Staff Software Engineer

About the role

Pearson Learning Studio is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the technical vision and architecture for our Guided Study platform. This role is designed for a deeply technical leader who thrives at the intersection of modern web architecture and emerging AI technologies, particularly agentic AI systems.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the architecture for scalable, high-performance web applications supporting Guided Study experiences.

• Lead system design discussions and make strategic technology decisions across frontend, backend, and AI components.

• Architect and implement AI-powered workflows using agentic AI frameworks and LLM-based systems.

• Design and optimize data pipelines and backend services using Java, Python, and SQL.

• Ensure best practices in scalability, observability, performance, and security.

• Develop and integrate at least one Large Language Model (LLM) into production workflows.

• Design and implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines.

• Apply advanced prompt engineering techniques to improve learning personalization and response quality.

• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and define roadmap integration strategies.

• Lead frontend architecture using ReactJS.

• Develop backend systems using Java and Python.

• Design and optimize relational databases and complex SQL queries.

• Ensure clean API design and seamless frontend-backend integration.

• Partner closely with Product, Data Science, UX, and Content teams to deliver intelligent learning features.

• Mentor senior engineers and influence engineering standards across the organization.

• Contribute to technical strategy and long-term platform evolution.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in design, architecture, and development of web applications.

• Strong hands-on experience in: Agentic AI systems, At least one Large Language Model (LLM) Prompt Engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Full-stack development expertise in: ReactJS, Java, Python, SQL.

• Demonstrated experience designing scalable, distributed systems.

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and system-thinking capabilities.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

• Proven ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience deploying AI systems in production environments.

• Familiarity with vector databases and embedding pipelines.

• Experience with cloud-native architectures (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

• Experience in EdTech or learning platforms.