Principal Software Engineer – Data & AI

Blue Origin; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 231,000 - 323,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid parental leave

401(k) with company match

Educational support program

Stock options

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Blue Origin LLC seeks a Principal Software Engineer to set the technical direction for its enterprise AI lakehouse, knowledge graph, retrieval systems, and NLP interfaces. You will own architecture across ingestion, knowledge graph, and semantic reasoning, while staying hands-on with production code and reference implementations.

You will mentor engineers, establish AI evaluation and observability practices, and drive reusable patterns and APIs across teams to improve data access and reliability

Qualifications

• 10+ years of production software experience with cross-team architecture ownership.
• Delivered production LLM, RAG, or agentic AI systems end to end.
• Proficient in full-stack Python, REST/GraphQL, and AWS with IaC and mature CI/CD.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and roadmap for the agentic AI platform.
• Write production code and prove out hard parts hands-on.
• Mentor engineers and raise the team's bar.
• Establish AI evaluation, observability, and provenance across surfaces.

Skills

Production software

LLM/RAG/Agentic AI

Full-stack Python

REST/GraphQL API

AWS + IaC (Terraform/CDK)

CI/CD

Architecture ownership

Mentoring engineers

Education

10+ years software development

Tools

Spark

Delta Lake

Neo4j/Neptune

Sinequa/OpenSearch

Job description

Application close date:Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!This role is part of Enterprise Technology (ET), where we’re developing the digital infrastructure needed to build the road to space, with an emphasis on digital capabilities required to advance Blue Origin’s mission. Enterprise Technology is the center of excellence for digital technology at Blue Origin, providing oversight and governance to align technology and business strategies.1. Role SummaryWe are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to s et the technical direction for how Blue Origin finds, reasons over, and acts on its enterprise knowledge. As a senior individual contributor, you'll own the architecture of our agentic AI platform - the lakehouse , knowledge graph, retrieval systems, and natural-language interfaces that help engineering, manufacturing, and mission teams find critical data in seconds, not days.You'll lead through technical credibility, not reporting authority - staying hands-on, writing production code, and proving out the hard parts yourself. Your impact is enterprise-wide . Your work reaches engineers designing engines, technicians building vehicles, quality teams investigating anomalies, and mission teams in flight, and is increasingly reused by other products through shared APIs and MCPs .2. ResponsibilitiesOwn the architecture and roadmap for Blue Origin's agentic AI, retrieval, and semantic reasoning platform.Stay hands-on across the full stack - write production code, build reference implementations, and prove out the hard parts yourself rather than delegating and reviewing.Design shared capabilities for reuse - exposed through documented APIs and MCPs - so other teams and products adopt them instead of rebuilding data and AI foundations.Set architecture direction across the platform portfolio (ingestion, knowledge graph, enterprise search, natural-language-to-SQL, multi-modal evidence), establishing reusable patterns and CI/CD, IaC , and release standards.Mentor senior / mid-level engineers and steward the standards, ADRs, and reference implementations that raise the whole team's bar.Establish AI evaluation and observability as engineering disciplines: regression suites, accuracy thresholds, and release gates, plus tracing and metrics (latency, cost, hallucination rate, relevance) on every production surface.Make AI output defensible - set the standard that answers trace to source-grounded evidence with provenance, access control, and confidence, and drive retrieval and generation quality through offline and online evaluation.3 . Must-Haves10+ years building production software, with 7+ years of cross-team architecture ownership or technical leadership.Delivered production LLM, RAG, or agentic AI systems end to end - ingestion, retrieval, reranking, prompt and context design, serving.Built and operated an enterprise data platform - a lakehouse or distributed architecture (Spark, Delta Lake, or equivalent), with a metadata-driven ingestion framework - including schema evolution, pipeline reliability, and workload cost.Full-stack depth: p roduction Python, REST/ GraphQL API design, and AWS with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or CDK) and mature CI/CD .Passion for Blue Origin’s mission and ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment .4 . PreferredLakehouse platforms ( Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog)Knowledge graphs (Neo4j, Neptune)Enterprise search ( Sinequa , OpenSearch)Natural-language-to-SQLAI observability , i nference cost and latency optimizationMulti-modal AI over documents, imagery, or telemetryGraduate degree or published open-source work in applied AIBase Pay Range for:WA applicants is $230,773.00 - $323,081.85Other site ranges may differCulture StatementDon’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.Export Control RegulationsApplicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.Background CheckRequired for all positions: Blue’s Standard Background CheckRequired for Certain Job Profiles: Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installationRequired for Certain Job Profiles: Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations including: Driver Qualification Files, Medical Certification (obtained before onboarding), Road Test, Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol Testing, vehicle inspection requirements, CDL requirements (if applicable) and hazardous materials transportation/shipping training.Required for certain Job Profiles: Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre-employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physicalBenefitsBenefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.Equal Employment OpportunityBlue Origin is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified and dedicated work force. Blue Origin hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Blue Origin will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the Washington Fair Chance Act, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance, and other applicable laws.Affirmative Action and Disability AccommodationApplicants wishing to receive information on Blue Origin’s Affirmative Action Plans, or applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in the application and/or interview process, please contact us at [e-mail] . Please note this is a publicly managed inbox. Please do not include any personal medical information in your request.