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Principal Engineer - AI/ML

US - California - San JosePosted Today
FULL_TIMEonsite

Job Description

Role Overview:

McAfee is a global leader in online protection. We are dedicated to making the digital world a safer place for everyone. We are seeking a highly experienced and hands-on Technical Lead Software Engineer with deep expertise in cloud-native architecture, agentic AI systems, strong background in full-stack development, large-scale internet services, and a proven track record of rapidly delivering AI/ML solutions into production. This is a unique opportunity to lead critical projects, mentor talented engineers, and shape the future of McAfee's innovative security products through fast, iterative delivery focused on business outcomes. We highly value experience gained at FAANG or other leading Big Tech companies.

This is a Hybrid Position located in one of our hub offices of Frisco, TX, San Jose, CA, Newport Beach, CA, New York, NY, and in Toronto or Waterloo, Canada. We are only considering candidates within a commutable distance to these locations.
You will be required to be onsite on an as-needed basis; when not working onsite, you will work from your home office.

About the Role: 

  • Lead the design, development, and deployment of scalable, resilient, and high-performance software solutions with a focus on agentic AI/ML capabilities. 

  • Provide hands-on technical leadership throughout the entire software development lifecycle, from concept and design to testing, deployment, and operational support. 

  • Architect and build full-stack applications and services that operate on an internet scale, ensuring high availability and low latency on modern cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP). 

  • Drive the technical vision and strategy for AI/ML-powered features and products, translating business requirements into robust technical designs with rapid iteration and incremental delivery. 

  • Mentor and guide a team of software engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, innovation, collaboration, speed, and AI-augmented productivity. 

  • Collaborate closely with product managers, data scientists, researchers, and other engineering teams to deliver impactful solutions aligned with business goals. 

  • Leverage AI-assisted development tools and practices to accelerate delivery (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, LLM-powered workflows). 

  • Champion best practices in software engineering, including code quality, testing, CI/CD, and DevOps with a pragmatic, outcome-driven approach. 

  • Stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends, particularly in AI/ML, agentic and LLM-based systems, multi-agent architectures, distributed systems, and cloud computing. 

  • Contribute to code reviews, design discussions, and architectural decisions with hands-on involvement in implementation. 

  • Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues in production environments. 

 

About You: 

  • 10+ years of professional software development experience, with a significant portion in a technical leadership role. 

  • Extensive hands-on experience in designing, building, and operating large-scale, distributed internet services. 

  • Proven experience in developing and deploying agentic AI systems and AI/ML models into production environments. This includes familiarity with the end-to-end MLOps lifecycle and modern LLM-based architectures. 

  • Strong proficiency in multiple programming languages such as Python, Java, Go, Rust, C++ or similar. 

  • Deep understanding of full-stack development, including front-end technologies (e.g., JavaScript, TypeScript, Dart, React, Flutter) and back-end technologies (gRPC, protobuf). 

  • Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes) as a primary deployment model. 

  • Advanced Cloud & K8s Infrastructure: Deep expertise in Kubernetes (Helm, ArgoCD), advanced cloud networking (Ingress, Calico), Zero Trust Security (OPA), Service Mesh (Istio/Linkerd), and eBPF (Cilium) for high-performance observability and traffic management. 

  • Solid understanding of database technologies (SQL and NoSQL). 

  • Demonstrated use of AI productivity tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) to accelerate software development. 

  • Bias for action: proven track record of fast, iterative, incremental delivery over analysis paralysis. 

  • Business outcome orientation: focus on delivering value and measurable results, not just technical outputs. 

  • Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and technical troubleshooting skills. 

  • Strong communication, interpersonal, and leadership abilities. 

  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, agile environment with a strong hands-on coding presence. 

  • Preferred: Contributions to open-source projects. 

  • Preferred: Experience working at FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) or other leading Big Tech companies. 

  • Preferred: Experience with big data technologies (e.g., Data Bricks, Snowflake, Big Query, Spark, Hadoop, Kafka, etc.). 

  • Preferred: Experience in the cybersecurity domain. 

#LI-Hybrid

 



Company Overview

McAfee is a leader in personal security for consumers. Focused on protecting people, not just devices, McAfee consumer solutions adapt to users’ needs in an always online world, empowering them to live securely through integrated, intuitive solutions that protects their families and communities with the right security at the right moment.

Company Benefits and Perks:

We work hard to embrace diversity and inclusion and encourage everyone at McAfee to bring their authentic selves to work every day. We’re proud to be Great Place to Work® Certified in 10 countries, a reflection of the supportive, empowering environment we’ve built where people feel seen, valued, and energized to reach their full potential and thrive.

We offer a variety of social programs, flexible work hours and family-friendly benefits to all of our employees.

  • Bonus Program
  • Pension and Retirement Plans
  • Medical, Dental and Vision Coverage
  • Paid Time Off
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Support for Community Involvement

We're serious about our commitment to diversity which is why McAfee prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or any other legally protected status.

The starting pay range for this position is $0.00-$0.00. McAfee takes into consideration an individual’s skillset, experience and location in making final salary determinations. For further details, please discuss with the Talent Acquisition Partner.
Principal Engineer - AI/ML at Mcafee | Renata