Principal AI Engineer

Apex Systems; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

Everforth Apex Systems in Dallas, TX seeks a Principal AI Engineer to lead design, architecture, and delivery of AI tools and platforms. This hands-on role focuses on GCP, Gemini, Vertex AI, Claude Code, Copilot, MCP servers, Java Spring Boot, and React.js, driving enterprise AI capabilities.

You will mentor engineers, shape the AI platform roadmap with product, security and architecture, and ensure secure, observable, and scalable solutions while promoting responsible AI practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in computer science, engineering, artificial intelligence, or related field.
• 7–10 years of software, platform, or AI engineering experience with production AI or developer platforms.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-based AI services such as GCP Gemini and Vertex AI; knowledge of AI agents and reusable orchestration patterns.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical development for enterprise AI platforms, agent frameworks, and developer productivity capabilities.
• Drive initiatives around GCP, Gemini, Vertex AI, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, MCP servers, and A2A integrations.
• Design architecture for reusable AI platform services, orchestration patterns, and integration components.
• Integrate AI services with cloud, security, and enterprise platforms.
• Establish secure, observable patterns for custom agents and AI tool integrations.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineering teams.
• Define lifecycle practices for versioning, release management, and documentation.

Skills

Cloud computing

Java

Spring Boot

React.js

AI/ML development

REST APIs

OAuth 2.0/OpenID Connect

CI/CD

Observability

Security best practices

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in CS/Eng/AI

Tools

GCP Gemini

Vertex AI

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

MCP servers

A2A integrations

Java Spring Boot

React.js

Job description

Job#: 3054202

Job Description

Principal AI Engineer

Dallas, Texas (Onsite 4 days a week)

6 month Contract to Hire

Conversion Salary - 140K-175K + bonus

Role Overview

We are looking for a Principal AI Engineer to join our Engineering Frameworks Team. This role is instrumental in leading the design, architecture, development, integration, and support of AI tools and platforms. This is a hands-on engineering position centered on GCP, Gemini, Vertex AI, Claude Code, Copilot, MCP Servers, Java Spring Boot, and React.js. The ideal candidate will have direct experience building and integrating with these tools and a passion for developing solutions that accelerate software development and innovation.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical expert and development leader for enterprise AI platforms, agent frameworks, and developer productivity capabilities.
• Drive strategic initiatives involving GCP, Gemini, Vertex AI, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, MCP servers, and A2A integrations.
• Design the architecture and implementation of reusable AI platform services, orchestration patterns, and shared integration components.
• Integrate and operationalize AI services with cloud, security, and enterprise technology platforms.
• Establish secure, scalable, observable, and maintainable patterns for custom agents and AI tool integrations.
• Provide technical leadership, support, training, and guidance to engineering teams.
• Define framework lifecycle practices for versioning, release management, documentation, and continuous improvement.
• Establish and promote responsible AI, privacy, access control, governance, and cost management practices.
• Lead the implementation of observability capabilities for logging, metrics, and operational health on GCP-hosted services.
• Partner with product management, security, architecture, and lines of business to shape the AI platform roadmap.
• Mentor junior engineers and lead the team through the end-to-end product development lifecycle.

Required Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in computer science, engineering, artificial intelligence, or a related field.

Experience:

7-10 years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, AI engineering, or a related technical discipline. Proven experience designing and delivering production-quality AI, LLM, or developer-platform capabilities.

Technical Skills:

Demonstrable hands-on experience with cloud-based AI services such as GCP Gemini and Vertex AI or comparable model platforms. Extensive knowledge of AI agent architecture and reusable orchestration patterns. Strong experience with enterprise software development using Java and Spring Boot, and working knowledge of React.js. Experience designing and integrating secure REST APIs and OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect authorization flows. Strong understanding of software development lifecycle, CI/CD, observability, and responsible AI practices.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience using Claude Code and GitHub Copilot in an engineering workflow.
• Experience building or integrating MCP servers and clients to expose tools or data sources to AI agents.
• Experience enabling agent-to-agent communication using A2A or comparable protocols.
• Experience with Google ADK, Spring AI, LangChain, LangChain4j, or similar LLM integration libraries.
• Direct experience with Gemini Agent Platform or Vertex AI capabilities.
• Experience implementing model governance controls such as GCP Model Armor and access policies.
• Experience designing logging, metrics, and operational dashboards for AI services on GCP.
• Experience with containerization, microservices, and cloud-native application architecture.
• Experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines in Harness and Azure DevOps.
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies and product management practices.

Everforth Apex is a world-class IT services company that serves thousands of clients across the globe. When you join Everforth Apex, you become part of a team that values innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. We offer quality career resources, training, certifications, development opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package. Our commitment to excellence is reflected in many awards, including ClearlyRateds Best of Staffing® in Talent Satisfaction in the United States and Great Place to Work® in the United Kingdom and Mexico.

Everforth Apex Benefits Overview: Everforth Apex offers a range of supplemental benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and other insurance plans that offer an optional layer of financial protection. We offer an ESPP (employee stock purchase program) and a 401K program which allows you to contribute typically within 30 days of starting, with a company match after 12 months of tenure. Everforth Apex also offers a HSA (Health Savings Account on the HDHP plan), a SupportLinc Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with up to 8 free counseling sessions, a corporate discount savings program and other discounts. In terms of professional development, Everforth Apex hosts an on-demand training program, provides access to certification prep and a library of technical and leadership courses/books/seminars once you have 6+ months of tenure, and certification discounts and other perks to associations that include CompTIA and IIBA. Everforth Apex has a dedicated customer service team for our Consultants that can address questions around benefits and other resources, as well as a certified Career Coach. You can access a full list of our benefits, programs, support teams and resources within our 'Welcome Packet' as well, which an Everforth Apex team member can provide.

Everforth Apex Systems is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate or allow discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, genetic information, registered domestic partner status, marital status, disability, status as a crime victim, protected veteran status, political affiliation, union membership, or any other characteristic protected by law. Everforth Apex will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law.

If you require an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act to participate in an interview with a virtual recruiter or to use our website for a search or application, please contact our Benefits Department at [email protected] or 804-523-8228. Please note that this contact information is strictly to be used for medical ADA accommodations and that no other inquiries will be answered.