Principal AI-Native Software Engineer

AI-Native Software Engineer (Principal Engineer)

This position requires office presence of a minimum of five days per week and is only located in the location(s) posted. No relocation is offered.

We're looking for an AI-Native Software Engineer (Principal Engineer) who blends strong fullstack Python engineering with hands-on experience building intelligent systems powered by LLMs, agent orchestration, and AI-augmented development workflows.

This is not a traditional software engineering role. We want someone who has fully integrated AI into how they design, code, test, debug, and deliver solutions — and who can work side-by-side with business partners to turn ideas into production-ready applications with speed and precision.

In this role, you'll help shape requirements in real time, build scalable AI-enabled systems, and create seamless integrations across backend services, agent frameworks, data sources, and user-facing applications.

What You'll Do

• Partner directly with business stakeholders to understand needs, refine ideas, and translate goals into working software solutions.
• Operate in a collaborative "2-in-a-box" model, co-owning outcomes from ideation through delivery.
• Build and integrate AI-powered applications using Python and frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django.
• Design and orchestrate intelligent workflows using LLMs, LangGraph, MCP, and multi-agent systems.
• Develop and optimize prompts, context strategies, session memory, retrieval pipelines, and vector-based search to improve agent performance.
• Use AI coding assistants and agentic development tools as a core part of your workflow for prototyping, refactoring, testing, documentation, and code review.
• Integrate backend services, APIs, databases, vector stores, third-party platforms, and machine learning systems into robust end-to-end solutions.
• Implement testing, monitoring, evaluation, logging, and CI/CD practices to improve reliability and system performance.
• Apply best practices in security, privacy, scalability, and operational resilience across AI and backend systems.

What You'll Bring

• A strong ability to work directly with business partners and turn ambiguous ideas into clear, deliverable engineering solutions.
• Clear communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Deep, practical use of AI tools in software development, with examples of how they've meaningfully improved your speed, quality, and approach.
• Experience building AI agents, conversational systems, RAG pipelines, or multi-agent workflows in real-world environments.
• Strong problem-solving skills, technical curiosity, and a builder mindset.
• A passion for exploring emerging AI tools and applying them in ways that create real business value.

What You'll Need

• Strong experience in fullstack Python development, including backend frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django.
• Experience designing and integrating REST APIs, backend services, and database solutions across SQL and/or NoSQL environments.
• Hands-on expertise with LLMs, prompt engineering, context engineering, session management, retrieval strategies, and vector search.
• Experience with LangGraph, MCP, or similar agent orchestration frameworks.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, and production deployment practices.
• A strong foundation in secure, scalable, and maintainable software design.

If you've already embraced AI as a core part of how you build software — and you're excited to partner closely with the business to deliver high-impact solutions quickly — we'd love to hear from you.

Our Principal Software Engineer earns between $174,100.00 - $279,800.00 USD Annual. Not to mention all the other amazing rewards that working at AT&T offers. Individual starting salary within this range may depend on geography, experience, expertise, and education/training.

Joining our team comes with amazing perks and benefits:

• Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
• 401(k) plan
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Paid Time Off and Holidays (based on date of hire, at least 23 days of vacation each year and 9 company-designated holidays)
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Caregiver Leave
• Additional sick leave beyond what state and local law require may be available but is unprotected
• Adoption Reimbursement
• Disability Benefits (short term and long term)
• Life and Accidental Death Insurance
• Supplemental benefit programs: critical illness/accident hospital indemnity/group legal
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Extensive employee wellness programs
• Employee discounts up to 50% off on eligible AT&T mobility plans and accessories,
• AT&T internet (and fiber where available) and AT&T phone.

Ready to join our team? Apply today.

Weekly Hours: 40

Time Type: Regular

Location: Palo Alto, California, USA: TX: Dallas / One AT&T Plaza (208 S Akard - Whitacre Tower) - Adm: 208 S Akard St

Salary Range: $174,100.00 - $279,800.00

It is the policy of AT&T to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, AT&T will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. AT&T is a fair chance employer and does not initiate a background check until an offer is made.