Principal AI Engineer - Core Platform

About the Company

DriveWealth is on a mission to make investing easier. We believe that everyone should have the ability to control their financial future, and that access to financial markets should not be limited by geography, wealth, or legacy systems. We are a global B2B financial technology organization dedicated to democratizing access to financial independence around the world. Our mission is realized through an API-based platform, empowering our partners to offer seamless investing and trading experiences to clients worldwide, all from their mobile devices. Our technology provides partners with a modern, extensible toolkit, enabling traditional investment workflows and innovative techniques like fractional share ownership. DriveWealth has evolved into a global platform offering trading of US equities, mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income, and options. There’s never been a better time to build a category-defining business and there has rarely been a team better positioned for this opportunity. Our culture blends the pace and agility of a fintech start-up with the impact, stability, and discipline of Wall Street. We encourage creativity and experimentation while ensuring institutional-grade execution and regulatory compliance in everything we do. Join us and help build the future of global investing!

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Principal AI Engineer who will act as a thought leader and technical owner, driving the adoption of AI technologies across the organization's core platform. The primary mission is to architect and deliver scalable AI products that solve complex, real-world challenges, particularly those related to foundational APIs, Brokerage Operations, Customer Service within a regulated fintech environment. Success requires a strategic mindset to identify and execute AI-driven innovations and ensure all solutions are reliable, compliant, and deliver high-quality outcomes. In this role, you will serve as AI champions and lead a team of AI engineers to drive the adoption of AI across the firm.

Responsibilities

• Act as a thought leader and advocate for AI technologies, inspiring teams and stakeholders to embrace AI-driven solutions.
• Architect and deliver scalable AI products that address complex, real-world challenges.
• Partner with cross-functional distributed teams to identify opportunities for AI integration and drive impactful solutions.
• Develop ML components where appropriate (e.g., classification, ranking, anomaly detection) and integrate them with LLM-based systems for hybrid intelligence.
• Establish robust evaluation and quality gates for agents and LLM systems (golden datasets, automated tests, regression suites, monitoring for drift/quality).
• Champion best practices for code quality, testing, automation, and performance/cost optimization.
• Stay at the forefront of AI advancements, particularly in the areas of large language models (LLMs), vector databases, and emerging technologies.
• Guide and mentor junior engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence.
• Drive projects to completion with a strong delivery mindset that meets organizational needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 8+ years of software engineering experience, preferably in financial domain.

Required Skills

• Strong programming skills, preferably in Python, with a deep understanding of software engineering principles.
• Expertise in AI technologies, including language models, vector databases, and relevant data structures.
• 8–12 years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years in an engineering management role.
• Working knowledge of databases and messaging technologies (e.g., SQL, Redis, Kafka) is a strong plus.
• Hands-on experience with at least one LLM agent architecture, Agents SDK, Langchain, LlamaIndex.
• Hands-on experience with AWS Strands is preferred.
• Exceptional analytical skills with a proven ability to solve complex problems.
• A strategic mindset to identify opportunities for AI-driven innovation across the organization.
• A mature, thoughtful attitude with the ability to operate effectively in a collaborative, team-oriented culture.
• Deep understanding of AI technologies and their applications, with a strong interest in staying current with advancements in the field.
• A track record of driving AI adoption and delivering impactful solutions.
• A results-driven approach with a strong focus on execution and delivering high-quality outcomes.

Preferred Skills

• Experience in fintech, brokerage, or other regulated industries.
• Exposure to cloud-native or AI workflow orchestration platforms.
• Experience deploying and scaling retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) platforms.

Pay range and compensation package

Compensation package offerings are based on candidate experience and technical qualifications, as it relates to the role. These are identified and determined throughout your interviewing experience. Please note: this role is expected to come into our office on a cadence set by the Hiring Manager/Team. New York, NY (Hybrid) Pay Range $250,000 - $290,000 USD.

Equal Opportunity Statement

To build technology and products that are used and loved by people and solve real-world problems, we need to build a team with many different perspectives and experiences. We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply. Applicants in need of special assistance or accommodation during the interview process or in accessing our website may contact us at recruiting@drivewealth.com.

Agency Disclaimer

DriveWealth does not accept agency resumes. Do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, employees, or any other organization location. DriveWealth is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.