Principal Engineer / AI Product Engineering Lead

LeoForce; Hampton (VA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

LeoForce in Hampton, VA seeks a Principal Engineer / AI Product Engineering Lead to shape AI-powered products from concept to customer adoption.

The role blends technical leadership with product intuition, customer empathy, and startup‑style execution. You will lead architecture, prototype quickly, engage with customers, and drive strategic decisions in a small, high‑impact team.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as Principal Engineer or equivalent leadership role.
• Extensive hands-on software development experience.
• Experience working directly with customers to gather requirements and validate solutions.
• Strong system design and architecture abilities.

Responsibilities

• Partner with customers to understand challenges and validate potential solutions.
• Lead customer discovery conversations and translate insights into product direction.
• Design, prototype, and build AI-powered products and capabilities.
• Drive architecture decisions and technical strategy.
• Lead initiatives from concept through production deployment.
• Operate in startup-style product development with MVPs and rapid iteration.
• Pivot quickly when customer feedback indicates a better direction.

Skills

Hands-on coding

System design

Technical leadership

Customer engagement

Communication

Job description

Job Description

Location: Hampton, VA, US

Date Posted: 09-14-2026

Experience

Director

Salary

$250,000 - $350,000 per year

Job Details

Principal Engineer / AI Product Engineering Lead

About the Opportunity

Our client is a rapidly growing AI security company focused on helping organizations securely adopt and deploy artificial intelligence technologies. As enterprises increasingly leverage AI models, large language models (LLMs), and AI agents, the need for secure, scalable, and innovative solutions has never been greater.

This is one of the company's most strategic and impactful hires. The organization is building a new AI‑focused initiative and is seeking a Principal Engineer who can act as both a technical leader and product innovator, helping shape the future of AI‑driven products from concept to customer adoption.

The Role

This is not a traditional Principal Engineer position.

We're looking for someone who operates like a technical co‑founder, founding engineer, or startup CTO. You'll be responsible for identifying customer problems, designing solutions, rapidly building prototypes, validating ideas, and leading initiatives through execution.

You will work directly with customers, product stakeholders, and engineering teams to uncover opportunities, test assumptions, and determine what products should be built. Success in this role requires a blend of technical expertise, product intuition, customer empathy, and entrepreneurial thinking.

The ideal candidate is highly hands‑on, thrives in ambiguity, and enjoys building new products from the ground up.

What You'll Do

Product Discovery & Customer Engagement

• Partner directly with customers to understand challenges, identify opportunities, and validate potential solutions.
• Lead customer discovery conversations and translate insights into product direction.
• Gather and interpret customer feedback, usage metrics, and product analytics to drive decision‑making.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor during customer engagements.

AI Product Innovation

• Design, prototype, and build AI‑powered products and capabilities.
• Leverage modern AI technologies to solve complex customer problems.
• Rapidly test hypotheses and iterate based on market feedback.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and determine how they can create business value.

Technical Leadership

• Serve as the senior technical leader within a small, highly focused engineering team.
• Drive architecture decisions and technical strategy.
• Establish engineering best practices while maintaining a builder mentality.
• Lead initiatives from concept through production deployment.

Startup‑Style Product Development

• Operate within small, high‑impact teams focused on solving specific customer problems.
• Build MVPs and prototypes quickly to validate assumptions.
• Be comfortable sharing ideas, mockups, and early‑stage solutions with customers before they're fully polished.
• Pivot quickly when customer feedback or product analytics indicate a better direction.

Cross‑Functional Ownership

• Combine elements of Product Management, Technical Leadership, and Customer Success.
• Align product vision with customer needs and company strategy.
• Influence roadmaps, priorities, and technical direction.

What We're Looking For

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, Distinguished Engineer, Founding Engineer, Technical Co-Founder, Startup CTO, or similar technical leadership role.
• Extensive hands‑on software development experience.
• Strong background building products from concept through production.
• Experience working directly with customers to gather requirements and validate solutions.
• Demonstrated success operating in ambiguous, fast‑moving environments.
• Strong system design, architecture, and technical decision‑making abilities.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building AI‑powered products, platforms, or developer tools.
• Familiarity with Generative AI, LLMs, AI agents, RAG architectures, MLOps, or machine learning systems.
• Startup or venture‑backed company experience.
• Experience serving as a technical founder or early‑stage engineering leader.
• Strong product mindset with a history of driving business impact through technical innovation.
• Background in cybersecurity, AI security, cloud platforms, or enterprise software.

Success in This Role Looks Like

• Identifying high‑value customer problems before they're obvious.
• Building and validating solutions rapidly.
• Developing strong customer relationships.
• Driving product strategy through technical leadership and customer feedback.
• Operating effectively with minimal direction and maximum ownership.
• Creating measurable business impact through innovation and execution.

Compensation

• Competitive base salary
• Performance bonus opportunities
• Equity participation
• Total target compensation typically ranges from $250,000 - $350,000+, depending on experience and structure.

Ideal Backgrounds

• Technical Co-Founder
• Founding Engineer
• Principal Engineer
• Distinguished Engineer
• Staff+ Engineer
• AI Product Engineer
• Startup CTO
• Engineering Leader who still enjoys building
• Product‑minded Architect
• Entrepreneurial Technical Leader

A bit about us:

Our client is a fast‑growing cybersecurity and artificial intelligence company focused on securing the next generation of AI technologies. As organizations rapidly adopt AI models, large language models (LLMs), and autonomous AI agents, new security challenges are emerging that traditional cybersecurity solutions were never designed to address.

The company has developed a purpose‑built platform that helps organizations identify, secure, test, and monitor AI systems throughout their lifecycle. Their technology protects against evolving threats such as prompt injection, model exploitation, AI supply chain risks, adversarial attacks, and unsafe agent behavior. Working with enterprises across highly regulated industries, they are helping organizations innovate with AI while maintaining trust, security, and compliance.

Why join us?

Why Join Us

Join a category‑defining company at the forefront of AI security, one of the fastest‑growing segments in cybersecurity.

Play a key role in shaping how organizations securely adopt AI, LLMs, and autonomous agents.

Work alongside industry‑leading experts in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and software engineering.

Help solve complex, high‑impact challenges that directly affect Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and government agencies.

Influence product strategy, technical vision, and organizational growth during a period of rapid expansion.

Be part of a well‑funded organization with strong market momentum and a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence