Principal Engineer, AI/ML Architecture - 11310

Coupa; Foster City (CA); Hybrid; USD 210,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Global Wellness Days

BirthdayTime‑Off

VolunteerTimeOff (VTO)

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Business Travel Protection

Referral Bonus Program

Job summary

Coupa seeks a Principal Engineer, AI/ML Architecture to define the technical direction for training, evaluating, and serving models across its AI platform. You will prototype and steer a growing ML/data engineering team, shaping architecture for enterprise spend management in collaboration with product and cloud ops teams.

You will guide ML engineers across the US and India, implement safe AI standards, and influence model deployment choices while hands‑on coding and prototyping in early phases.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years focused on ML/AI systems.
• Experience training or fine‑tuning large language models; shipped a fine‑tuned or domain‑adapted model to production.
• Deep knowledge of transformer architectures, training optimization (LoRA, QLoRA, PEFT, RLHF, DPO), and inference serving.
• Experience with distributed training on GPU clusters.
• Strong understanding of RAG architectures, vector search, embedding models, and knowledge graph integration.
• Hands‑on experience with cloud AI/ML services (model hosting, managed training, or equivalent).
• Experience designing and running custom evaluation suites for LLMs.
• Proficiency in Python, PyTorch, and ML infrastructure tooling.
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with enterprise B2B SaaS platforms preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define the architecture for model training, evaluation, and serving across Coupa's AI platform.
• Evaluate and select model approaches (open-weight, commercial, and hybrid) against enterprise accuracy and cost requirements.
• Design evaluation frameworks that measure model quality on Coupa's specific task categories.
• Drive technical partnership evaluations with AI infrastructure and model providers.
• Architect training data pipelines, including synthetic data generation and quality validation.
• Design retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) systems that extend our existing RAG infrastructure with structured knowledge retrieval.
• Establish technical standards for model safety, tenant data isolation, and responsible AI.
• Write code, review PRs, and prototype approaches, especially in the early phases.
• Mentor and guide ML and data engineers across US and India.
• Collaborate with product, existing AI platform, and cloud operations teams.

Skills

Software engineering

ML/AI systems

LLM fine-tuning

Transformer architectures

Distributed training on GPUs

RAG architectures

Vector search

Python

PyTorch

ML infrastructure tooling

Cloud AI/ML services

LLM evaluation suites

Advanced degree

Enterprise SaaS

Education

Advanced degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience

Tools

GPU clusters

Job description

Coupa makes margins multiply through its community-generated AI and industry-leading total spend management platform for businesses large and small. Coupa AI is informed by trillions of dollars of direct and indirect spend data across a global network of 10M+ buyers and suppliers. We empower you with the ability to predict, prescribe, and automate smarter, more profitable business decisions to improve operating margins.

Why join Coupa?

• Pioneering Technology: At Coupa, we're at the forefront of innovation, leveraging the latest technology to empower our customers with greater efficiency and visibility in their spend.
• Collaborative Culture: We value collaboration and teamwork, and our culture is driven by transparency, openness, and a shared commitment to excellence.
• Global Impact: Join a company where your work has a global, measurable impact on our clients, the business, and each other.

Learn more on Life at Coupa blog and hear from our employees about their experiences working at Coupa.

The Impact of a Principal Engineer, AI/ML Architecture at Coupa:

Coupa's AI platform powers production agents, conversational AI (Navi), customer-built agents (Agent Studio), and a suite of ML models for classification, fraud detection, and supplier intelligence. The Principal Engineer, AI/ML Architecture will define the technical direction for the next generation of these capabilities, designing how we train, evaluate, and serve models that are deeply tuned to enterprise spend management. Reporting to the Sr. Director, you will be hands‑on in architecture and prototyping while guiding a growing team of ML and data engineers.

What You'll Do:

• Define the architecture for model training, evaluation, and serving across Coupa's AI platform.
• Evaluate and select model approaches (open-weight, commercial, and hybrid) against enterprise accuracy and cost requirements.
• Design evaluation frameworks that measure model quality on Coupa's specific task categories.
• Drive technical partnership evaluations with AI infrastructure and model providers.
• Architect training data pipelines, including synthetic data generation and quality validation.
• Design retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) systems that extend our existing RAG infrastructure with structured knowledge retrieval.
• Establish technical standards for model safety, tenant data isolation, and responsible AI.
• Write code, review PRs, and prototype approaches, especially in the early phases.
• Mentor and guide ML and data engineers across US and India.
• Collaborate with product, existing AI platform, and cloud operations teams.

What You Will Bring to Coupa:

• 15+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years focused on ML/AI systems.
• Demonstrated experience training or fine‑tuning large language models. Must have shipped a fine‑tuned or domain‑adapted model to production.
• Deep knowledge of transformer architectures, training optimization (LoRA, QLoRA, PEFT, RLHF, DPO), and inference serving.
• Experience with distributed training on GPU clusters.
• Strong understanding of RAG architectures, vector search, embedding models, and knowledge graph integration.
• Hands‑on experience with cloud AI/ML services (model hosting, managed training, or equivalent).
• Experience designing and running custom evaluation suites for LLMs.
• Proficiency in Python, PyTorch, and ML infrastructure tooling.
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with enterprise B2B SaaS platforms preferred.

#LI-HYBRID#LI-AA2

The successful candidate’s starting salary will be determined based on permissible, non‑discriminatory factors such as skills, experience, and geographic location.

At Coupa, we are 100% committed to creating and nurturing an environment that supports your physical, mental, and community well‑being. We offer a comprehensive suite of benefits designed to help you and your family thrive:

Global Well‑Being Perks (For All Employees Globally)

• Global Wellness Days:Enjoy two designated, company‑wide paid wellness daysoff each year (typically the first Friday in March and the last Friday in September) so the entire global team can unplug, step away, and recharge together.
• BirthdayTime‑Off:Celebrate your day!Coupa provides a paid dayoffon yourbirthdayor another day of your choice within yourbirthdaymonth.
• VolunteerTimeOff(VTO):Giving back is in our DNA.We offer 40 hours of paid VTO annually to support the community initiatives and volunteer programs you are passionate about.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP):Access free, confidential, 24/7/365 counseling and resources for emotional support, work‑life solutions, financial advice, legal guidance, and support for new parents.
• Business Travel Protection:Travel with peace of mind.Zurich Travel Assist provides medical, safety, pre‑trip planning, and emergency support during any business travel.
• Referral Bonus Program:Share the Coupa experience!Receive generous monetary referral bonuses when you successfully refer talented friends or acquaintances who are hired into open roles.

Please note: In addition to these global well‑being perks, Coupa offers highly competitive, location‑specific benefits packages (which include comprehensive medical/dental insurance, retirement/pension plans, and life or accident protection) tailored to your primary work location. Your recruiter will walk you through the specific regional benefits package for this role during the interview process.

Coupa complies with relevant laws and regulations regarding equal opportunity and offers a welcoming and inclusive work environment. Decisions related to hiring, compensation, training, or evaluating performance are made fairly, and we provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified candidates and employees.

Please be advised that inquiries or resumes from recruiters will not be accepted.

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