Principal Engineer

As the Principal Engineer AI & Emerging Technology you will serve as TALs most senior technical specialist in AI engineering shaping the direction architecture and governance of AI capabilities across the enterprise. You will lead the design and implementation of innovative solutions spanning generative AI agentic systems and production machine learning while partnering closely with delivery teams to solve complex technical challenges and accelerate adoption of emerging technologies.

Through the development of reference architectures reusable engineering patterns and technical standards you will drive best practice strengthen engineering capability and ensure solutions are secure reliable and fit for purpose within a regulated life insurance environment. Combining deep technical expertise with enterprise-wide influence you will play a pivotal role in transforming complex AI innovations into scalable practical solutions that deliver meaningful business value.

In this role you will:

• Set the technical direction and reference architectures for AI solutions across the portfolio covering generative AI agentic systems ML and the platforms that support them.
• Own critical design decisions in partnership with Architecture ensuring solutions align with TALs technology strategy platform foundations and integration patterns.
• Provide technical assurance on high-risk designs acting as the escalation point for complex engineering trade-offs.
• Work directly with delivery pods on complex engineering problems e.g. complex integrations agentic workflows performance reliability and evaluation.
• Define and evolve engineering standards patterns and best practices for AI development including agentic software development CI/CD testing and observability.
• Champion reuse of shared AI platforms gateways and governance tooling and contribute to their design and evolution.
• Identify and address technical risks including model risk data privacy security and drift partnering with Cyber and Risk on controls.
• Stay at the forefront of advancements in AI machine learning and agentic engineering and evaluate new technologies and approaches that can advance TALs AI capabilities.

Qualifications :

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Software Engineering AI or related field. Advanced degrees preferred.
• 10 years in software AI/ML or data engineering roles with a sustained record of designing and shipping complex AI solutions to production at scale.
• Proven experience as a principal-level or senior technical leader setting architecture and standards across multiple teams and leading through influence.
• Deep expertise in generative AI LLM-based and agentic systems and MLOps/LLMOps practices including evaluation monitoring and safe deployment.
• Extensive hands-on experience with major cloud platforms (Azure preferred) including AI/ML
  services APIs containers and modern integration patterns.
• Expert proficiency in Python and modern engineering practices; fluency with AI-assisted and agentic
  software development workflows.
• Deep understanding of CI/CD automated testing observability and software engineering principles and experience embedding these across teams.

Additional Information :

TAL is one of Australias leading life insurers committed to inclusion and supporting the career growth of our diverse workforce. Were proud to be:  

• An Inclusive Employer Recognised as Employer of Choice for Gender Equality by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency from 2014 to 2025 and 2023 to 2026 Bronze Tier Status within the Australian Workplace Equality Index  
• Diversity Champions Member of Diversity Council Australia Australian Disability Network Pride in Diversity and Champions of Change  
• Reconciliation Advocates Read our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan. 
• We welcome applications from people with diverse experiences perspectives and backgrounds including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people caregivers individuals with disability/ies people from culturally diverse backgrounds and the LGBTQ community.  
• Need adjustments during the recruitment process Let our team know by getting in touch with us here to support you. 

Yourealwaysaccountable for your actions. You never give up. You strive to find the best outcomes for customers and valueworking together to find the best solutions for problems.  

As part of the recruitment process there are several checks which may be conducted to demonstrate your eligibility for a role at TAL including Criminal History Bankruptcy Entitlement to Work Regulatory and Reference Checks.  

#LI-Hybrid 

Everyone at TAL has a responsibility to do the right thing and is accountable for the way they conduct themselves. Our expectations are that you follow the principles set out in our Code of Conduct when you come to work every day. Risk management is everyones responsibility.

If you are already a TAL employee please apply via the SmartRecruiters button in Workday and navigate to the Employee Portal. This is important to ensure that your application is recorded accurately.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time