Senior Principal Software Engineer

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Principal Software Engineer to lead the design and development of next-generation Agentic AI platforms and applications that power personalization, lifecycle engagement, and customer journeys across Shutterfly.

Responsibilities

• Own and Build Agentic AI Platforms
• Architect and build scalable agentic AI systems that power various seamless experiences for customers that drive conversion and customer delight.
• Develop multi-agent systems that reason, plan, and take actions across tools and services
• Build Autonomous agents operating across end-to-end customer journeys
• Enable multiple teams to innovate independently
• Drive End-to-End Technical Strategy
• Define platform abstractions and reusable capabilities that enable teams across the organization to build and deploy AI-powered experiences independently
• Contribute to, define and lead architecture for AI platforms integrated into Shutterfly
• Build foundational capabilities including: Evaluation frameworks for AI quality, safety, and business impact; Scalable inference and orchestration infrastructure; Ensure systems are highly available, performant, and production-grade at scale
• Maintain deep hands-on involvement in prototyping, architecture, and critical production systems, setting the standard for engineering excellence.
• Leverage modern AI tooling (LLMs, agents, vector databases, orchestration frameworks)
• Set the standard for AI-driven engineering productivity and development practices
• Lead by example in coding, design reviews, and system debugging
• Deliver Measurable Business Impact
• Define and track AI-specific success metrics, including model quality, latency, cost efficiency, and business KPIs
• Partner with Product, UX, and Data teams to translate AI capabilities into: Increased conversion and revenue; Improved customer experience and engagement; Faster time-to-market for new capabilities
• Drive experimentation (A/B testing) and ensure AI systems deliver quantifiable outcomes
• Lead Across the Organization
• Influence architecture and execution across multiple teams and domains: Ecommerce platform (shopping, cart, checkout); Creation flows and personalization systems; Marketing technology and lifecycle platforms
• Mentor senior engineers and leaders; raise the bar on AI and system design excellence
• Champion adoption of agentic AI and AI-first development practices across engineering

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in an Engineering discipline or Computer Science
• 12+ years of software engineering experience with deep expertise in distributed systems
• Proven track record of architecting and delivering large-scale, high-impact systems
• Experience influencing and leading cross-organizational technical strategy
• Strong hands-on coding and system design skills
• Experience operating large-scale, highly available cloud systems
• Demonstrated ability to translate advanced technology into business impact

Preferred Qualifications

• Masters degree in an Engineering discipline or Computer Science
• Experience building 0→1 AI platforms or products in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• Experience building AI/ML systems, especially with: LLMs, agent frameworks, and retrieval systems
• Multi-agent architectures and orchestration
• Experience in consumer-facing products or ecommerce platforms