Principal Engineer - AI Platform Architecture

Source Group International; Lisboa; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Source Group International seeks a Principal Engineer – AI Platform Architecture to define and evolve the architecture of a next-generation, AI-native platform. This hands-on technical leadership role focuses on establishing foundations for intelligent applications, autonomous agents, workflows, and reusable platform services across multiple products.

You will direct agent runtimes, orchestration, APIs, and distributed services, plus observability, tooling, security, and standards while

Qualifications

• Experience designing large-scale software platforms and distributed systems.
• Deep understanding of cloud-native architecture and modern software practices.
• Proven ability to define technical standards across multiple teams.
• Hands-on with microservices, REST/API, asynchronous and event-driven systems.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the architecture of a scalable AI-native software platform.
• Establish reusable architectural patterns for AI runtimes, workflows, tool integration, memory/context management, and shared services.
• Set engineering standards for APIs, distributed systems, observability, testing, deployment, and documentation.
• Guide major architectural decisions across Product, Platform, Data, Security, and Engineering teams.
• Lead ASDLC evolution, promoting AI, automation, and autonomous agents in engineering processes.
• Identify reusable platform capabilities to accelerate product development.
• Review designs and provide architectural guidance for strategic initiatives.
• Balance long-term platform architecture with pragmatic delivery.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and introduce value-driven approaches.
• Mentor senior engineers through technical coaching and design reviews.
• Champion practices for developer experience, scalability, reliability, and operational efficiency.

Skills

Large-scale platforms

Distributed systems

Cloud-native

APIs/REST

Asynchronous

Event-driven

Microservices

AI platforms

Agentic architectures

Mentoring seniors

Technical leadership

Communication

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.