Principal Engineer – AI/ML Architecture

Coupa Software

Principal Engineer defining AI/ML architecture for Coupa's spend management platform. Driving technology innovations and mentoring teams across multiple locations.

Posted 7/21/2026full-timeFoster City • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $241,000 - $337,400 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Expertise in architecting and optimizing machine learning systems, particularly in training and deploying large language models. Strong capability in designing evaluation frameworks and ensuring model safety and compliance within AI platforms.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Machine Learning Systems ArchitectureLarge Language Model TrainingTransformer ArchitecturesCloud AI/ML ServicesPython and PyTorch Proficiency

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Hard Skills

Model TrainingModel EvaluationDistributed TrainingTraining OptimizationRAG Systems DesignSynthetic Data GenerationKnowledge Graph IntegrationEmbedding ModelsEvaluation Suite DesignFine-Tuning Models

Soft Skills

MentoringCollaboration

Tools & Technologies

GPU ClustersAI Infrastructure Tooling

Certifications & Qualifications

Advanced Degree in Computer ScienceAdvanced Degree in Machine Learning

Industry Keywords

B2B SaaS PlatformsResponsible AITechnical StandardsModel SafetyTenant Data Isolation

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudPythonPyTorch

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Define the architecture for model training, evaluation, and serving across Coupa's AI platform.
Evaluate and select model approaches (open-weight, commercial, and hybrid) against enterprise accuracy and cost requirements.
Design evaluation frameworks that measure model quality on Coupa's specific task categories.
Drive technical partnership evaluations with AI infrastructure and model providers.
Architect training data pipelines, including synthetic data generation and quality validation.
Design retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems that extend our existing RAG infrastructure with structured knowledge retrieval.
Establish technical standards for model safety, tenant data isolation, and responsible AI.
Write code, review PRs, and prototype approaches, especially in the early phases.
Mentor and guide ML and data engineers across US and India.
Collaborate with product, existing AI platform, and cloud operations teams.

Requirements

What you’ll need

15+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years focused on ML/AI systems.
Demonstrated experience training or fine-tuning large language models. Must have shipped a fine-tuned or domain-adapted model to production.
Deep knowledge of transformer architectures, training optimization (LoRA, QLoRA, PEFT, RLHF, DPO), and inference serving.
Experience with distributed training on GPU clusters.
Strong understanding of RAG architectures, vector search, embedding models, and knowledge graph integration.
Hands-on experience with cloud AI/ML services (model hosting, managed training, or equivalent).
Experience designing and running custom evaluation suites for LLMs.
Proficiency in Python, PyTorch, and ML infrastructure tooling.
Advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or equivalent practical experience.
Experience with enterprise B2B SaaS platforms preferred.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Pioneering Technology with latest technology for efficiency
Collaborative Culture valuing teamwork and transparency
Global Impact with measurable results on clients and businesses