Principal Engineer - AI Platform

iHerb; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 204,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

iHerb is seeking a Principal Engineer to own the AI Platform and GenAI product experiences, spanning user‑facing AI layers and shared AI infrastructure. You will resolve architectural challenges, set engineering standards, and drive cross‑team collaboration with product, data science, and security.

The role requires deep hands‑on capability, 10+ years of software engineering experience, and demonstrated success delivering AI platform systems at scale in a distributed environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including senior/staff/principal IC level.
• Experience designing and operating AI platform systems and GenAI in production.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the AI platform architecture across retrieval, model lifecycle, evals, guardrails, and GenAI product features.
• Lead the shared AI platform layer used by all AI product features and internal teams.
• Hands-on contributor building production AI systems and validating architecture with working software.
• Set and enforce technical standards, conduct architecture reviews, and drive model quality reviews.
• Coordinate with the Personalization team to delineate GenAI product layer from existing ML personalization infra.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar through reviews and coaching.
• Represent engineering in cross-functional dialogue with product, security, and infrastructure.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

For A Better You At iHerb, we believe that living a healthy and balanced life should be easy and accessible to everyone. As a member of our team, you will empower this promise each day while making a truly global impact. We strive for innovation and continuously transform the online shopping experience for our customers.

Job Summary

The Principal Engineer operates at the intersection of deep technical execution and broad organizational influence. This role resolves the hardest architectural questions, sets the AI‑native engineering bar, and ensures iHerb's platform decisions compound over time rather than accumulate debt. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, the Principal Engineer collaborates closely with peer Principals, Engineering Managers, and VPs across the organization. The role owns the end‑to‑end technical strategy for iHerb’s AI Platform and GenAI product experiences, spanning the user‑facing AI layer (Wellness Agent, LLM‑driven recommendations, RAG over catalog and reviews, generative content) and the shared AI infrastructure (RAG pipelines, evals framework, MLOps, guardrails, observability).

Job Expectations

• Define and own the AI platform architecture: retrieval infrastructure, model lifecycle, evals framework, guardrails, and GenAI product feature design.
• Lead the build of the shared AI platform layer consumed by all AI product features and reusable by internal business teams.
• Hands‑on contributor: build production AI systems, write proofs of concept, and validate architecture through working software.
• Set and enforce technical standards for the AI Platform team; drive architecture reviews and model quality reviews.
• Coordinate with the Personalization team to define clear boundaries between the GenAI product layer and existing ML personalization infrastructure.
• Contribute AI platform‑specific patterns and lessons into iHerb’s shared AI‑driven SDLC golden path.
• Drive the hardest cross‑cutting technical decisions across multiple teams and shared platform services.
• Establish and evolve iHerb’s AI‑driven SDLC golden path: shared standards, Claude Code skills, guardrails, and automation patterns.
• Lead complex multi‑team technical efforts by coordinating architecture reviews, aligning peer Principals and EMs, and resolving competing approaches.
• Mentor and raise the technical bar across the engineering organization through code review, architecture review, and direct coaching of senior engineers.
• Represent engineering in cross‑functional conversations with product, data science, security, and infrastructure.
• Feed architectural decisions into the shared knowledge base so institutional knowledge compounds across the organization.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Required

• AI‑driven SDLC: demonstrated use of AI‑assisted development tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor to ship production systems. Ability to articulate workflow changes, quality tradeoffs, and guardrail strategies.
• Architecture at scale: experience designing and evolving large‑scale distributed systems across multiple teams and years, including APIs, data pipelines, event‑driven architectures, or high‑traffic platforms.
• Cross‑organisational technical leadership: track record of driving architectural standards, technical roadmaps, or platform initiatives that span multiple teams or organisations.
• Engineering quality mindset: deeply held opinions on code quality, observability, CI/CD, test automation, and maintaining velocity without accumulating hidden debt.
• Communication and influence: ability to write clear architecture documents, present to technical and non‑technical audiences, and build consensus without formal authority.
• Experience working in distributed teams across the US, China, and Latin America.
• Production experience designing and operating AI platform systems: RAG pipelines, vector search, embedding infrastructure, or retrieval‑augmented applications at scale.
• Hands‑on experience with LLM evaluation: building eval frameworks, defining quality metrics, and iterating on model and prompt quality using data.
• MLOps experience: model deployment, monitoring, lifecycle management, and cost governance in a production environment.
• Experience building and operating agentic systems using frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or equivalent.
• GenAI in production is required; prototype or research‑only experience is not sufficient at this level.
• High degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Excellent organisation skills and ability to multi‑task.

Equipment Knowledge

• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Experience with Google Business Suite (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms) – preferred

Experience Requirements

Generally requires a minimum of 10+ years of software engineering experience, with a significant portion at senior, staff, or principal IC level.

Education Requirements

Preferred: Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field, or a combination of education and equivalent work experience.

Judgment/Reasoning Ability

Ability to identify, troubleshoot, and resolve problems quickly using sound judgment, poise, and diplomacy. Determine when to escalate issues in a timely manner.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. The role typically requires talking, hearing, sitting, walking, climbing stairs, using hands and fingers, bending, stooping, and reaching. Reaching above shoulder heights, below the waist, or lifting as required to file documents or store materials. Lifting up to 25 pounds as needed. Proper lifting techniques are required. Reasonable accommodations can be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Work Environment

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Other factors include a hectic, fast‑paced environment with multi‑level distractions. Professional, yet casual work environment in an office or warehouse. Ability to work extended hours as required.

Compensation

Expected salary range: $204,000.00 – $260,000.00 USD. Base pay will be determined by relevant experience, education, geographic location, and internal equity.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

iHerb is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status. iHerb provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment.