Principal Engineer, AI Retrieval & Knowledge Platforms

LPL Financial; Fort Mill (SC); On-site; USD 115,000 - 192,000; Full time

Job summary

LPL Financial seeks a Principal Engineer, AI Retrieval & Knowledge Platform to design and build core AI knowledge infrastructure powering enterprise applications. You will work at the intersection of search, vector retrieval, LLMs, and real-time data systems to enable scalable, high-performance AI platforms used by product teams and agents.

The ideal candidate is a strong backend engineer with deep experience in building scalable systems and modern AI-powered retrieval architectures, with a

Qualifications

• 8+ years building large-scale backend, platform, or distributed systems.
• Hands-on experience building search platforms, retrieval systems, indexing pipelines, knowledge systems, or recommendation platforms.
• Strong knowledge of APIs, microservices, Kubernetes, containers, CI/CD, and distributed data processing; proficiency in Java, Python, or Go.

Responsibilities

• Design and build high-scale retrieval systems combining keyword search, semantic search, and vector-based retrieval.
• Develop RAG infrastructure including indexing, retrieval, ranking, and context assembly.
• Build and optimize search indices, vector stores, and hybrid retrieval systems for relevance, latency, and scale.
• Implement advanced ranking, relevance tuning, and personalization pipelines.
• Build streaming and batch pipelines for ingesting and transforming structured and unstructured data.
• Develop enrichment pipelines (chunking, embeddings, metadata extraction, classification).
• Design systems for real-time indexing, incremental updates, and freshness guarantees.
• Optimize data flow, storage, and compute efficiency at scale.
• Build low-latency APIs that expose retrieval and knowledge services to applications and AI agents.
• Develop reusable SDKs and service abstractions for easy integration into product teams.
• Enable context retrieval, query understanding, and response augmentation for downstream AI systems.
• Establish patterns for multi-tenant, scalable platform services.
• Integrate LLMs with retrieval systems for grounded, context-aware experiences.
• Build systems for context construction, prompt augmentation, and response orchestration.
• Implement evaluation frameworks for relevance, grounding quality, and user experience.
• Support use cases like AI assistants, copilots, search experiences, and automation agents.
• Design for low-latency (<100ms), high-throughput, and horizontal scalability.
• Implement caching, sharding, and distributed query execution strategies.
• Build observability pipelines (metrics, logs, tracing).
• Drive resiliency, fault tolerance, and system reliability at scale.
• Lead design and architecture of large-scale AI platform components.
• Mentor engineers on distributed systems, retrieval architectures, and AI engineering practices.

Skills

Distributed systems

Backend engineering

APIs / microservices

Java / Python / Go

Tools

Kubernetes

Containers (Docker)

CI/CD

Elasticsearch/OpenSearch

Job description

Where Ambition Meets Innovation

Build a career that matches all your initiative with an impressive dose of innovation. From cutting-edge resources and a collaborative environment to the freedom to make an impact and more, you'll find the ingredients you need at LPL Financial to shape your success while helping clients pursue their financial goals.

Job Overview

The Principal Engineer, AI Retrieval & Knowledge Platform will design and build core AI knowledge infrastructure that powers intelligent applications across the enterprise.

This role focuses on distributed systems, retrieval architectures, and AI platform services, enabling applications and agents to discover, retrieve, and reason over large-scale enterprise data. You will work at the intersection of search, vector retrieval, LLMs, and real-time data systems, building high-performance platforms used by AI and application teams.

The ideal candidate is a strong backend/platform engineer with deep experience in building scalable systems and modern AI-powered retrieval architectures.

Responsibilities

AI Retrieval & Search Platform

• Design and build high-scale retrieval systems combining keyword search, semantic search, and vector-based retrieval.


• Develop RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) infrastructure including indexing, retrieval, ranking, and context assembly.


• Build and optimize search indices, vector stores, and hybrid retrieval systems for relevance, latency, and scale.


• Implement advanced ranking, relevance tuning, and personalization pipelines.

Data Pipelines & Indexing Systems

• Build streaming and batch pipelines for ingesting and transforming structured and unstructured data.


• Develop enrichment pipelines (chunking, embeddings, metadata extraction, classification).


• Design systems for real-time indexing, incremental updates, and freshness guarantees.


• Optimize data flow, storage, and compute efficiency at scale.

AI Platform Services & APIs

• Build low-latency, highly available APIs that expose retrieval and knowledge services to applications and AI agents.


• Develop reusable SDKs and service abstractions for easy integration into product teams.


• Enable context retrieval, query understanding, and response augmentation for downstream AI systems.


• Establish patterns for multi-tenant, scalable platform services.

LLM & Intelligent Systems Integration

• Integrate LLMs with retrieval systems to enable grounded, context-aware experiences.


• Build systems for context construction, prompt augmentation, and response orchestration.


• Implement evaluation frameworks for relevance, grounding quality, and user experience.


• Support use cases like AI assistants, copilots, search experiences, and automation agents.

Performance, Scalability & Reliability

• Design for low-latency (<100ms retrieval), high-throughput, and horizontal scalability.


• Implement caching, sharding, and distributed query execution strategies.


• Build observability pipelines (metrics, logs, tracing) for system performance and usage insights.


• Drive resiliency, fault tolerance, and system reliability at scale.

Technical Leadership

• Lead design and architecture of large-scale AI platform components.


• Mentor engineers on distributed systems, retrieval architectures, and AI engineering practices.


• Drive adoption of modern engineering practices (CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, automated testing).


• Partner with AI, data, and product teams to shape next-gen intelligent platform capabilities.

What are we looking for?

We’re looking for strong collaborators who deliver exceptional client experiences and thrive in fast-paced, team-oriented environments. Our ideal candidates pursue greatness, act with integrity, and are driven to help our clients succeed. We value those who embrace creativity, continuous improvement, and contribute to a culture where we win together and create and share joy in our work.

Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years building large-scale backend, platform, or distributed systems.


• Hands-on experience building search platforms, retrieval systems, indexing pipelines, knowledge systems, or recommendation platforms.


• Strong knowledge of APIs, microservices, Kubernetes, containers, CI/CD, and distributed data processing.Experience programming skills in Java, Python, or Go.


• Experience building enterprise platforms in highly regulated environments such as:
  
  
  
  • Wealth Management
  
  
  • Brokerage / Broker-Dealer
  
  
  • Banking
  
  
  • Capital Markets
  
  
  • Insurance
  
  
  • FinTech
  
  
  • Healthcare
  
  
  
  

Core Competencies

• RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)


• Semantic Search


• Vector Databases


• Embeddings


• LLM Integration Patterns


• Knowledge Graphs


• Real-Time Data Platforms


• Kafka / Streaming Systems


• Observability and Monitoring


• Platform APIs


• Event-Driven Architecture


• Multi-Tenant Platform Design

Preferences

• Experience building AI platforms, copilots, or agent-based systems.


• Experience with cloud platforms and containerized environments (Kubernetes).


• Experience with Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, vector databases, or hybrid retrieval architectures.


• Familiarity with RAG systems, embeddings, and LLM integration patterns.


• Experience with real-time data systems (Kafka, streaming pipelines).


• Strong understanding of performance optimization in distributed systems.


• Financial Services, Wealth Management, Brokerage, or Advisor Technology experience.

Pay Range

$115,154.00 - $191,889.00

Actual base salary varies based on factors, including but not limited to, relevant skill, prior experience, education, base salary of internal peers, demonstrated performance, and geographic location. Additionally, LPL Total Rewards package is highly competitive, designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play – such as 401K matching, health benefits, employee stock options, paid time off, volunteer time off, and more. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that LPL has to offer!

Company Overview

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) is among the fastest growing wealth management firms in the U.S. As a leader in the financial advisor-mediated marketplace, LPL supports over 32,000 financial advisors and the wealth management practices of approximately 1,100 financial institutions, servicing and custodying approximately $2.3 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets on behalf of approximately 8 million Americans. The firm provides a wide range of advisor affiliation models, investment solutions, fintech tools and practice management services, ensuring that advisors and institutions have the flexibility to choose the business model, services, and technology resources they need to run thriving businesses. For further information about LPL, please visit www.lpl.com.

At LPL, independence means that advisors and institution leaders have the freedom they deserve to choose the business model, services, and technology resources that allow them to run a thriving business. They have the flexibility to do business their way. And they have the freedom to manage their client relationships, because they know their clients best. Simply put, we take care of our advisors and institutions, so they can take care of their clients.

For further information about LPL, please visit www.lpl.com.

Join the LPL team and help us make a difference by turning life's aspirations into financial realities. Principals only. EOE.

Information on Interviews

LPL will only communicate with a job applicant directly from an @lplfinancial.com email address and will never conduct an interview online or in a chatroom forum. During an interview, LPL will not request any form of payment from the applicant, or information regarding an applicant’s bank or credit card. Should you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact LPL’s Human Resources Solutions Center at [phone].