Principal Engineer

Principal Forward Deployed Engineer, HLS

Seattle

The Principal Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) is a technical leader responsible for shaping how Talkdesk’s most strategic global enterprise customers deploy and scale our Agentic AI platform. Sitting at the intersection of enterprise architecture, hands‑on software engineering, and strategic client leadership, you will own the end‑to‑end technical strategy for tier‑one accounts, design reusable multi‑agent architectures, and elevate engineering standards across the entire FDE organization. This role is for an engineering lead who builds the foundational blueprints, internal tools, and architectural standards that allow Talkdesk to scale its AI platform globally. This person will excel in high‑stakes environments, serving as a trusted advisor on projects accounts and has the capability to manage and provide solution guidance to executives along with driving high‑impact technical execution from initial design to production.

Responsibilities

• Architecture and systems strategy: Act as the lead Technical Architect for Talkdesk’s largest, most complex global deployments. Design robust, scalable, and secure multi‑agent systems, establishing architectural blueprints for enterprise integration across heterogeneous technology stacks. Ensure designs meet stringent enterprise standards for security and scale.
• Engineering and Technical Delivery: Write production‑grade, highly optimized code (Python, TypeScript, Node.js) to build custom AI agents, orchestration layers, and complex integration patterns. Author foundational SDKs, reusable agent templates, and deployment automation tools that multiply the velocity and quality of the entire FDE team. Resolve the most critical, high‑risk technical bottlenecks across tier‑one deployments.
• Solution design and Technical Consulting: Serve as the primary technical authority for key accounts, building deep consensus with customer stakeholders including executive and principal architects. De‑risk high‑stakes implementations by anticipating systemic integration challenges, performance bottlenecks, and security vulnerabilities before they impact production.
• Product, Core Engineering & Strategy Alignment: Partner directly with Talkdesk Core Product and AI Engineering teams to translate customer requirements into core platform capabilities. Codify frontline deployment learnings into standard solution patterns, directly influencing Talkdesk’s long‑term Agentic AI roadmap.
• Maintain high engineering standards and mentor: Mentor and raise the technical bar for FDEs through code reviews, architecture reviews, and design documentation standardizations. Define and champion engineering best practices for prompt engineering, agent evaluation, agentic workflow orchestration, and enterprise software delivery.

Who You Are

You are a visionary builder and technical leader who thrives in ambiguous, fast‑paced enterprise environments. You bring deep expertise in distributed systems and modern AI architectures, paired with the executive presence needed to guide Fortune 500 technology executives through complex digital transformations.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, systems architecture, or technical solutions engineering, with 3+ years focused on cloud services architecting and deploying complex AI/ML/Agentic solutions in production.
• Proven Track Record at Enterprise Scale: Experience leading client‑side architecture and integration for large IT environments (e.g., global ERPs, legacy contact center infrastructure, enterprise CRMs).
• Deep Mastery of Agentic AI Systems: Proven experience designing and orchestrating multi‑agent systems, complex RAG pipelines, planning algorithms, long/short‑term memory structures, and tool‑use/function‑calling frameworks.
• Complex Systems Integration: Expert knowledge of enterprise integration patterns (REST/GraphQL APIs, webhooks, gRPC, event‑driven architectures, Kafka/RabbitMQ) and enterprise data flows.
• Executive Presence & Influence: Demonstrated ability to build trust, navigate complex organizational dynamics, and drive technical consensus with C‑suite executives and VP‑level engineering leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise with Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture, advanced vector database management (Pinecone, Qdrant, Milvus, pgvector), and LLM evaluation frameworks.
• Healthcare: Epic, Cerner, Aetna/Payer systems.
• Retail/E‑commerce: Salesforce, SAP, complex inventory management platforms.
• Prior experience in the Contact Center (CCaaS), Unified Communications (UCaaS), or Customer Experience (CX) industry.
• Contributions to open‑source AI frameworks, developer tools, or public technical thought leadership.

Pay Range (Base Pay): $230,000 - $275,000

Other Types of Pay: Based on level and role the employee may be eligible for long‑term incentives in the form of equity and short‑term incentives of either bonus or commission.

Health Insurance: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life and Disability Insurance, Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Paid Time Off: Talkdesk offers an uncapped paid time off program for exempt employees and an accrual‑based program for non‑exempt employees; both are subject to manager approval and consistent with business needs.

Paid Holidays: Talkdesk offers 14 paid holidays each year.

Paid Sick Leave: Exempt employees have uncapped paid time off and non‑exempt sick leave follows accrual standards; both are subject to manager approval and consistent with business needs.

Benefits and perks listed above may vary based on the nature of your employment with Talkdesk.

All questions or concerns about this posting should be directed to the Talent team View email address on click.appcast.io .

Talkdesk is pioneering a new era of Customer Experience Automation (CXA), redefining how the world’s most admired brands interact with their customers through AI. Our global team of courageous innovators is customer‑obsessed, building AI‑first solutions that put empathy, trust, and transparency at the center of every interaction. We foster an inclusive culture where diverse perspectives drive our success and every voice belongs. Combining the stability of a global leader with the agility of a disruptor, Talkdeskers are empowered with the autonomy to drive meaningful impact, while giving back to the communities and environment around us.

Talkdesk has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and in the G2 Overall Grid® Reports for AI Agents and Contact Center. With seven consecutive years on the Forbes Cloud 100 and multiple AI Breakthrough awards, there has never been a more exciting time to join us as we shape the future of customer experience automation!

Work Environment and Physical Requirements:

Primarily office‑environment work, extended periods of sitting or standing, computer‑based work. Limited lifting, and equipment usage limited to computer‑related equipment (keyboards, mouse, etc.)

The Talkdesk story hinges on empathy and acceptance. It is the shared goal among all Talkdeskers to empower a new kind of customer hero through our innovative software solution, and we firmly believe that the best path to success for our mission is inclusivity, diversity, and genuine acceptance. To that end, we will hire, promote, work along, cheer for, bond with, and warmly welcome into the Talkdesk family all persons without regard to ethnic and racial identity, indigenous heritage, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status.