Principal AI Engineer

Principal AI Engineer

We're looking for a Principal AI Engineer to help build the future of NextNet AI. This isn't a management role. You won't spend your days sitting in status meetings or managing people. This is a role for someone who loves building. You'll partner directly with our CTO to solve the hardest technical problems across our platform. We're looking for someone who can jump into unfamiliar systems, understand them quickly, and ship production-quality solutions with confidence. Some days you'll be debugging a frontend issue that turns into a backend API problem. Other days you'll be optimizing AI pipelines, designing scalable cloud infrastructure, improving distributed services, or shipping entirely new product capabilities. If you're the engineer people call when nobody else can figure something out, keep reading! Please note: This is a senior, hands-on engineering position. While you'll partner closely with technical leadership, this role does not include people management responsibilities.

40% Building production-ready features across frontend, backend, AI services, and cloud infrastructure.

20% Diagnosing complex production issues, identifying root causes, and improving platform reliability.

15% Designing scalable architecture for new AI products and platform enhancements.

15% Evaluating new AI models, engineering approaches, and emerging technologies.

10% Collaborating with engineering leadership to solve high-impact technical challenges.

You don't need experience with every technology below, but you should have deep expertise in several and be excited to learn the rest.

• Frontend: React, Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Python, Django, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis
• AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, RAG, vector databases, embeddings, AI orchestration
• Cloud & Infrastructure: AWS, ECS/Fargate, S3, Lambda, Terraform, Docker, Cloudflare, CI/CD

We're probably describing you if you...

• Have 10+ years building production software.
• Have built production AI applications that real customers use.
• Can comfortably move between frontend, backend, cloud infrastructure, and AI systems.
• Have strong Python experience.
• Have hands-on AWS experience.
• Enjoy debugging difficult technical problems.
• Prefer shipping software over talking about software.
• Take ownership without needing a lot of direction.
• Care deeply about writing maintainable, scalable systems.

• Experience with distributed systems.
• Experience with Terraform or Infrastructure as Code.
• Experience with LLMs, RAG, vector databases, or agentic workflows.
• Experience scaling SaaS products.
• Experience in SEO, digital marketing, or MarTech.

We're one of the best kinds of companies to work for. We've grown from a bootstrapped startup into one of the largest search marketing companies in the world, while maintaining the agility and culture that got us here. We've been recognized multiple times as one of Tampa Bay's Best Places to Work and have also been recognized by Inc. Magazine for our workplace culture! You'll work directly alongside experienced engineers solving meaningful technical problems with modern tools. Your work won't disappear into a giant organization. You'll see your ideas become products and your code reach customers quickly. If you enjoy autonomy, ownership, and building things that matter, you'll fit right in.

• Competitive salary ($180,000-$200,000 DOE)
• Hybrid work schedule (Monday, Wednesday, Friday in-office)
• Remote Tuesdays & Thursdays
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
• 401(k) with 3% company match
• Paid Vacation, Sick Time, Paid Holidays & Parental Leave
• $50/month Wellness Stipend
• Free Downtown Parking
• Free Breakfast Mondays & Lunch Fridays
• Dog-Friendly Office
• Casual Dress
• Team Celebrations & Company Events

This is a full-time W-2 position. We're open to remote candidates located in states where Next Net is currently registered to employ team members. Our preference is:

1. Candidates local to the St. Petersburg, FL area who can work a hybrid schedule (Monday, Wednesday, Friday in-office).
2. Remote candidates located in Florida or the East Coast.
3. Remote candidates located in one of our approved employment states.

Hybrid employees follow our standard in-office schedule of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with remote work on Tuesday and Thursday. Fully remote employees are not expected to report to our St. Petersburg office on a regular basis. At this time, we can only consider candidates residing in the following states who are authorized to work in the United States: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Ready to build something meaningful? We'd love to hear from you. Please submit your resume along with a short introduction telling us about the most technically challenging system you've built, scaled, or debugged. We'd also love to see your GitHub, personal projects, blog, or anything else that demonstrates your engineering work. Bonus points if you include the word 'banana' somewhere in your introduction. We like engineers who pay attention to details.