Principal Architect: AI-Driven Distributed Systems

Jobtailor; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Apollo seeks a proven technical leader to set direction for its most critical and ambiguous problems across teams and organizational boundaries in San Francisco. You will shape platform and product strategy and translate it into executable directions for multiple squads.

You will raise engineering standards, drive architectural decisions over multi-year horizons, and mentor senior engineers, while advancing AI-native practices and leveraging AI agents to accelerate delivery and innovation.

Qualifications

• Track record of setting technical direction that shaped a product or platform across an entire engineering organization.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and architecture.
• Ability to balance reliability, scalability, and cost in critical decisions.
• Strong judgment under ambiguity and ability to align multiple teams.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers.
• Current fluency with AI-assisted development.
• Clear perspective on the future of AI in engineering.
• Experience with React, Ruby on Rails, Python, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, and GCP.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for Apollo's most critical and ambiguous problems across teams and organizational boundaries
• Make architectural decisions shaping the product and platform over multiple years
• Set technical strategy for the AI- and agent-focused product rebuild and translate it into executable team direction
• Raise engineering standards, patterns, and decision quality across the organization
• Multiply the output of engineers and teams through design, review, and mentorship of senior engineers
• Partner with engineering and product leadership on the company's technology direction
• Use AI agents for complex design, investigation, and implementation work
• Define AI-native engineering practices and identify opportunities where AI reshapes product development

Skills

Distributed systems

AI-assisted development

Mentorship of seniors

Architectural decision making

Team alignment

Tools

Ruby on Rails

Elasticsearch

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

GCP

Job description

Apollo seeks a proven technical leader to set direction for its most critical and ambiguous problems across teams and organizational boundaries in San Francisco. You will shape platform and product strategy and translate it into executable directions for multiple squads.

You will raise engineering standards, drive architectural decisions over multi-year horizons, and mentor senior engineers, while advancing AI-native practices and leveraging AI agents to accelerate delivery and innovation.