AI Builder — Senior Principal Engineer at Autodesk

**Who this is for** This role is for a highly experienced software engineer who thrives in ambiguous, high-impact environments and enjoys bridging the gap betwe

Work type: onsite

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Type: Full-time

Summary

**Who this is for** This role is for a highly experienced software engineer who thrives in ambiguous, high-impact environments and enjoys bridging the gap between product strategy and technical execution. **Key highlights** You will work within a specialized "AI-native disrupt squad" at Autodesk, focusing on building proof-of-concept systems that reshape internal workflows and platform experiences rather than maintaining existing production code. **You might be a good fit if you...** - Have 8+ years of experience building and scaling production-level software systems. - Are comfortable architecting end-to-end AI workflows, including agent orchestration and tool integration. - Possess a "proof-obsessed" mindset, prioritizing rapid, functional prototypes over lengthy documentation. - Demonstrate high learning velocity when navigating complex, cross-domain technical challenges.

Job Description

Job Requisition ID #

26WD97586

Position Overview
This is a role for a seasoned software engineer who wants to fundamentally change how systems work.  You will join a small, AI-native disrupt squad within Autodesk’s Platform Services & Emerging Technologies (PSET) organization, accountable for redefining how the platform is experienced, accessed, and built upon.
 
You won’t be handed well-defined problems. You will identify high-leverage opportunities, define what should exist, and prove a dramatically better way through working systems, using any internal or external approaches.  Your role is not just to explore ideas, but to make them real. Building proof points that are viable, scalable, and capable of reshaping the platform.  This team does not operate in traditional roles. As an AI Builder, you bring product thinking, experience design, and engineering together in one motion, shaping workflows end-to-end.
 
You will use AI, real systems, and rapid experimentation to reshape how work gets done for Autodesk teams and to determine which approaches truly deliver the best outcomes for our customers.  Your focus is not on operating production systems. You are accountable for turning friction into opportunity and delivering near-production-grade proofs that make a new approach credible and hard to dismiss.
 
Core Traits

To succeed in this role, we are looking for people who are:

• Proof-obsessed: build to test and demonstrate, not to discuss

• Institutionally impatient: do not accept friction, process, or complexity as fixed

• Out-of-the-box thinkers: identify fundamentally better ways, not incremental fixes

• Systems thinkers: naturally connect workflows across boundaries

• Integrators: collapse product, experience, and engineering into one motion

• Find and work through seams, bottlenecks, and hand offs that make the platform harder to use than it should be, focusing on the ones where a different approach creates outsized impact

• Engineer end-to-end, AI-native workflow proofs that turn fragmented systems into functioning, real-world workflows

• Build working prototypes and scrappy, production-like implementations that prove something actually works; not just that it could

• Use whatever tools, agents, and integrations are required, internal or external, to demonstrate a simpler, more effective way forward 

• Test and compare AI approaches in real workflows to determine what performs best in practice and can scale

• Produce clear “before vs after” proof points that expose friction and make better approaches undeniable

• Don’t just highlight what’s broken. Define and prototype how it should work instead, including paths to evolve the platform

• 8+ years of experience building and operating production systems, with demonstrated accountability for defining technical direction, leading cross-team initiatives, and delivering system or platform-level outcomes

• Strong system and architectural judgment across services, data, and workflows

• Strong applied AI capability (structuring problems for agents, orchestrating tools and workflows, evaluating outputs; not just accelerating coding)

• Strong product and workflow judgment, with a focus on leverage and outcomes

• Strong software engineering fundamentals (APIs, distributed systems, data flows, debugging across systems) and ability to build end-to-end systems across the stack

• Proven track record of solving complex, cross-domain problems and driving work from ambiguity to working systems independently

• Demonstrated ability to deliver cross-team or organizational impact, not just local features

• High learning velocity in rapidly evolving technical environments

• Experience testing and comparing AI approaches within real workflows to determine what actually works

• Hands-on experience building or orchestrating agent-based systems and tool integrations

• Familiarity with prompt design, evaluation patterns, and rapid experimentation

• Background in applied AI or hands-on engineering environments using modern AI tooling

Welcome to Autodesk! Amazing things are created every day with our software – from the greenest buildings and cleanest cars to the smartest factories and biggest hit movies. We help innovators turn their ideas into reality, transforming not only how things are made, but what can be made.

We take great pride in our culture here at Autodesk – it’s at the core of everything we do. Our culture guides the way we work and treat each other, informs how we connect with customers and partners, and defines how we show up in the world.

When you’re an Autodesker, you can do meaningful work that helps build a better world designed and made for all. Ready to shape the world and your future? Join us!

Benefits

From health and financial benefits to time away and everyday wellness, we give Autodeskers the best, so they can do their best work. Learn more about our benefits in the U.S. by visiting [https://benefits.autodesk.com/](https://benefits.autodesk.com/)

Salary transparency

Salary is one part of Autodesk’s competitive compensation package. For U.S.-based roles, we expect a starting base salary between $165,000 and $296,450. Offers are based on the candidate’s experience and geographic location, and may exceed this range. In addition to base salaries, our compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, commissions for sales roles, stock grants, and a comprehensive benefits package.

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