Principal Software Engineer(Applied AI)

Job description

Position Overview

Are you a problem solver who thrives on building real-world AI applications?

Do you geek out over LLMs, RAG, MCP and agentic architectures?

Want to help shape a brand-new team and build cool stuff that actually ships?

If so, read on.
We’re building a new Applied AI team within Autodesk’s Data and Process Management (DPM) group.

As a Founding Principal Engineer, you’ll be at the heart of this initiative — working in a highly dynamic environment, designing, building, and scaling AI-powered experiences across our diverse portfolio providing critical Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Product Data Management (PDM) capabilities to our customers.

You’ll work on real production systems, solve hard problems, and help define the future of AI at Autodesk.

Responsibilities:

• Build AI-powered Experiences: Architect and develop production-grade AI applications that are scalable, resilient & secure
• Shape AI Strategy: Help define the AI roadmap for DPM by identifying opportunities, evaluating emerging technologies, and guiding long-term direction
• Operationalize LLMs: Fine-tune, evaluate, and deploy large language models in production environments.

Balance performance, cost, and user experience while working with real-world data and constraints
• Build for Builders: Design frameworks and tools that make it easier for other teams to develop AI-powered experiences

• Guide Engineering Practices: Collaborate with other engineering teams to define and evolve best practices for AI experimentation, evaluation, and optimization.

Provide technical guidance and influence decisions across teams
• Drive Innovation: Stay on top of the latest in AI technologies (e.g. LLMs, VLMs, Foundation Models), Architecture Patterns such as fine-tuning, RAG, function calling, MCP and more—and bring these innovations to production effectively
• Optimize for Scale: Ensure AI applications are resilient, performant, and can scale well in production
• Collaborate Across Functions: Partner with product managers, architects, engineers, and data scientists to bring AI features to life in Autodesk products

Minimum Qualifications:

• Masters in computer science, AI, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field
• 10+ years building scalable cloud-native applications, with 3+ years focused on production AI/ML systems
• Deep understanding of LLMs, VLMs, and foundation models, including their architecture, limitations, and practical applications
• Experience fine-tuning LLMs using real-world datasets and integrating them into production systems
• Experience with LLM related technologies including frameworks, embedding models, vector databases, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, MCP, in production settings
• Deep understanding of data modeling, system architectures, and processing techniques
• Experience with AWS cloud services and SageMaker Studio (or similar) for scalable data processing and model development
• Proven track record of building and deploying scalable cloud-native AI applications using platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Proficiency in Python or TypeScript
• You love tackling complex challenges and delivering elegant, scalable solutions
• You can explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-
technical audiences

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience building AI applications in the CAD or manufacturing domain.
• Experience designing evaluation pipelines for LLM-based systems (e.g., prompt testing, hallucination detection, safety filters)
• Familiarity with tools and frameworks for LLM fine-tuning and orchestration (e.g., LoRA, QLoRA, AoT P-Tuning etc.)
• A passion for mentoring and growing engineering talent
• Experience with emerging Agentic AI solutions such as LangGraph, CrewAI, A2A, Opik Comet, or equivalents
• Contributions to open-source AI projects or publications in the field
• Bonus points if you’ve ever explained RAG to a non-technical friend—and they got it

#LI-Hybrid
#LI-SB4

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About Autodesk

Welcome to Autodesk! Amazing things are created every day with our software – from the greenest buildings and cleanest cars to the smartest factories and biggest hit movies.

We help innovators turn their ideas into reality, transforming not only how things are made, but what can be made.

We take great pride in our culture here at Autodesk – it’s at the core of everything we do.

Our culture guides the way we work and treat each other, informs how we connect with customers and partners, and defines how we show up in the world.

When you’re an Autodesker, you can do meaningful work that helps build a better world designed and made for all.

Ready to shape the world and your future?

Join us!

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