Lisbon, Portuguese Republic, PT