Principal Software Engineer - AI Discovery & Recommendations

Harnham; Oakland (CA); Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Harnham in Oakland, CA, is seeking a Principal Software Engineer focused on AI discovery and recommendations. You will own the architecture for scalable, AI-driven search, ranking, and personalization, and directly influence long-term AI strategy.

You will lead hands-on development, collaborate with Product and Data Science, mentor engineers, and ensure production-grade systems across a global user base, with a hybrid schedule in-office Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

Qualifications

• Extensive software engineering leadership at the Staff, Principal, or equivalent level.
• Proven experience building recommendation systems, ranking algorithms, search platforms, or personalized discovery products.
• Production experience developing and deploying LLM-powered applications or applied AI systems.
• Strong knowledge of semantic search, information retrieval, embeddings, and vector databases.

Responsibilities

• Define the long-term architecture for AI-powered search, discovery, and personalization.
• Design recommendation systems that deliver relevant educational content based on user interests and intent.
• Mentor engineers and influence technical direction across multiple product areas.
• Partner with Product, Data Science, and Engineering to prototype, validate, and launch new AI capabilities.

Skills

Staff/Principal level

Recommendation systems

LLM deployment

Semantic search

Python backend

Distributed systems

Tools

AWS

React/Next.js

Job description

Principal Software Engineer - AI Discovery & Recommendations

Work Authorization Requirement

Applicants must possess permanent, unrestricted authorization to work in the United States. The employer does not provide, transfer, assume, or support employment sponsorship now or in the future. Candidates requiring H-1B, F-1, OPT, CPT, STEM OPT, TN, E-3, O-1, or any other form of employment-based visa support are not eligible for consideration.

Overview

Harnham is partnering with a leading healthcare technology organization to hire a Principal Software Engineer - AI Discovery & Recommendations.

The organization operates a global education platform that helps physicians access specialized clinical knowledge, emerging research, and medical innovation. Continued investment in artificial intelligence is creating a new generation of personalized search and content discovery experiences.

The Principal Software Engineer - AI Discovery & Recommendations will lead the architecture and development of intelligent retrieval, semantic search, ranking, recommendation, and LLM-powered capabilities.

Position Summary

The successful candidate will define the technical direction of an AI-powered discovery platform while remaining actively involved in architecture, experimentation, prototyping, and production development.

Direct partnership with executive technology leadership will provide meaningful influence over long-term AI strategy, platform architecture, and product delivery.

The position is designed for a hands-on Principal or Staff-level engineer with demonstrated experience building intelligent search, recommendation, ranking, or personalized discovery systems at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the long-term architecture for AI-powered search, discovery, and personalization.
• Design recommendation systems that deliver relevant educational content based on user interests and intent.
• Build LLM-powered discovery experiences capable of interpreting complex and specialized queries.
• Develop semantic search, information retrieval, ranking, and recommendation pipelines.
• Apply embeddings, vector search, knowledge graphs, and modern retrieval architectures.
• Design production-grade Retrieval-Augmented Generation systems combining specialized knowledge with generative AI.
• Build scalable inference and retrieval services capable of supporting a global user base.
• Establish evaluation frameworks for relevance, accuracy, reliability, latency, and model performance.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies, orchestration frameworks, and infrastructure.
• Partner with Product, Data Science, and Engineering to prototype, validate, and launch new AI capabilities.
• Establish reusable architectural standards across distributed engineering teams.
• Mentor engineers and influence technical direction across multiple product areas.

Required Qualifications

• Extensive software engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership at the Staff, Principal, or equivalent level.
• Proven experience building recommendation systems, ranking algorithms, search platforms, or personalized discovery products.
• Production experience developing and deploying LLM-powered applications or applied AI systems.
• Strong knowledge of semantic search, information retrieval, embeddings, and vector databases.
• Experience designing distributed systems operating at meaningful scale.
• Advanced Python development and modern backend engineering experience.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex systems from architectural design through production deployment.
• Ability to evaluate technical tradeoffs and communicate recommendations to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Track record of influencing engineering direction without relying on formal management authority.
• Willingness to remain actively involved in coding, experimentation, prototyping, and system design.
• Ability to work from the Oakland office three days per week.
• Permanent authorization to work in the United States without current or future employment sponsorship.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of search relevance, feed ranking, marketplace ranking, or personalized content discovery.
• Experience working with knowledge graphs and specialized retrieval systems.
• Familiarity with AI agents, orchestration frameworks, and model evaluation methodologies.
• Experience with AWS and cloud-native architecture.
• Familiarity with React, Next.js, or modern frontend technologies.
• Background supporting content, media, video, marketplace, education, or enterprise search platforms.
• Experience working within a growth-stage or mid-stage technology organization.

Work Location

Oakland, California

The position follows a hybrid schedule requiring in-office attendance every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Compensation

The anticipated base salary range is $250,000 to $350,000 per year, with flexibility for exceptionally qualified candidates. Final compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, technical expertise, and expected organizational impact.

Additional compensation may include bonus and equity, subject to the final compensation package.

Employment Eligibility Notice

No current or future employment sponsorship is available for this position. Applicants must already possess permanent, unrestricted authorization to work in the United States. Candidates who require or anticipate requiring visa sponsorship cannot be considered.