Principal AI Engineer

McKesson; United States; Remote; USD 195,000 - 325,000; Full time

Job summary

McKesson is seeking a Principal AI Engineer to set the multi‑year architecture strategy for the company’s AI platform in a regulated healthcare environment. You will drive model strategy, RAG architectures, tool integration, and evaluation frameworks across teams.

You will also mentor senior engineers, establish security and architectural standards, and partner with Legal/Compliance to advance safe, scalable AI initiatives while guiding executive decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; typically 12+ years of software engineering experience, including 6+ years AI/ML, LLM, or NLP in production
• 3+ years operating as a senior individual‑contributor technical leader; Master’s/Doctorate can reduce years
• Experience with regulated healthcare data environments and AI governance frameworks

Responsibilities

• Own the multi‑year technical strategy and roadmap for the AI platform across all teams
• Serve as the final technical escalation point for architecture and reliability problems
• Set architecture, security, and evaluation standards adopted across teams
• Advise VP and executive leadership on AI platform strategy and risk
• Lead architecture and prototyping for high‑ambiguity, high‑risk AI initiatives
• Develop Lead and Senior AI Engineers through coaching and knowledge sharing
• Shape enterprise‑wide AI governance policy with Legal/Compliance/Privacy leadership
• Own evaluation and long‑term strategy for foundation model providers and AI infrastructure vendors
• Represent the company's AI engineering capability externally to industry and partners
• Influence AI platform direction and investment across the enterprise

Skills

Technical leadership

AI/ML strategy

LLM APIs

Python/Java

REST APIs

Cloud-native

MLOps

Stakeholder influencing

PHI handling

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Advanced degree (M.S./Ph.D.) preferred

Tools

OpenAI API

Anthropic API

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Azure/AWS/GCP

Vector/graph retrieval systems

Job description

McKesson is an impact-driven, Fortune 10 company that touches virtually every aspect of healthcare. We are known for delivering insights, products, and services that make quality care more accessible and affordable. Here, we focus on the health, happiness, and well-being of you and those we serve – we care.

What you do at McKesson matters. We foster a culture where you can grow, make an impact, and are empowered to bring new ideas. Together, we thrive as we shape the future of health for patients, our communities, and our people. If you want to be part of tomorrow’s health today, we want to hear from you.

The Principal AI Engineer provides the highest level of individual-contributor technical leadership for the company’s AI platform, operating one level above the Lead AI Engineer role. This person sets the multi-year architecture strategy for agentic and LLM-powered systems — spanning model strategy, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool/connector ecosystems, and evaluation/governance tooling — across every team that builds on the AI platform, not just one. In a highly regulated healthcare environment, the Principal AI Engineer resolves the hardest, most ambiguous technical problems facing the platform, is a primary technical voice with executive leadership on AI strategy and risk, and shapes how the entire engineering organization adopts AI safely and effectively.

Success is measured by the durability and adoption of the technical strategy this role sets across multiple teams, this role’s ability to unblock cross-organizational technical risk before it becomes a delivery or compliance problem, and its influence on AI investment decisions at the executive level.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise AI Strategy: Own the multi-year technical strategy and roadmap for the AI platform across all teams building on it, not a single product or team — model strategy, RAG/retrieval architecture, connector ecosystems, and evaluation frameworks.
• Technical Authority: Serve as the final technical escalation point for the hardest, most ambiguous architecture and reliability problems on the AI platform, spanning multiple teams and systems.
• Cross-Team Standards: Set architecture, security, and evaluation standards that multiple Lead AI Engineers and their teams adopt; audit and evolve those standards as the platform and threat landscape change.
• Executive Advisory: Serve as a primary technical voice to VP- and executive-level leadership on AI platform strategy, model risk, and investment trade-offs.
• Deep Technical Delivery: Personally lead architecture and prototyping for the organization’s highest-ambiguity, highest-risk AI initiatives — the problems no existing team or pattern already solves.
• Mentorship at Scale: Develop Lead and Senior AI Engineers into stronger technical leaders through design review, technical coaching, and structured knowledge-sharing across teams.
• Responsible AI & Governance: Shape enterprise-wide AI governance policy — model risk review, connector/tool approval frameworks, and PHI-handling standards — in partnership with Legal/Compliance/Privacy leadership.
• Vendor & Model Strategy at Scale: Own evaluation and long-term strategy for foundation model providers and AI infrastructure vendors across the company, not just a single team’s stack.
• External Technical Representation: Represent the company’s AI engineering capability externally — industry forums, partner/vendor technical relationships, and recruiting for senior technical talent.
• Organizational Impact: Influence AI platform direction and investment across the broader enterprise, extending beyond a single business unit.

Priority will be given to candidates who reside in the Columbus, OH metropolitan area.

We are unable to provide sponsorship for this role, presently or in the future.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; typically 12+ years of software engineering experience, including 6+ years focused on AI/ML, LLM, or NLP systems in production and 3+ years operating as a senior individual‑contributor technical leader. Fewer years required with a relevant Master’s or Doctorate.

Critical Skills

• One level of demonstrated technical leadership above a Lead AI Engineer — e.g., setting technical direction and standards across multiple teams, not just owning architecture for a single team or platform area.
• Proven track record setting technical strategy that multiple teams adopt, not just delivering within one team’s roadmap.
• Deep, hands‑on expertise building production LLM applications at scale: prompt engineering, RAG, agentic workflows, tool use, and evaluation harnesses — with the judgment to know which patterns will and won’t hold up over multiple years.
• Experience with commercial large language model APIs (e.g., Anthropic, OpenAI) and tool‑integration protocols such as Model Context Protocol (MCP), including evaluating emerging alternatives.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals: Python and/or Java, REST APIs, event‑driven architecture, microservices, and cloud‑native design (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP acceptable).
• Experience with vector/graph retrieval systems, embeddings, and knowledge‑base architectures at production scale across multiple products.
• Deep working knowledge of LLMOps/MLOps: usage attribution, cost/spend monitoring, abuse detection, and model evaluation pipelines, including designing these systems from scratch.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and align senior engineering and executive stakeholders without direct authority.
• Deep familiarity with regulated/healthcare data environments and AI governance frameworks (model risk review, connector approval tiers, PHI handling).

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, AI/ML, or a related technical field.
• Prior experience as a Principal, Staff, or Distinguished Engineer setting AI/ML technical strategy across multiple teams inside healthcare IT or another highly regulated industry.
• Track record of publications, patents, open‑source contributions, or industry speaking on applied AI/LLM systems.
• Experience shaping enterprise‑wide AI governance policy in partnership with Legal, Compliance, and Privacy leadership.

Additional Skills

• Deep awareness of the fast‑moving GenAI/agentic landscape and a demonstrated ability to separate durable technical bets from hype.
• Experience managing strategic relationships with AI infrastructure vendors and model providers at the enterprise level.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication for executive, board‑level, and external technical audiences.

We are proud to offer a competitive compensation package at McKesson as part of our Total Rewards. This is determined by several factors, including performance, experience and skills, equity, regular job market evaluations, and geographical markets. The pay range shown below is aligned with McKesson’s pay philosophy, and pay will always be compliant with any applicable regulations. In addition to base pay, other compensation, such as an annual bonus or long‑term incentive opportunities may be offered. For more information regarding benefits at McKesson, please click here.

Our Base Pay Range for this position

$195,000 - $325,000

McKesson is an Equal Opportunity Employer

McKesson provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, age, genetic information, or any other legally protected category. For additional information on McKesson’s full Equal Employment Opportunity policies, visit our Equal Employment Opportunity page.

McKesson is committed to being an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and offers opportunities to all job seekers including job seekers with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, please contact us by sending an email to (United States) [e-mail] or (Canada) [e-mail]. Resumes or CVs submitted to this email box will not be accepted.

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