Confluent

Engineering

PrincipalEngineer,EngineeringAIProductivity

$285–342k Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States; United States; United Kingdom FULL TIME Remote Friendly
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Principal candidates.

The Brief

“Principal Engineer, Engineering AI Productivity at Confluent. Skills: AI agentic capabilities, smart, automated decisioning systems, AI/ML platform experience, LLM integration, workflow automation, agentic patterns, distributed systems, strategic productivity initiatives. Define and drive Confluent’s internal agentic AI capabilities, and adoption of smart, automated decisioning systems for R&D productivity. Scale AI usage across our platform to accelerate value for customers and the business”

What You'll Achieve.

accelerate value for customers and the business; AI augments developers; automates routine tasks; orchestrates intelligent workflows that unlock new usage patterns; aligning business metrics, engineering needs, and platform opportunities; improves productivity across engineering; measurable adoption of AI tooling and flows; AI-driven usage lift; automation ROI; reduction in manual workflows; generated measurable business value; tie technical efforts directly to business KPIs (adoption, retention, revenue impact)

Industry & Context.

Engineering
Problems you'll solve

Identify and resolve bottlenecks across the entire product and software development life cycle

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

8+ years driving strategic productivity initiatives, ideally in SaaS/Cloud platforms or developer tools with some proven experience in AI initiatives, Considered an expert in building distributed systems and/or the infrastructure and tools to support it, Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence senior stakeholders without direct authority, Demonstrated track record delivering products or features that generated measurable business value, Hands-on experience with AI or adjacent AI/ML platform experience with LLM integration and workflow automation, with demonstrated appetite to build toward agentic patterns, Deep understanding of responsible AI practices and governance, Ability to tie technical efforts directly to business KPIs (adoption, retention, revenue impact)

Nice to Have

Experience working in cloud-native platforms or developer ecosystems, Prior leadership in scaling internal AI platforms or driving AI adoption across large organizations, Background in real-time data, event-driven architecture, or platform engineering

What You'll Do.

Define and drive Confluent’s internal agentic AI capabilities

and adoption of smart

automated decisioning systems for R&D productivity

Scale AI usage across our platform to accelerate value for customers and the business

Operationalize a vision where AI augments developers

automates routine tasks

and orchestrates intelligent workflows that unlock new usage patterns

Define and evangelize the AI and agentic flows strategy

Build a roadmap for introducing agentic automation features

and AI-driven workflows across all aspects of engineering

Identify and resolve bottlenecks across the entire product and software development life cycle

Integrate AI capabilities responsibly and at scale

Operationalize AI adoption internally and share use cases externally

Drive complex cross-team projects requiring multi-stakeholder alignment

Continuously raise the bar for code/architectural quality across engineering

Lead the delivery of core agentic workflows that improves productivity across engineering

Drive measurable adoption of AI tooling and flows with internal teams

Adopt industry standards

and quality metrics for AI behavior and automated flows

Define success metrics and KPIs

Write internal playbooks for building and scaling agentic outcomes

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

Partner across Engineering, Security, and IT; Partner with Engineering, Trust and Security; Drive complex cross-team projects requiring multi-stakeholder alignment; Lead cross-functional teams; influence senior stakeholders without direct authority; work across time zones and backgrounds; different perspectives

Communication Scope

communicator who can translate complex technical strategies into impact-oriented outcomes

Process & Methodology

Drive complex cross-team projects

Full Job Description

We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them. It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together. One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform. ABOUT THE ROLE: We’re seeking a strategic and hands-on technical leader to define and drive Confluent’s internal agentic AI capabilities, and adoption of smart, automated decisioning systems for R&D productivity. In this role, you will partner across Engineering, Security, and IT to scale AI usage across our platform to accelerate value for customers and the business. You will operationalize a vision where AI augments developers, automates routine tasks, and orchestrates intelligent workflows that unlock new usage patterns. WHAT YOU WILL DO: - Strategy & Vision - Define and evangelize the AI and agentic flows strategy — aligning business metrics, engineering needs, and platform opportunities. - Build a roadmap for introducing agentic automation features, smart assistants, and AI-driven workflows across all aspects of engineering. - Identify and resolve bottlenecks across the entire product and software development life cycle. - Cross-Functional Leadership - Partner with Engineering, Trust and Security to integrate AI capabilities responsibly and at scale. - Operationalize AI adoption internally and share use cases externally - Drive complex cross-team projects requiring multi-stakeholder alignment - Continuously raise the bar for code/architectural quality across engineering - Execution & Delivery - Lead the delivery of core agentic workflows that improves productivity across en

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