Principal AI Forward Deployed Engineer

Expedia Group

Principal AI engineer embedding, productionizing, and scaling AI solutions across Expedia Group’s travel, B2B, and advertising businesses. Coaching technical leaders and driving responsible AI adoption.

Posted 9/4/2026full-timeSeattle • California, Washington • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $231,000 - $398,500 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in AI initiative lifecycle management, from discovery to deployment, while translating business needs into measurable outcomes. Proficient in software engineering practices and capable of influencing technology direction and standards across teams.

Highest-signal resume keywords

AI Initiative Lifecycle ManagementSoftware Engineering PracticesAI/ML Application ExperienceTechnical Leadership and MentoringSystem Design and Architecture

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Software Development Life CycleAI-Enabled Systems DevelopmentData ModelingAPI DesignPrototypingTechnical DesignEvaluation and Testability PracticesAI Evaluation and GovernanceGenerative AI SolutionsLLM Productionization

Soft Skills

Influencing Technical DirectionCoaching and MentoringCommunication with StakeholdersCollaboration Across TeamsProblem-Solving

Tools & Technologies

AI PlatformsAI ToolsObservability ToolsArchitectural PatternsDeployment Frameworks

Industry Keywords

AI OpportunitiesBusiness OutcomesCross-Domain CapabilitiesTechnical SolutionsProduct and Technology Direction

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

SDLC

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Partner with business-unit and functional leaders, domain experts, end users, and technologists to discover high-value AI opportunities and define measurable outcomes
Operate as a forward-deployed technical leader with business units and own engagements through delivery, adoption, and value realization
Own the full lifecycle of AI initiatives from discovery and use-case framing through technical design, prototyping, production deployment, adoption, measurement, and continuous improvement
Translate ambiguous business problems into measurable outcomes, assumptions, data requirements, and scalable AI-enabled systems
Define and communicate technology vision for AI capabilities within business-unit domains and workflows
Design complex systems using system design, API design, data modeling, observability, evaluation, and testability practices
Evaluate and select models, platforms, tools, and architectural patterns for AI use cases
Establish and evangelize software and AI engineering standards across multiple teams
Convert deployment lessons into reusable implementations, frameworks, prompts, evaluation approaches, standards, and enablement materials
Define success measures and communicate impact across adoption, quality, productivity, capacity, cycle time, cost, ROI, risk, and business outcomes
Influence technical direction and align senior leaders and partners around strategy, trade-offs, and outcomes
Develop engineers and emerging technical leaders; coach senior talent and extend engineering practices across the organization

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree with 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, or a master’s degree with 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent professional experience
Ownership of complex systems, workflows, or platforms supporting a business unit or function and integrating with broader Expedia Group systems and cross-domain capabilities
Deep expertise in software engineering practices across the full software development life cycle
Experience making technology and architecture choices across teams and multiple technologies or languages
Hands-on experience building, deploying, or operating AI-enabled systems, tools, agents, or workflows
Experience applying AI/ML concepts to real-world products or business processes
Experience working directly with partner business units to understand ambiguous needs, deliver technical solutions quickly, and drive adoption
Preferred: experience defining AI/software engineering or architecture best practices at department or organizational level
Preferred: experience shaping product and technology direction and developing domain-level AI architecture vision
Preferred: experience designing and productionizing LLM, generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation, agentic, conversational, or AI-assisted workflow solutions
Preferred: experience establishing AI evaluation and governance practices
Preferred: experience partnering with executive and cross-organizational leaders
Preferred: demonstrated success mentoring engineers and coaching senior individual contributors
Preferred: experience evaluating industry trends and applying AI/ML approaches selectively

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical, dental, and vision coverage
Paid time off
Employee Assistance Program
Wellness reimbursement
Travel reimbursement
Travel discounts
International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership
Accommodation or adjustment support during the application or recruiting process