Senior Software Engineer - AI Enablement

Garmin Ltd.; Olathe (KS); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Garmin Ltd. in the United States, Kansas City area, seeks a Senior Software Engineer to lead AI Enablement efforts. You will drive Python-based development, build AI plugins, and create guidance that helps Garmin engineers leverage AI effectively.

You’ll collaborate with cross‑functional teams to share best practices and accelerate AI integration across tools and knowledge sources. The role emphasizes research, prototyping, and training demonstrations to empower engineers while managing risks

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics or related field and 5+ years experience or equivalent.
• GPA of 3.0+ as a general rule.
• Proficiency in Python and working knowledge of C/C++.
• Experience designing, building, and maintaining software systems.
• Experience with design reviews, code reviews, CI, regression testing, and static analysis.
• Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication.
• Ability to collaborate and contribute to a positive team environment.
• Ability to decompose requirements into well-defined tasks with quality balance.
• Ability to offer peer technical assessments on expertise and new tech.
• Ability to prioritize, solve complex problems, and lead in change.
• Experience evaluating AI-powered systems for correctness and performance.
• Experience connecting AI systems to tools/APIs and troubleshooting behavior.
• Understanding of prompts, context, and tools in LLM-based systems.

Responsibilities

• Leads as an individual contributor for software development in Python.
• Builds tools and systems to harness AI models for Garmin engineers.
• Develops AI plugins, skills, and agents linking Garmin tools and knowledge bases.
• Creates repeatable patterns for configuring AI in daily engineering work.
• Builds and maintains systems for sharing AI plugins across Garmin.
• Develops benchmarks to differentiate AI models by cost vs performance.
• Stewards AI platform features, assessing risks and usage guidance.
• Researches emerging AI techniques and promising prototypes.
• Creates training, demos, and practical guidance for engineers using AI.
• Partners with engineering teams to understand needs and share effective solutions.

Skills

Python

C/C++

Software design

CI/CD

Testing

Collaboration

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in CS/Engineering/Math/Physics

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Debugging tools

Job description

Overview

We are seeking a full‑time Senior Software Engineer on Garmin's AI Enablement team at our U.S. headquarters in the Greater Kansas City area. In this role, you will help shape how engineers across Garmin put AI to work. Our mission is to turn AI’s rapid evolution into real capabilities that improve everyday engineering across the company. You’ll build the systems, integrations, and shared guidance that help associates work more effectively with AI. Come be a part of advancing the future of engineering at Garmin.

Essential Functions

• Serves in a leadership capacity as an individual contributor for carrying out software development in Python
• Builds tools, extensions, and systems that help engineers effectively harness AI models and platforms
• Develops AI plugins, skills, and agents that connect AI with Garmin’s engineering tools and knowledge bases
• Creates repeatable patterns for configuring and applying AI in everyday engineering
• Builds and maintains systems for sharing and updating AI plugins across Garmin
• Develops benchmarks to differentiate AI models based on cost versus performance
• Stewards the influx of AI coding platform features, assessing risks and guiding how features are enabled, configured, and used
• Researches emerging AI techniques and prototypes promising ideas
• Creates and curates training, demos, and practical guidance that help engineers use AI effectively
• Partners with engineering teams to understand their needs, improve solutions, and share what works

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics or related field AND a minimum of 5 years relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Excellent academics (cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 3.0 as a general rule)
• Proficiency in Python and a working knowledge of C/C++
• Experience designing, building, and maintaining software systems
• Experience with software development quality methodologies such as design review, code reviews, continuous integration, regression testing and static code analysis
• Demonstrated strong and effective verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively and contribute to a positive team environment
• Ability to decompose functional requirements into well-defined tasks while balancing quality, quantity, and complexity in work output
• Demonstrated capability to offer peer technical assessments in areas of expertise, new technologies and software designs
• Ability to prioritize work, solve complex problems, and lead in a changing environment
• Experience evaluating AI-powered systems against defined criteria for correctness, reliability, or task performance
• Experience connecting AI systems to tools, APIs, or internal knowledge sources and troubleshooting their behavior
• Firm grasp of how LLM-based systems use prompts, context, and tools, including their limitations and common failure modes

Desired Qualifications

• Experience integrating AI APIs into production applications or engineering tools
• Experience and/or working knowledge of the SDLC of embedded software development
• Experience designing context and prompts that shape AI systems to perform effectively within token and context limits
• Familiarity with retrieval techniques such as embeddings, document indexing, semantic search, RAG, or similar approaches
• Experience building AI agents that use tools and carry out multi-step workflows
• Experience building AI workflows with persistent memory and event-driven automation such as hooks that manage context, run validations, or trigger follow-up tasks
• A disciplined approach to testing AI-generated outputs and identifying errors or limitations
• Experience building evaluation frameworks that track AI quality and detect changes in behavior over time
• Experience creating shared developer tools, plugins, or technical training

Garmin International is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran’s status, age or disability.

This position is eligible for Garmin's benefit program. Details can be found here: Garmin Benefits