Principal Agentic Engineer (Back-end)

ABOUT APPLY DIGITAL

Apply Digital is a global experience transformation partner. We drive AI-powered change and measurable impact across complex, multi-brand ecosystems. Leveraging expertise that spans across the customer experience lifecycle from strategy, design to engineering and beyond, we enable our clients to modernize their organizations and maximize value for their business and customers.

Our 750+ team members have helped transform global companies like Kraft Heinz, NFL, Moderna, Lululemon, Dropbox, Atlassian, A+E Networks, and The Very Group. 

Apply Digital was founded in 2016 in Vancouver, Canada. In the past nine years, we have grown to ten cities across North America, South America, the UK, Europe, and India.

At Apply Digital, we believe in the “ One Team ” approach, where we operate within a ‘pod’ structure. Each pod brings together senior leadership, subject matter experts, and cross-functional skill sets, all working within a common tech and delivery framework. This structure is underpinned by well-oiled scrum and sprint cadences, keeping teams in step to release often and retrospectives to ensure we progress toward the desired outcomes. 

Wherever we work in the world, we envision Apply Digital as a safe, empowered, respectful and fun community for people, every single day. Together, we work to embody our SHAPE (smart, humble, active, positive, and excellent) values and make Apply Digital a space for our team to connect, grow, and support each other to make a difference. 

Visit our Careers page to learn how we can unlock your potential.

LOCATION:  Apply Digital is hybrid/remote friendly. The preferred candidate should be based in Canada, working in hours that align to  ET (Eastern Timezone) or PT (Pacific Timezone).

THE ROLE:

The Principal Agentic Engineer (Back-end) is a senior technical leader within our engineering organization, responsible for designing, building, and scaling robust backend systems that support modern, AI-powered digital products. This role combines deep backend engineering expertise with strong architectural judgment, AI-system fluency, and client-facing leadership.

As a Principal Agentic Engineer, you will lead technical direction across complex backend systems, mentor engineers, and partner closely with clients and internal teams to deliver production-grade solutions. You will play a critical role in designing distributed, cloud-native architectures and integrating large language models (LLMs), vector databases, and AI agents into real-world applications. You will engineer teams of coding agents to accomplish implementation requirements for the systems you will be building.

You bring proven leadership at a Staff or Lead level, with a track record of delivering complex software initiatives end-to-end. You operate with high autonomy and can take loosely defined goals and turn them into well-architected, shipped software.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the design and development of scalable, secure, and high-performance backend systems using Python and modern cloud-native patterns.
• Apply spec-driven development practices to ensure clarity, quality, and predictable delivery.
• Organizing, distributing and translating backlog requirements from Product, UX and other disciplines, into detailed spec driven requirements for Agents to implement.
• Coordinate teams of coding agents to deliver engineering requirements.
• Design and implement RESTful APIs to support frontend, mobile, and third-party integrations.
• Architect and deliver AI-powered backend solutions, including: Vector stores and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, integration with LLMs (e.g., Gemini, Claude, GPT-4/5), and use of AI coding agents and developer copilots to improve delivery velocity.
• Develop and maintain systems using Google Cloud Platform (GCP), with hands-on experience in, Vertex AI, Google Gen AI APIs.
• Leverage Agent Development Kits (ADKs) (e.g., Google ADK) to design and implement intelligent agent-based systems.
• Ensure systems are observable, reliable, and debuggable in production environments.
• Collaborate with engineers to design well-architected, maintainable solutions aligned with business goals.
• Mentor and guide engineers, fostering technical excellence and continuous learning.
• Partner with Project Managers and cross-functional teams to manage delivery risks and timelines.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including clients.

REQUIREMENTS

• Strong experience with Python 3 for backend development.
• Experience designing and consuming RESTful APIs.
• Proven experience with spec-driven development.
• Hands-on experience using AI coding agents (e.g., Copilot, Claude Code).
• Strong prompt engineering skills.
• Experience working with LLMs (e.g., Gemini 3, Claude Opus, GPT-4.x/5.x).
• Experience implementing vector stores and RAG architectures.
• Experience with Agent Development Kits (e.g., Google ADK).
• Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Hands-on experience with Vertex AI and Google Gen AI APIs.
• Experience with relational and non-relational databases.
• Experience with Git and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong system design fundamentals, including queues, caching strategies, database schema design, and API design. You know how to build systems that survive and scale in production.
• Experience designing AI agents, agent task planning, and reasoning patterns.
• Agent observability and debugging experience.
• Ability to clearly articulate goals, constraints, and context for agentic systems; reason through edge cases and failure modes; and iteratively refine agent behavior based on observed outcomes.
• Comfort understanding and integrating across the full stack; experience with TypeScript and modern JavaScript is highly beneficial.
• Excellent English communication skills (written and verbal), with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Excellent command of the English language to guide coding agents to complete required coding tasks.
• Experience working effectively with fully remote, distributed teams.
• Experience working in a consultancy, agency, or professional services firm.
• Ability to thrive in a flexible, fast-paced delivery environment.

NICE TO HAVES

• Experience with BMAD Method or similar spec driven development frameworks.
• Familiarity with layered and distributed architectures.
• Experience with Terraform.
• Experience with additional backend languages.
• Experience with gRPC or other communication patterns.
• Experience with eCommerce platforms or complex integrations.

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LIFE AT APPLY DIGITAL

At Apply Digital, people are at the core of everything we do . We value your time, safety, and health, and strive to build a work community that can help you thrive and grow. Here are a few benefits we offer to support you:

Great projects: Broaden your skills on a range of engaging projects with international brands that have a global impact.

An inclusive and safe environment: We’re truly committed to building a culture where you are celebrated and everyone feels welcome and safe.

Learning opportunities: We offer generous training budgets, including partner tech certifications, custom learning plans, workshops, mentorship, and peer support.

Generous vacation policy: Work-life balance is key to our team’s success, so we offer flexible personal time offer (PTO); allowing ample time away from work to promote overall well-being.

Customizable benefits: Tailor your extended health and dental plan to your needs, priorities, and preferences.

Flexible work arrangements: We work in a variety of ways, from remote, to in-office, to a blend of both.

Apply Digital is committed to building a culture where differences are celebrated and everyone feels welcome. That’s why we value equal opportunity and nurture an inclusive workplace where our individual differences are recognized and valued.

For more information, visit the  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)section of our website. If you have accommodation needs at this stage of the recruitment process, please inform us as soon as possible by emailing us at [email protected] .

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.