At Thinkific, we believe information isn’t the same as education. As AI makes raw information free and ubiquitous, our mission is to empower educators to harness this powerful technology, to keep it on a leash for structured, effective learning.

Are you ready to shape the future of education by leading AI strategy at a mission-driven company? We’re looking for a Principal AI Engineer to join us. You won’t just be told what to build, you’ll define it. You’ll lead our flagship AI Teaching Assistant, transforming how people teach and learn online. With the freedom to explore bold ideas, adapt innovations, and influence our AI strategy, you’ll make a visible impact in a company small enough for agility and established enough to back big ideas.

• Transformative project - Redefine online learning with our AI Teaching Assistant.
• Frontline innovation - Drive strategy and bring fresh ideas to life.
• High impact - Collaborate directly with senior leadership.
• Growth - Shape the culture and future of our AI team.

Your goal will be to own a strategic area within R&D, ensuring business success through impactful technical decisions — from identifying and prototyping AI initiatives to delivering reliable, scalable production systems. Here’s how you’ll accomplish this:

• Lead AI architecture & vision
  • Define technical direction, guide Staff Engineers, and ensure scalable, high-quality solutions.
• Shape the roadmap
  • Partner with R&D leadership to turn strategic AI opportunities into actionable engineering plans.
• Be Thinkific’s AI authority
  • Advise senior leadership, showcase AI capabilities, and share insights internally and externally.
• Grow the AI team
  • Mentor engineers, support hiring, and foster technical excellence.
• Research & innovate
  • Explore emerging AI/ML tech, assess competitors, and translate findings into product opportunities.
• Ensure operational excellence
  • Own costs, scalability, and reliability metrics for your AI domains.
• Engage with the community
  • Contribute to blogs, conferences, and industry discussions while staying ahead of the curve.

The person we have in mind likely:

• Has 10+ years in software engineering, including 3+ years at Staff/Principal level (or equivalent technical leadership)
• Possesses a proven track record of delivering large-scale, event-driven systems and rapid prototypes
• Has hands-on coding expertise in Node.js with TypeScript, while also influencing at a strategic level.
• Has experience building and launching AI-powered products with LLMs (e.g., RAG, fine-tuning, vector DBs, embeddings, AI-assisted coding tools)
• Has strong architectural leadership — designing complex, distributed systems, delegating effectively, and mentoring senior engineers
• Holds the ability to translate business goals into actionable, scalable, and maintainable technical roadmaps
• Has high customer/stakeholder empathy with a focus on end-user value
• Is an exceptional communicator who is confident in engaging executives and cross-functional leaders

These things would also be nice, but we think you could learn them on the job:

• Ruby on Rails
• ML model training or fine-tuning
• SaaS/cloud-native architecture experience
• Familiarity with modern web frameworks beyond Node/TS
• Competitive product/technical research
• AI/ML compliance and governance frameworks
• Public technical evangelism, community contributions, or thought leadership

We’re committed to fair and transparent pay that reflects both where you’re at and where you can grow. This role has a salary range of $180,600 - $271,000 in Canada, designed to capture the full journey from developing skills to excelling in the position. Most new hires start between the minimum and midpoint, which aligns with being fully capable in the role. Salaries above the midpoint are typically reserved for team members who have demonstrated strong, consistent performance, deep expertise, and a significant positive impact within the role.

For high-demand or hard-to-fill positions like this one, we may hire above the midpoint for candidates who bring exceptional experience, skills, or impact potential.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging & Accessibility

This is just our initial idea of who we’re looking for! At Thinkific, we know that people have unique career journeys. If your experience is close to what we’ve described but you feel that you might be missing a few of the requirements, please still apply! We believe in equal opportunity and are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging across every facet of our business.

We’re also committed to providing a comfortable and accessible interview experience for every candidate. If there are any accommodations our team can make throughout our hiring process (big or small), please let us know.