Principal Automation Engineer: AI Platform Builder

q2ebanking; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Q2 is seeking an experienced Principal Engineer who will shape the direction of critical systems and AI-enabled platforms across the company. You will own high‑leverage problems, define architectural direction, and drive initiatives that improve velocity and reliability for the entire organization.

You will partner with leaders across product, data, and engineering to invent, implement, and scale solutions that prevent issues before customers notice them, while mentoring others to raise overall

Qualifications

• A builder's track record at scale—tools and platforms created and adopted beyond your team.
• Systems you can hold in your head—understand cross‑team dynamics before changing them.
• AI as a build accelerant—fluency with LLMs, agents, and self‑hosted models.
• Force multiplication—able to name engineers you've helped become materially better.
• Strong, general engineering ability across domains, from front to back-end.

Responsibilities

• Decide what should exist by framing high‑leverage problems for engineers and executives.
• Build it end to end—from whiteboard to production, including architecture and deployment.
• Apply AI as a first‑class tool to extend capabilities and reduce manual bottlenecks.
• Re‑architect risky, manual pathways into secure, self‑service tooling with proper guardrails.
• Multiply the org by creating reusable platforms, patterns, and standards used by others.
• Make plans and outcomes visible to principals and executives to show real influence.

Skills

Shipped tools/platforms

Full-stack engineering

AI fluency

LLMs and agents

Self-hosted models

Job description

Q2 is seeking an experienced Principal Engineer who will shape the direction of critical systems and AI-enabled platforms across the company. You will own high‑leverage problems, define architectural direction, and drive initiatives that improve velocity and reliability for the entire organization.

You will partner with leaders across product, data, and engineering to invent, implement, and scale solutions that prevent issues before customers notice them, while mentoring others to raise overall