Principal AI Engineer, Agentic Systems

Vuori; Carlsbad (CA); Hybrid; USD 198,000 - 264,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Savings and Retirement Plan

Employee Assistance Program

Generous Vuori Discount & Industry Per

Paid Time Off

Wellness & Fitness benefits

Job summary

Vuori is seeking a Principal AI Engineer specializing in Agentic Systems to own the design, build, and scaling of AI-powered applications and autonomous workflows. You will partner with business and technology leaders to identify high-value opportunities, deliver production-ready AI solutions, and drive adoption across Vuori.

The role requires deep technical expertise, systems thinking, and cross-functional collaboration to set Vuori’s AI platform strategy and establish reusable services and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related technical field or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years in software engineering, including 2+ years building/operating production AI systems.
• Experience with agentic systems, planning, reasoning, memory, tool-calling.
• Experience designing AI evaluation frameworks, testing methodologies and production monitoring.
• Strong Python skills; API/backend services and cloud-native apps.
• Experience with modern LLM platforms and orchestration frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Define evolution of Vuori's AI platform and standards.
• Elevate engineers' capabilities through reviews and tooling adoption.
• Make build-versus-buy decisions shaping the AI platform.
• Clarify problems early and determine if workflows should be agentic.
• Establish AI development governance, security, guardrails and reliability.
• Design, build and deploy AI-powered applications and agentic workflows.
• Develop systems using planning, reasoning, memory and tool usage.
• Integrate LLMs with data sources, APIs, and business systems.
• Prototype new AI capabilities and translate into production.

Skills

Python

LLM platforms

APIs

Cloud-native

Problem-solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/AI

Tools

Azure/AWS/GCP

LLM orchestration

Vector databases

Job description

Vuori is re-defining what athletic apparel looks like: built to move and sweat in but designed with a casual aesthetic to transition into everyday life. We draw inspiration from an active coastal California lifestyle; an integration of fitness, creative expression and life. Our high energy fast paced retail environment is reflected in the clothes we make. We aim to inspire others to take on all aspects of their lives with clarity, enthusiasm and purpose…while having a lot of fun along the way. We are proud to be an outlet for opportunity and for personal growth and success.

Vuori is re-defining what athletic apparel looks like: built to move and sweat in but designed with a casual aesthetic to transition into everyday life. We draw inspiration from an active coastal California lifestyle; an integration of fitness, creative expression and life. Our high energy fast paced retail environment is reflected in the clothes we make. We aim to inspire others to take on all aspects of their lives with clarity, enthusiasm and purpose…while having a lot of fun along the way. We are proud to be an outlet for opportunity and for personal growth and success.

Job Description

As a Principal AI Engineer specializing in Agentic Systems, you will own designing, building and scaling AI-powered applications, agentic systems and intelligent tooling that enhance how Vuori operates. Partnering closely with business and technology leaders, you will identify high-value opportunities, develop production-ready AI solutions, and drive the adoption of capabilities that improve efficiency, augment decision-making and streamline complex business processes.

This role requires a blend of technical expertise, systems thinking and cross-functional collaboration. You will set Vuori’s AI platform strategy, develop reusable AI services, orchestration patterns and engineering standards, while building autonomous and human-in-the-loop solutions that empower teams across the organization. From AI assistants and workflow orchestration to multi-agent systems and custom AI applications, you will be at the forefront of defining how AI creates value at Vuori. You will combine deep technical expertise with business acumen to deliver solutions that create measurable impact for employees, customers and business operations.

What you\'ll get to do:

Set direction and raise the bar

• Define the evolution of Vuori\'s AI platform and technical standards as the AI ecosystem continues to mature.
• Raise the technical capability of engineers across Vuori through review, pairing, and tooling others adopt because it is good rather than because it is mandated.
• Make the build-versus-buy calls that shape the AI platform for years, and defend them.
• Bring clarity to problems before they are well defined, including saying clearly when a workflow should not be agentic at all.
• Establish engineering best practices for AI development, testing, evaluation, monitoring, observability and reliability.
• Implement governance, security and guardrails to ensure responsible and trustworthy AI solutions.

Build and ship

• Design, build and deploy AI-powered applications, intelligent agents and agentic workflows that solve high-impact business challenges.
• Develop systems that leverage planning, reasoning, memory and tool usage to automate and augment complex business processes.
• Integrate LLMs, enterprise data sources, APIs and business systems to deliver end-to-end AI experiences.
• Build and maintain scalable agent orchestration, RAG and knowledge retrieval architectures.
• Prototype emerging AI capabilities and rapidly translate concepts into production-ready solutions.

Partner and measure

• Partner with business and technology leaders across the organization to identify opportunities where AI can drive measurable business value.
• Monitor solution performance, measure business impact, and continuously improve outcomes through data and feedback.

Qualifications

Who you are:

• Bachelor\'s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science or a related technical field, or equivalent years of experience preferred.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years building and operating production AI systems.
• Demonstrated experience building and operating agentic systems in production environments - planning, reasoning, memory and tool-calling.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing AI evaluation frameworks, testing methodologies and production monitoring to validate solution accuracy, reliability, safety and business performance in real-world operational environments.
• Strong proficiency in Python, and experience building APIs, backend services and cloud-native applications.
• Deep experience with modern LLM platforms and orchestration frameworks, and the judgment to choose between them rather than fluency in any one.
• Experience integrating AI systems with enterprise APIs, databases, SaaS platforms and business systems.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with RAG architectures, vector databases, embeddings and enterprise knowledge retrieval systems.
• Experience with low-code and pro-code enterprise AI platforms such as Azure AI Foundry, Google Gemini Enterprise, Microsoft Agent 365 or Copilot Studio.
• Experience working with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS or Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience with AI observability, governance, security and compliance frameworks.
• Familiarity with MLOps, model lifecycle management and AI deployment pipelines.
• Experience in retail, direct-to-consumer, ecommerce or a similar consumer operating environment.
• Demonstrated passion for emerging AI technologies and applied innovation.

Additional Information

Our investment in you:

At Vuori, we’ re proud to offer the following to our employees:

• Health Insurance
• Savings and Retirement Plan
• Employee Assistance Program
• Generous Vuori Discount & Industry Perks
• Paid Time Off
• Wellness & Fitness benefits

The salary range for this role is $197,500 per year - $264,390 per year. This role is bonus eligible.

Vuori is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.