Principal Agentic Engineer (Back-end)

Toronto - Canada

Monthly Salary: Not Disclosed

Posted on: 3 days ago

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

ABOUT APPLY DIGITAL

Apply Digital is a global experience transformation partner. We drive AI-powered change and measurable impact across complex multi-brand ecosystems. Leveraging expertise that spans across the customer experience lifecycle from strategy design to engineering and beyond we enable our clients to modernize their organizations and maximize value for their business and customers.

Our 750 team members have helped transform global companies like Kraft Heinz NFL Moderna Lululemon Dropbox Atlassian AE Networks and The Very Group.

Apply Digital was founded in 2016 in Vancouver the past nine years we have grown to ten cities across North America South America the UK Europe and India.

At Apply Digital we believe in the One Team approach where we operate within a pod structure. Each pod brings together senior leadership subject matter experts and cross-functional skill sets all working within a common tech and delivery framework. This structure is underpinned by well-oiled scrum and sprint cadences keeping teams in step to release often and retrospectives to ensure we progress toward the desired outcomes.

Wherever we work in the world we envision Apply Digital as a safe empowered respectful and fun community for people every single day. Together we work to embody our SHAPE (smart humble active positive and excellent) values and make Apply Digital a space for our team to connect grow and support each other to make a difference.

Visit our Careers page to learn how we can unlock your potential.

LOCATION:Apply Digital is hybrid/remote friendly. The preferred candidate should be based in Canada working in hours that align toET (Eastern Timezone) or PT (Pacific Timezone).

THE ROLE:

The Principal Agentic Engineer (Back-end) is a senior technical leader within our engineering organization responsible for designing building and scaling robust backend systems that support modern AI-powered digital products. This role combines deep backend engineering expertise with strong architectural judgment AI-system fluency and client-facing leadership.

As a Principal Agentic Engineer you will lead technical direction across complex backend systems mentor engineers and partner closely with clients and internal teams to deliver production-grade solutions. You will play a critical role in designing distributed cloud-native architectures and integrating large language models (LLMs) vector databases and AI agents into real-world applications. You will engineer teams of coding agents to accomplish implementation requirements for the systems you will be building.

You bring proven leadership at a Staff or Lead level with a track record of delivering complex software initiatives end-to-end. You operate with high autonomy and can take loosely defined goals and turn them into well-architected shipped software.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead the design and development of scalable secure and high-performance backend systems using Python and modern cloud-native patterns.
Apply spec-driven development practices to ensure clarity quality and predictable delivery.
Organizing distributing and translating backlog requirements from Product UX and other disciplines into detailed spec driven requirements for Agents to implement.
Coordinate teams of coding agents to deliver engineering requirements.
Design and implement RESTful APIs to support frontend mobile and third-party integrations.
Architect and deliver AI-powered backend solutions including: Vector stores and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines integration with LLMs (e.g. Gemini Claude GPT-4/5) and use of AI coding agents and developer copilots to improve delivery velocity.
Develop and maintain systems using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) with hands-on experience in Vertex AI Google Gen AI APIs.
Leverage Agent Development Kits (ADKs) (e.g. Google ADK) to design and implement intelligent agent-based systems.
Ensure systems are observable reliable and debuggable in production environments.
Collaborate with engineers to design well-architected maintainable solutions aligned with business goals.
Mentor and guide engineers fostering technical excellence and continuous learning.
Partner with Project Managers and cross-functional teams to manage delivery risks and timelines.
Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders including clients.

REQUIREMENTS

Strong experience with Python 3 for backend development.
Experience designing and consuming RESTful APIs.
Proven experience with spec-driven development.
Hands-on experience using AI coding agents (e.g. Copilot Claude Code).
Strong prompt engineering skills.
Experience working with LLMs (e.g. Gemini 3 Claude Opus GPT-4.x/5.x).
Experience implementing vector stores and RAG architectures.
Experience with Agent Development Kits (e.g. Google ADK).
Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Hands-on experience with Vertex AI and Google Gen AI APIs.
Experience with relational and non-relational databases.
Experience with Git and CI/CD pipelines.
Strong system design fundamentals including queues caching strategies database schema design and API design. You know how to build systems that survive and scale in production.
Experience designing AI agents agent task planning and reasoning patterns.
Agent observability and debugging experience.
Ability to clearly articulate goals constraints and context for agentic systems; reason through edge cases and failure modes; and iteratively refine agent behavior based on observed outcomes.
Comfort understanding and integrating across the full stack; experience with TypeScript and modern JavaScript is highly beneficial.
Excellent English communication skills (written and verbal) with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Excellent command of the English language to guide coding agents to complete required coding tasks.
Experience working effectively with fully remote distributed teams.
Experience working in a consultancy agency or professional services firm.
Ability to thrive in a flexible fast-paced delivery environment.

NICE TO HAVES

Experience with BMAD Method or similar spec driven development frameworks.
Familiarity with layered and distributed architectures.
Experience with Terraform.
Experience with additional backend languages.
Experience with gRPC or other communication patterns.
Experience with eCommerce platforms or complex integrations.

#LI-Remote #LI-SE1 #Promoted

LIFE AT APPLY DIGITAL

At Apply Digital people are at the core of everything we do. We value your time safety and health and strive to build a work community that can help you thrive and grow. Here are a few benefits we offer to support you:

Great projects: Broaden your skills on a range of engaging projects with international brands that have a global impact.

An inclusive and safe environment: Were truly committed to building a culture where you are celebrated and everyone feels welcome and safe.

Learning opportunities: We offer generous training budgets including partner tech certifications custom learning plans workshops mentorship and peer support.

Generous vacation policy: Work-life balance is key to our teams success so we offer flexible personal time offer (PTO); allowing ample time away from work to promote overall well-being.

Customizable benefits: Tailor your extended health and dental plan to your needs priorities and preferences.

Flexible work arrangements: We work in a variety of ways from remote to in-office to a blend of both.

Apply Digital is committed to building a culture where differences are celebrated and everyone feels welcome. Thats why we value equal opportunity and nurture an inclusive workplace where our individual differences are recognized and valued.

For more information visit theDiversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)section of our website. If you have accommodation needs at this stage of the recruitment process please inform us as soon as possible by emailing us atemailprotected.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process such as reviewing applications analyzing resumes or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed please contact us.

Required Experience:

Staff IC

ABOUT APPLY DIGITALApply Digital is a global experience transformation partner. We drive AI-powered change and measurable impact across complex multi-brand ecosystems. Leveraging expertise that spans across the customer experience lifecycle from strategy design to engineering and beyond we enable ou...