Principal Architect – AI Systems & Engineering

About Coalfire
Coalfire is on a mission to make the world a safer place by solving our clients’ hardest cybersecurity challenges. We work at the cutting edge of technology to advise, assess, automate, and ultimately help companies navigate the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. We are headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with offices across the U.S. and U.K., and we support clients around the world.
But that’s not who we are – that’s just what we do. We are thought leaders, consultants, and cybersecurity experts, but above all else, we are a team of passionate problem-solvers who are hungry to learn, grow, and make a difference.
Position Summary
The Principal Architect – AI Systems & Engineering is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining scalable applications and automation workflows that will serve as the foundation for advanced AI security and compliance agents. This role ensures the seamless integration of front-end, back-end, and cloud-native services while enabling efficient and secure deployment pipelines. The developer will collaborate closely with AI engineering, data, and product teams to deliver robust, production-grade systems that can scale to enterprise-level demands.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable full stack applications using Python (and TypeScript where applicable) to support security and compliance agent workflows.
• Build and optimize RESTful APIs to enable seamless data exchange across services and systems.
• Architect and manage microservice-based solutions on AWS, leveraging Kubernetes for orchestration and scalability.
• Implement DevOps best practices including CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and automated deployment strategies.
• Develop automation frameworks and tools to reduce manual tasks, improve efficiency, and support AI-driven workflows.
• Collaborate with data engineering teams to integrate microservices with analytics platforms and big data pipelines.
• Ensure compliance with security standards, governance policies, and cloud best practices.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize system performance, ensuring high availability and reliability of deployed applications.
• Provide technical mentorship and contribute to setting best practices for development, DevOps, and cloud engineering.

What You'll Bring

• 10+ years in software development, with demonstrated expertise across front-end, back-end, and DevOps/cloud engineering.
• Proficiency in Python (TypeScript a strong plus).
• Proven experience in API development (RESTful/GraphQL).
• Hands-on experience with AWS services (EC2, Lambda, S3, RDS, EKS, etc.).
• Strong background in Kubernetes for container orchestration.
• Expertise in DevOps practices, CI/CD pipeline design, and automation tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
• Experience working with microservice architectures in production environments.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or equivalent cloud/devops certifications.
• Strong problem-solving abilities with a focus on designing scalable and secure solutions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work cross-functionally in a fast-paced environment.
• Highly adaptable and comfortable learning new AI/automation technologies.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines.
• Proactive, self-motivated, and able to take ownership of end-to-end development processes.
• Mentorship mindset, able to share expertise and uplift junior engineers.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Legal eligibility to work in the U.S.; willingness to occasionally travel for team workshops or client engagements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Previous experience in security, compliance, or automation engineering roles.
• Hands-on experience with big data pipelines, analytics platforms, or data engineering practices.
• Familiarity with agentic AI/automation frameworks or GenAI application development.
• Additional certifications in Kubernetes (CKA/CKAD), security (CISSP, CISM), or DevOps tooling.
• Experience working within highly regulated industries (finance, healthcare, defense, etc.).

Why You’ll Want to Join Us
At Coalfire, you’ll find the support you need to thrive personally and professionally. In many cases, we provide a flexible work model that empowers you to choose when and where you’ll work most effectively – whether you’re at