Principal Software Engineer, AI – Platform

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Act as a technical leader throughout the engineering division.

• Define and enhance architectural standards for customer-facing and operational systems.

• Oversee the design of intricate software systems, integrations, workflows, and data models.

• Propel long-term technical strategy while accommodating short-term business needs.

• Identify technical risks and opportunities, creating practical plans to tackle them.

• Conduct architectural reviews and steer significant technical decisions across teams.

• Establish patterns that enhance reliability, maintainability, scalability, and developer productivity.

• Advocate for AI-assisted software development throughout the organization.

• Define best practices for utilizing LLMs in coding, testing, debugging, documentation, code review, and operational workflows.

• Design and develop agentic systems that automate engineering and business processes.

• Assess emerging AI technologies to determine where they can deliver measurable value.

• Ensure that AI systems are implemented responsibly, securely, and with the necessary operational safeguards.

• Enhance code quality, testing, documentation, and operational readiness.

• Drive enhancements in CI/CD, deployment safety, developer experience, and engineering workflows.

• Set standards for observability, monitoring, alerting, and incident response.

• Introduce tools and automation that increase engineering velocity without compromising quality.

• Collaborate with Product, Operations, Pharmacy, Customer Care, Growth, and Finance teams.

• Convert ambiguous business requirements into scalable technical solutions.

• Lead initiatives from conception through implementation, rollout, and operational support.

• Mentor engineers at all experience levels.

• Provide guidance during design reviews, architecture discussions, and code evaluations.

• Act as a trusted technical advisor to cross-functional stakeholders.

• Influence engineering culture through technical leadership instead of organizational authority.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification.

• Over 10 years of professional software engineering experience in building and operating complex, production-scale systems.

• Expert-level proficiency in Ruby on Rails.

• Strong understanding of modern web application architecture, distributed systems, APIs, data modeling, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

• Proven track record in leading technical architecture, steering engineering direction, mentoring engineers, and delivering reliable, observable, high-performing systems.

• Strong product and business acumen.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication abilities.

• Deep knowledge of modern AI development, including LLMs, AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., Claude, Codex, GitHub Copilot), and the creation of AI-powered products, agents, automation, or developer workflows.

• Understanding of agent architectures, retrieval systems, tool-calling, evaluation frameworks, and AI system reliability.

• Demonstrated capability to leverage AI for enhancing engineering velocity and team effectiveness.

• Authorization to work in the United States; Koala is unable to sponsor visas for this position.

🏝️ Benefits

• Significant mission focused on modernizing pet health.

• Remote-first culture founded on flexibility and trust.

• Competitive base salary with performance-based incentives.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with partial dependent coverage.

• Generous PTO.

• 401(k) plan.

• Supportive, close-knit team that celebrates achievements and fosters rapid learning.

• Comprehensive benefits package.

• Additional company-sponsored benefits.