AI Foundations Architect & Tech Leader

Atlassian; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Atlassian is seeking a Senior Principal Engineer for the AI Foundations team to lead the technical direction across AI-enabled software development platforms. You will work hands-on to prototype hardest parts, set engineering standards, and build foundational systems for measurement, context, reliability, and cost at scale.

The role emphasizes influencing decisions, mentoring senior engineers, and partnering with product teams to ship internal AI capabilities to customers.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in hands‑on technical leadership with end‑to‑end ownership across the software development lifecycle.
• A track record of setting technical direction across a function or organization, bringing many engineers along.
• Deep expertise building large‑scale systems in distributed systems/cloud infrastructure, developer platforms, data and measurement systems, or applied AI.
• Genuine technical depth. You still write code, tackle hard problems, and raise the quality bar for everyone.
• Strong judgment on cost, scale, and ROI; treat efficiency as a real engineering problem.
• Experience influencing decision makers and turning ambiguity into a clear plan.
• Real excitement for open, unmapped space; building software with AI is being invented now and you want to help invent it.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision for how Atlassian enables and builds AI across the software development lifecycle, and turn it into infrastructure teams adopt.
• Stay hands on: prototype the hardest parts, write code, and set the engineering bar others build to.
• Build foundational systems that make AI effective for every engineer, including measurement, context, reliability, and scalable cost.
• Provide engineers and leaders real signal instead of hype, so the company sees where AI genuinely helps.
• Partner across engineering and product teams to shape internal tools and AI capabilities shipped to customers.
• Decide when to buy a solution, build alongside product teams, or create a purpose‑built solution.
• Grow the talent: mentor senior engineers, align principals, and raise what the team believes is possible.

Skills

Technical leadership

End-to-end ownership

Distributed systems

Cloud infrastructure

AI foundations

Cost/ROI judgment

Decision influence

Code skills

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Atlassian is seeking a Senior Principal Engineer for the AI Foundations team to lead the technical direction across AI-enabled software development platforms. You will work hands-on to prototype hardest parts, set engineering standards, and build foundational systems for measurement, context, reliability, and cost at scale.

The role emphasizes influencing decisions, mentoring senior engineers, and partnering with product teams to ship internal AI capabilities to customers.