Who you are

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Mathematics, or a related field (or its equivalent) + 8 years of experience
• Deep expertise in LLM-specific infrastructure such as inference optimization (quantization, ONNX, streaming)
• Ability to design scalable RAG architectures and manage the lifecycle of models from experimentation to high-availability production environments including vector databases
• Proven experience building robust, automated evaluation pipelines using both heuristic metrics and 'LLM-as-a-judge' frameworks to ensure model accuracy and safety
• Hands-on experience with LLM toolchains such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or OpenAI APIs
• Experience designing and operationalizing ML/LLM platforms at scale, including optimization for cost, latency, and reliability and the platform infrastructure needed to support them
• Deep Expertise in best practices and risks for GenAI including hallucination mitigation, fairness, explainability, and data privacy
• 12+ years of experience and 5+ leading cross functional technical initiatives
• Proven ability to execute or guide model fine-tuning and alignment (RLHF/DPO) to optimize LLM performance for specialized consumer use cases and proprietary datasets
• Full-stack engineering experience (Python, FastAPI, Kotlin, Spring, React/TypeScript, or similar)
• Deep expertise in backend systems and infrastructure technologies such as Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, and cloud-native architectures
• The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites
• The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time

What the job involves

• Upstart’s GenAI Core Platform team builds the foundational Platform that democratizes access to generative AI across the company
• As a Principal Engineer - GenAI/LLM, you will provide technical leadership across multiple cross-functional teams, shaping the vision, architecture, and adoption strategy for our new GenAI platform for Engineers and non-Engineers alike
• You will work closely with engineering leaders, ML researchers, and product stakeholders to ensure Upstart can scale the safe, efficient, and responsible use of LLMs across all business domains
• This role goes beyond delivery. It is about setting long-term direction, de-risking our most ambitious AI initiatives, and raising the bar for technical excellence across the organization. In short, you will have a direct influence and impact on how we enable and implement GenAI and LLMs internally at Upstart
• Define and drive the multi-year technical roadmap for the Core GenAI Platform, influencing adoption and alignment across several engineering teams
• Collaborate with CTO/VP-level and above leadership to influence business strategy with technical insight
• Lead architecture and design of large-scale, mission-critical systems for model inference, orchestration, and compliance
• Identify and solve systemic technical risks that impact the entire company and business-critical AI initiatives
• Represent Upstart internally and externally as a thought leader in GenAI systems through executive reviews, cross-company forums, and industry venues
• Establish operational standards for GenAI integrations, ensuring security, fairness, and reliability at scale
• Build high-leverage, generalizable platform components that meaningfully accelerate the productivity of engineers across Upstart
• Mentor senior engineers, other principal engineers, and shape the growth of future technical leaders, fostering a culture of learning and excellence

Benefits

• Comprehensive health plans
• 401k Plan
• Annual wellness reimbursement
• Disability insurance
• Generous vacation policy
• Flexible time off
• Parental leave
• Family forming benefits through Carrot
• Technology equipment budget
• Personal development budget
• Various clubs and extracurricular activities
• Catered lunches
• Fully stocked micro-kitchen