Principal Forward-deployed Engineer

Avenga is an international engineering firm helping businesses operate with AI at the core. With 6,000+ experts worldwide, we combine engineering expertise with AI-native thinking to turn ambitious ideas into real-world impact across industries, technologies, and markets.

At the core of the role

We are looking for a principal engineer or hands-on engineering manager to help shape how AI is integrated into modern software delivery practices. In this role, you will work at the intersection of software engineering, AI-assisted development, and technical leadership. You will support delivery teams in adopting AI-native ways of working and help identify opportunities to improve engineering productivity through AI technologies. You will work with the latest agentic development tools and methods, with a dedicated token budget and room to explore new technologies in this space. You will collaborate closely with engineering leaders, delivery teams, and clients, contributing to both technical strategy and practical implementation of AI-enabled engineering workflows.

Core skills you’ll bring

• 10+ years experience in software development (at least one of Python, JavaScript, Java, C#), 3+ years in a tech lead or architect capacity.
• Confident in client-facing settings - running workshops, challenging requirements, and explaining trade-offs to technical & non-technical stakeholders.
• Solid software engineering skills - analytical thinking, understanding and refactoring code, clean code practices, Git, and CI/CD.
• Hands-on experience with at least one modern AI coding tool - Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, etc; and judgment to review and correct the code they generate.
• Experience defining and using skills, MCP servers, and agents; applying Spec-Driven Development & context engineering.
• Experience with LLM APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI) and open-weight SLMs / LLMs; and managing LLM costs.
• Experience with one or more cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Strong understanding of software architecture principles, system design, and engineering trade-offs.
• Fluent English.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience defining or restructuring the SDLC process for AI.
• Familiarity with SDLC productivity metrics (e.g. DORA, Flow).

The impact you'll create

• Consult delivery teams on adopting AI in their SDLC and define reusable engineering assets.
• Identify, evaluate, and pilot new AI use cases across the software delivery lifecycle.
• Design and develop components for existing solutions and new solutions in engineering acceleration by following an AI-native development flow.
• Design and develop and maintain autonomous agents for the SDLC and integrate with platforms via MCP/API (Jira, GitHub, CI/CD platforms, etc.)
• Perform context engineering to organize project data for AI agents.
• Review and compare AI tools and methodologies.
• Measure and report the impact of AI adoption on developer productivity
• Share assets and learnings with the internal AI community and coach engineering teams on AI.

What supports your journey

_Guided by our values, we aim to provide you with the tools, autonomy, trust, and support you need to excel. Our benefits include private health insurance, well-being programs, flexible and hybrid work arrangements, laptops and equipment, training opportunities, social events, great offices, and more__People are at the core of Avenga. We provide equal opportunities regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, or any other characteristic. We are committed to a respectful environment where everyone can be themselves, share their ideas, and feel that they belong._