Principal Software Engineer – AI & Automation (Contract)

Russell Tobin is supporting a major enterprise organization in the travel and transportation industry in hiring a Principal Software Engineer - AI & Automation. This role involves leading the design and implementation of AI-driven and automation solutions across enterprise systems, serving as a technical leader and subject matter expert in AI-enabled software development.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, and delivery of AI-powered, full-stack applications and automation solutions
• Define and influence AI, automation, and low/no-code strategy across teams
• Partner with business stakeholders to identify and implement high-value automation opportunities
• Architect scalable solutions using custom APIs, cloud services, and automation platforms
• Build and support applications across the full lifecycle, from concept to deployment
• Ensure high-quality delivery through clean code, TDD, CI/CD, and code reviews
• Integrate AI/ML and LLM-based services into enterprise workflows
• Mentor engineers and promote best practices in modern software design and architecture
• Drive adoption of responsible AI, governance, and scalable automation frameworks
• Participate in on-call rotation for critical applications

Requirements:

• 7+ years of experience in software engineering or related field
• Strong experience in full-stack development using object-oriented languages (e.g., C#, Java)
• Proven expertise building scalable, distributed systems in cloud environments
• Hands-on experience implementing AI/ML or LLM-based solutions in production
• Experience with cloud AI services (e.g., Azure AI, Cognitive Services, or similar)
• Experience with low/no-code platforms (preferably Microsoft Power Platform - Power Apps, Power Automate)
• Strong understanding of design patterns, SOLID principles, and modern engineering practices
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction
• Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience with Microsoft stack (.NET, .NET Core, Azure, SQL Server)
• Frontend experience with modern Angular (v10+)
• Experience with containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift)
• Familiarity with DevOps and CI/CD tools (Azure DevOps preferred)
• Experience with AI system design, evaluation, and monitoring in production
• Background in Agile/Lean development environments
• Experience leading technical initiatives or projects
• Exposure to Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices