Principal Software Engineer

Vestmark is building the AI-native future of wealth management technology. We are looking for a Principal Engineer who thinks in systems, cares about business outcomes, and has the technical depth to define how AI-native software gets built at scale. If you have a clear point of view on where software engineering is going and want to do the work that proves it, this role is for you.We set goals as outcomes. The approach is yours to determine. Your decisions will compound over time, measured in workflows eliminated, costs structurally reduced, and capabilities that make every subsequent project faster and cheaper to deliver.Vestmark is a leading provider of wealth management solutions and services that enable financial advisors and institutions to efficiently manage and trade their clients' portfolios using an innovative SaaS ecosystem. With over $1.5 trillion in assets and 3.5+ million accounts, we are a trusted partner to some of the largest and most respected players across the wealth management industry.What You'll DoDesign & Build Agentic SystemsArchitect and deliver agentic systems that implement sense → think → act loops: systems that plan, execute, evaluate, and iterate toward outcomesDrive the engineering organization beyond prompt-response patterns to multi-step,autonomous workflows that solve real business problems at scaleEngineer AI-driven workflows where AI takes action, produces measurable output, and improves through iteration and feedbackSet Standards for AI-Native DevelopmentDefine how engineers use AI-assisted development tools, including code generation, prompt engineering, workflow orchestration, and agentic frameworks, as a team-wide engineering discipline rather than individual productivity shortcutsEstablish and evolve standards for AI-native systems: how they handle nondeterminism, manage state across multi-step processes, maintain observability, and control inference cost and latencyDefine testing and validation approaches for adaptive systems where behavior is not fully deterministic; hold the quality bar for production AI systems across reliability, latency, and correctnessServe as the engineering organization's authority on AI-native development practices and drive their adoption across teamsBuild Reusable FoundationsDesign and deliver frameworks, integration patterns, and technical capabilities that reduce the cost of building every subsequent solution; the next project should be faster and cheaper because of what you built todayApply the principle "fix the process, don't automate the broken one" as a design mandate: identify root causes and address them, not symptomsRemain a hands-on practitioner: write clean, testable, maintainable code and hold the team to that standard through rigorous code reviewLead & Grow the OrganizationCollaborate across engineering, product, and operations to share what's working, surface what isn't, and help AI-native practices take hold organicallyContribute to how Vestmark thinks about building AI-native software, through design reviews, architecture discussions, and hands-on collaboration that raises the whole team's gameShare what you know freely, whether that's pairing on a hard problem, reviewing a design, or helping a teammate get more out of their AI toolingContribute to the growth and development of our core values: We Before Me, Positive Energy, Knowledge Explorer, and Own ItWhat We're Looking ForCore Engineering ExcellenceDemonstrated expertise building and delivering complex, production-grade software systems: platforms and frameworks that other teams depend on at scaleStrong fundamentals across the full engineering lifecycle: architecture, design, development, testing, deployment, and operationsComfort designing systems where behavior is non-deterministic and may evolve over time, as a core competencyExperience with AWS or equivalent cloud-native environments, CI/CD pipelines, and modern deployment patternsAgentic Engineering & AI ExpertiseProven, hands-on experience building agentic systems: multi-step, autonomous workflows where AI plans, reasons, acts, and iterates in production environmentsDeep practical knowledge of LLM integration: context management, tool use, orchestration, and state management across multi-step processesAI-assisted development tools are a consistent, intentional part of your daily engineering practiceA clear, defensible point of view on how AI is reshaping software engineering and where it is heading, backed by a track record of deliveryUnderstanding of how AI systems interact with data, services, external tools, and real-world operational constraintsAwareness of the trade-offs unique to AI-native systems, including cost of inference, latency, observability, and reliability, and the judgment to navigate them in productionExperience designing feedback loops where systems improve through usage, data, and iterationIndependence & Technical LeadershipTrack record of setting technical direction that others have adopted: patterns, methodologies, or architectural decisions that outlasted individual projects and spread across teamsAbility to engage with ambiguous, real-world business problems: understand the process, identify the waste, and determine the right solution before writing a line of codeYou have built deep expertise through independent study, experimentation, and delivery. Formal training programs in agentic AI engineering are still nascent; you have not waited for them.What Will Help You Stand OutHands-on experience delivering at least one production agentic system where AI orchestrates multi-step workflows with real autonomy and demonstrable business impact, and the engineering depth to build moreExperience building platform or framework-level tooling consumed by other engineering teams at scaleBackground in financial services technology, particularly wealth management operations, portfolio management, or trading systemsDemonstrated work at the intersection of technical depth and business outcomes: you measure your systems by what they replaced, eliminated, or made possibleWhy VestmarkBuild agentic AI systems in production in a domain where the business consequences of this work are direct and measurable: $1.5 trillion in assets, millions of accounts, and a business model that is actively transformingDefine what AI-native engineering means in practice at a company that has committed to this transformation with dedicated funding and executive sponsorshipOperate with genuine Principal-level autonomy; you will define the patterns and standardsEducation & ExperienceB.S. or M.S. in Computer Science or equivalent work experienceTypically 12+ years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; 8+ years with a Master's degree; or equivalent demonstrated expertiseA sustained track record at the Principal or equivalent senior IC level, with evidence of technical direction that extended beyond individual projects and influenced how others buildVestmark is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Vestmark prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability status, protected military or veteran status, and genetic information  Vestmark takes a market-based approach to compensation to ensure we pay fairly and competitively. Compensation for this role depends on several factors such as skills, experience, qualifications, job scope and location.In addition to base salary, Vestmark offers a comprehensive total rewards package, which includes equity-based grants for all new hires, company-paid medical premiums of 90%, a competitive time-off program, and other variable compensation, if eligible.Salary range: $160,000 USD - $190,000 USD