Principal AI-Native Systems Engineer (Forward-Deployed)

EPAM Systems; Al Khobar; On-site; SAR 522,000 - 783,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private health insurance

Remote work options

Pension

Stock Purchase Plan

Professional certification

Language courses

Job summary

EPAM Systems is seeking a Principal Forward Deployed Engineer to lead AI-native system development with an emphasis on agents, RAG, and evaluation pipelines. You will write production-grade Python, integrate with cloud platforms, and collaborate with SMEs and clients to validate value and feasibility.

The role offers a permanent contract with flexible remote work options and a career-focused growth plan, including certifications and mentorship.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience building production AI/LLM apps.
• Expert-level Python skills and solid software fundamentals.
• Hands-on with LangChain/LangGraph/Semantic Kernel and major LLMs.
• Strong RAG and retrieval skills: vector DBs, embeddings, hybrid search, context mgmt.
• Production cloud deployment on AWS/Azure/GCP with containers and CI/CD.
• Experience evaluating generative AI quality with custom eval frameworks and observability tools.
• Proven client-facing skills: discovery conversations and explaining trade-offs.
• Strong agent-design and engineering judgment under ambiguity.
• C1 level English proficiency.
• Academic degree in CS or Software Engineering.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and ship end-to-end AI-native systems including agents and RAG workflows.
• Write production Python code for integrations, APIs, data access and deployment.
• Interact with SMEs and end-users to capture value and validate use cases.
• Shape use cases early and assess technical feasibility.
• Build evaluation pipelines to prove system utility.
• Design for failure with retries, model fallbacks, cost limits and human-in-the-loop actions.
• Capture domain expertise and create repeatable workflows across engagements.
• Maintain engineering excellence with TDD and CI practices.

Skills

Python

English Proficiency

Client Engagement

Discovery Conversations

Agent Design

Engineering Judgement

7+ yrs exp

Education

CS/Software Engineering Degree

Tools

LangChain

LangGraph

Semantic Kernel

LLM Providers

Vector Databases

Embeddings

Hybrid Search

Context Management

AWS

Azure

GCP

Docker

CI/CD

Job description

EPAM Systems is seeking a Principal Forward Deployed Engineer to lead AI-native system development with an emphasis on agents, RAG, and evaluation pipelines. You will write production-grade Python, integrate with cloud platforms, and collaborate with SMEs and clients to validate value and feasibility.

The role offers a permanent contract with flexible remote work options and a career-focused growth plan, including certifications and mentorship.