Principal Artificial Intelligence Software Engineer
Alaska Airlines · SeaTac, WA
$141,250–$211,900from the description
Jul 19, 2026
SeaTac, WA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior individual-contributor engineering role focused on architecting, building, and operating production-grade AI systems — including large language models, generative AI, and agentic frameworks — for a major airline. The position owns the AI platform strategy end-to-end, from governance and technical standards to scaling pilots into enterprise systems, while also guiding cross-functional adoption and mentoring the broader AI engineering team. Suits a seasoned engineer with deep ML/AI production experience and a track record of shaping platform-level decisions.
Principal level · 7+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 1,700 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 1,300–2,200
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $170,959 (middle half $135,720–$216,519). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The 7-year software development requirement is the only hard-gated experience floor; it is stated under 'Required' with no specific technology attached, so it is captured as total experience rather than a per-skill demand.
Python (or Java, Golang, C++) is the only hard-gated technology — listed under 'Required'. All AI/ML-specific technologies (LLMs, generative AI, agent frameworks, distributed systems, ML/AI platforms, AI governance) appear exclusively under 'Preferred', so they are marked accordingly.
The Bachelor's degree requirement is waived by 'two years of relevant training/experience in lieu of this degree', so the degree requirement is set to None.
The role is explicitly titled and framed as 'Principal' and described as the sole subject-matter expert setting org-wide AI strategy — genuine Principal-level scope, not merely a long-experience Senior.
The 2-year Generative AI sub-requirement ('at least 2 years with Generative AI') appears inside the Preferred block; it is captured on the parent ML/AI systems skill's years demanded (5 years) rather than as a separate hard gate.
Location is listed as 'Seattle - Hub / USA-WA-SeaTac'; no remote option is indicated.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): workflow orchestration, AI governance.
Read the full posting
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