Principal R&D AI Software Engineer (Remote) at Progressive Leasing

You're a highly specialized and deeply technical AI innovator with over 10 years of full-stack software engineering experience, comfortable working autonomously

Work type: remote

Location: Michigan

Type: Full-time

Summary

You're a highly specialized and deeply technical AI innovator with over 10 years of full-stack software engineering experience, comfortable working autonomously to build advanced AI solutions. **What makes it worth a look...** Progressive Leasing, a leading FinTech company, is hiring for a fully remote Principal R&D AI Software Engineer role. They offer competitive compensation, comprehensive health benefits, a company-matched 401k, and tuition reimbursement. **You might be a good fit if you...** * Have senior-level proficiency in AI integrations, LLM APIs, agent development, and prompt engineering. * Possess in-depth expertise in cloud infrastructure design, automation, and deployment with AWS. * Are strong in Python, with experience in JavaScript/TypeScript and building APIs using JSON and REST. * Understand databases (SQL/NoSQL) and vector embeddings for AI applications.

Job Description

Progressive Leasingis a leading provider of in-store and e-commerce lease-to-own solutions. With more than 20 years in FinTech, we’ve grown from start-up to industry leader by innovating, simplifying, and valuing people. We are a subsidiary of PROG Holdings (NYSE: PRG), a FinTech holding company with three business segments: Progressive Leasing, Purchasing Power (a leading employee purchase program for consumer products and services using payroll deduction), and Four, a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform.

We are currently hiring a Principal R&D AI Software Engineerto help grow our company and ensure our mission is achieved!     

This role is a work from home position and can be performed remotely anywhere in the continental US or in our corporate location in Utah.Employee Value Proposition (EVP): PROG is dedicated to providing people with opportunity; opportunity for inclusive collaboration, opportunity for innovation, and opportunity for development.WE ARE: Prog Tech embodies the modernity and transformational vision that is core to our business evolution. As passionate and hungry technical experts, we join together on the mission of progressing through technology. We believe in taking pride in our engineering, in the relentless pursuit of daily progress, and to bring others with you in your march to the future. We continuously experiment, fail fast, and constantly deliver. 

YOU ARE:A highly specialized and deeply technical AI innovator who thrives at the frontier of emerging technology. You are a senior engineering leader with the ability to design, build, and deliver advanced AI-powered solutions—from rapid prototypes to early-stage production systems. You’re excited by ambiguity, energized by experimentation, and passionate about transforming cutting-edge models, tools, and research into tangible business value. Your breadth of full-stack engineering expertise, coupled with mastery of modern AI frameworks, allows you to independently drive ideas from concept to implementation. You are a thought partner to leadership, a hands-on builder, and a force multiplier for the organization’s AI strategy.

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY:

• Architect, design, and develop proof-of-concepts and early-stage production systems leveraging LLMs, agentic workflows, vector databases, and emerging AI technologies


• Work closely with the VP of Research & Development to shape technical direction, evaluate emerging tools, and identify high-impact opportunities for AI adoption


• Build integrations with platforms such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and other leading models using APIs, SDKs, and custom toolchains


• Develop full-stack solutions end-to-end, including API development, data pipelining, infrastructure provisioning, and cloud-native deployments


• Create advanced prompts, system instructions, tools, and agent architectures to elevate automation, reasoning, and decision-making across business processes


• Partner with engineering, product, data, and security teams to validate feasibility, ensure responsible-AI standards, and transition successful POCs toward production readiness


• Maintain a high sense of ownership over solution design, performance, quality, and reliability


• Actively research, experiment, and document findings to keep Progressive Leasing at the cutting edge of applied AI

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering with deep expertise in full-stack development, distributed systems, and cloud architectures


• Senior-level proficiency in AI integrations, LLM APIs, agent development, prompt engineering, and orchestration frameworks


• In‑depth expertise in cloud infrastructure design, automation, and deployment with AWS


• Strong programming capability in Python, plus experience with JavaScript/TypeScript and complementary backend frameworks


• Hands-on experience building APIs, automating workflows, and designing scalable services using JSON, REST, and event-driven patterns


• Solid understanding of databases (SQL/NoSQL), vector embeddings, and data modeling for AI-powered applications


• Experience designing POCs, running experiments, and driving MVP-to-production evolution


• Ability to work autonomously, move quickly, and distill ambiguous problem spaces into actionable technical solutions


• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence decision-making and explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences


• Curiosity, creativity, and a passion for staying ahead of the rapidly evolving AI landscape

• Competitive Compensation 

• Full Health Benefits; Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance + Paid Parental Leave 

• Company Matched 401k 

• Paid Time Off + Paid Holidays + Paid Volunteer Hours 

• Employee Resource Groups (Black Inclusion Group, Women in Leadership, PRIDE, Adelante) 

• Employee Stock Purchase Program 

• Tuition Reimbursement 

• Charitable Gift Matching 

• Job required equipment and services 

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