Principal Artificial Intelligence Software Engineer

Alaska Airlines is hiring a Principal Artificial Intelligence Software Engineer to define AI strategy, architecture, and engineering standards. The role leads development and deployment of production AI systems, builds the AI platform, and drives secure adoption, governance, performance, and cross-functional integration.

Responsibilities:

• Architect and lead end-to-end development and deployment of AI solutions leveraging LLMs, generative AI, and agentic technologies, establishing reusable architectures and patterns that drive automation, operational efficiency, and strategic business outcomes
• Design and build the AI platform that enables organizational self-service, maintaining ownership of system performance, reliability, and continuous improvement of AI capabilities
• Exercise considerable latitude and initiative to solve ambiguous, high-impact challenges where problem definition, solution approach, and success criteria require significant discovery, including scaling AI from pilot to production, integrating AI into legacy operational systems, and defining governance approaches for novel AI use cases
• Make decisions on technical architecture, sourcing strategies including build, buy, or partner approaches, and sequencing of AI initiatives based on business impact, technical feasibility, and organizational readiness, setting direction that shapes how AI is delivered across Alaska
• Influence across company and several levels up to lead cross-functional prioritization and adoption of AI initiatives by influencing stakeholders across IT, business, and governance, risk, and compliance teams to ensure secure, compliant integration into enterprise systems
• Partner with Product Management and business leaders to integrate AI/GenAI solutions into product roadmaps, ensuring technical feasibility and business value alignment
• Ensure production excellence by implementing monitoring, evaluation frameworks, and optimization strategies that enable AI systems to meet or exceed performance targets and deliver measurable business results
• Develop technical talent and set engineering standards through mentorship, technical leadership, and knowledge sharing that elevates the capabilities of the AI Engineering Team
• Drive innovation through AI research and experimentation including evaluation of emerging technologies, new data sources, and advanced methodologies, with presentation of findings to executive leadership