[Remote] Principal Engineer - AI Platform

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. iHerb is on a mission to make health and wellness accessible to all, and they are seeking a Principal Engineer - AI Platform to lead their AI initiatives. This role involves defining the AI platform architecture, building production AI systems, and mentoring engineers while collaborating across various teams to enhance iHerb's AI capabilities.ResponsibilitiesDefine and own the AI platform architecture: retrieval infrastructure, model lifecycle, evals framework, guardrails, and GenAI product feature designLead the build of the shared AI platform layer consumed by all AI product features and reusable by internal business teamsHands-on contributor: build production AI systems, write proofs of concept, and validate architecture through working softwareSet and enforce technical standards for the AI Platform team; drive architecture reviews and model quality reviewsCoordinate with the Personalization team to define clear boundaries between the GenAI product layer and existing ML personalization infrastructureContribute AI platform-specific patterns and lessons into iHerb's shared AI-driven SDLC golden pathDrive the hardest cross-cutting technical decisions across multiple teams and shared platform servicesEstablish and evolve iHerb's AI-driven SDLC golden path: shared standards, Claude Code skills, guardrails, and automation patternsLead complex multi-team technical efforts by coordinating architecture reviews, aligning peer Principals and EMs, and resolving competing approachesMentor and raise the technical bar across the engineering organization through code review, architecture review, and direct coaching of senior engineersRepresent engineering in cross-functional conversations with product, data science, security, and infrastructureFeed architectural decisions into the shared knowledge base so institutional knowledge compounds across the organizationSkillsAI-driven SDLC (required): demonstrated use of AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor to ship production systems. Can articulate workflow changes, quality tradeoffs, and guardrail strategiesArchitecture at scale: experience designing and evolving large-scale distributed systems across multiple teams and years: APIs, data pipelines, event-driven architectures, or high-traffic platformsCross-org technical leadership: track record of driving architectural standards, technical roadmaps, or platform initiatives that span multiple teams or organizationsEngineering quality mindset: deeply held opinions on code quality, observability, CI/CD, test automation, and maintaining velocity without accumulating hidden debtCommunication and influence: able to write clear architecture documents, present to technical and non-technical audiences, and build consensus without formal authorityExperience working in distributed teams across the US, China, and Latin AmericaProduction experience designing and operating AI platform systems: RAG pipelines, vector search, embedding infrastructure, or retrieval-augmented applications at scaleHands-on experience with LLM evaluation: building eval frameworks, defining quality metrics, and iterating on model and prompt quality using dataMLOps experience: model deployment, monitoring, lifecycle management, and cost governance in a production environmentExperience building and operating agentic systems using frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or equivalentGenAI in production is required; prototype or research-only experience is not sufficient at this levelHigh degree of accuracy and attention to detailExcellent organization skills and ability to multi-taskExperience with Google Business Suite (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms)BenefitsEmployees (and their families) that meet eligibility criteria as outlined in applicable plan documents are eligible to participate in our medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance programs and may enroll in our company’s 401(k) plan.Employees will also be eligible for Time Off and Paid Sick Leave pursuant to the company’s policies.Employees will enjoy paid holidays throughout the calendar year.Hired applicant may be awarded Restrict Stock Units and receive annual bonuses pursuant to eligibility and performance criteria defined in the respective plan documents and policies.Company OverviewiHerb is on a mission to make health and wellness accessible to all. It was founded in 1996, and is headquartered in Irvine, California, USA, with a workforce of 1001-5000 employees. Its website is http://www.iherb.com.Company H1B SponsorshipiHerb has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 1 in 2026, 4 in 2025, 2 in 2024, 2 in 2023, 6 in 2022, 2 in 2021, 1 in 2020. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.