Principal Engineer

Principal Engineer

Principal Engineer Forward-Deployed Engineering Roles: That require deep platform understanding, ability to proactively identify future needs of clients and have good solution architecture knowledge. Principal Forward Deployment Engineer Job Summary Lead end-to-end deployment of scalable Generative AI and agentic systems in complex customer environments. Partner closely with engineering, product, and platform teams to transform customer workflows into robust, production-grade solutions with strong evaluation practices, safety guardrails, observability, and operational reliability. Key Responsibilities Lead customer-embedded deployments from discovery through pilot, stabilization, and full production rollout Design multi-agent workflows, enterprise-grade RAG pipelines, orchestration layers, and integration patterns Build evaluation harnesses, safety/ethical guardrails, monitoring dashboards, and failure-mode detection Optimize latency, throughput, reliability, and cost for LLM-powered applications at scale Diagnose and resolve issues across agents, APIs, data layers, and model-serving infrastructure Produce reusable architectural patterns, reference implementations, and platform feedback for product teams Work closely with security, governance, and platform engineering teams on responsible deployment practices Mentor Forward Deployment Engineers, guide design reviews, and set engineering quality bars Represent engineering in customer conversations, articulating tradeoffs, risks, and solution paths Skill Requirements Strong Python engineering background Demonstrated experience building and deploying LLM/GenAI solutions Cloud architecture and deployment experience (Azure / AWS / GCP) Excellent client-facing communication and problem-solving skills Other Requirements Experience with OpenAI / Anthropic / Azure OpenAI APIs Hands-on use of agent frameworks (AutoGen, CrewAI, LangGraph, etc.) Familiarity with vector databases (Pinecone, Chroma, FAISS, Weaviate) Prior Forward Deployment Engineering or applied AI deployment experience Knowledge of observability stacks, reliability engineering, and cost/perf tuning Experience Requirements Principal-level ownership of multiple customer deployments, driving solution design, integration, testing, evaluation, and stabilization. Leads design reviews, sets engineering and documentation standards, mentors teams, and ensures production-grade delivery across diverse customer environments. Maximum Salary (US): 180000 Minimum Salary (US): 150000

Why HCLTech?

At HCLTech, you'll supercharge your potential. You'll find your career. And you'll find your spark. All at a place that knows that helping its customers stay on top starts by putting its people first. HCLTech is a global technology company, home to more than 223,000 people across 60 countries, delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering, cloud and AI, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products. We work with clients across all major verticals, providing industry solutions for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Technology and Services, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, and Public Services. Consolidated revenues as of 12 months ending June 2026 totaled $14.8 billion.

Compensation and Benefits

A candidate's pay within the range will depend on their skills, experience, education, and other factors permitted by law. This role may also be eligible for performance-based bonuses subject to company policies. In addition, this role is eligible for the following benefits subject to company policies: medical, dental, vision, pharmacy, life, accidental death & dismemberment, and disability insurance; employee assistance program; 401(k) retirement plan; 10 days of paid time off per year (some positions are eligible for need-based leave with no designated number of leave days per year); and 10 paid holidays per year.