Principal AI Engineer

Description Jeppesen ForeFlight builds industry-leading aviation software used by pilots, aircraft operators, and major airlines worldwide. As a high-growth, private equity-backed company, we are focused on scaling our operations, strengthening our financial infrastructure, and driving operational excellence across the business. Our team combines deep domain expertise with a collaborative, high-performance culture to solve complex challenges and support continued growth. Jeppesen and ForeFlight are looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the next evolution of software development inside our organization: agentic coding, AI-native engineering workflows, and large-scale adoption of AI engineering systems. This is not a traditional platform engineering role. We are looking for a deeply technical builder and change agent who has lived through high-velocity AI-enabled development environments and can help transform how engineering gets done across our company. You will partner directly with the CTO and senior engineering leadership to define the strategy, tooling, standards, and operating model for AI-assisted software development. Your mandate is to dramatically improve engineering velocity, quality, and leverage through practical adoption of coding agents, LLM-powered workflows, and AI-native engineering practices. This role is also fundamentally about elevating and evolving our existing engineering organization. We are looking for a leader who can help current developers successfully adopt AI-native coding practices, modern engineering workflows, and agentic development tools in a practical, scalable, and measurable way. Success will require both deep technical expertise and the ability to influence, coach, and upskill engineers across a broad range of experience levels. Aviation domain expertise is not required. We are prioritizing candidates who bring fresh thinking from AI-forward engineering cultures and companies that are already operating at the forefront of AI-enabled software development. Key Responsibilities Define and lead the company-wide strategy for agentic coding and AI engineering enablement Evaluate, prototype, and operationalize AI coding agents and AI-native developer tooling Drive adoption of tools and workflows that materially improve developer productivity, software quality, and engineering velocity Lead the cultural and technical adoption of AI-assisted software development across the engineering organization Upskill and mentor existing engineering teams on effective use of coding agents, LLM-based workflows, and AI-native development practices Develop training, playbooks, standards, and internal best practices for AI-enabled engineering Identify opportunities where AI can augment—not replace—developer effectiveness and creativity Help engineers transition from traditional development workflows to AI-accelerated engineering models Build enthusiasm, trust, and practical competency around AI tooling through hands-on leadership and measurable results Establish best practices for: AI-assisted software development autonomous and semi-autonomous coding agents prompt engineering for software delivery human-in-the-loop review systems AI-assisted testing, debugging, and refactoring Build internal frameworks and governance around safe and effective use of AI in engineering Partner with engineering leaders to redesign workflows, SDLC processes, and developer experience around AI capabilities Create measurable productivity and quality metrics tied to AI tooling adoption Serve as a technical advisor to the CTO and executive leadership on emerging AI engineering trends Influence architecture and platform direction to maximize compatibility with AI-driven development systems Basic Qualifications Deep software engineering background with experience operating at principal, staff-plus, or equivalent technical leadership levels Proven experience using AI coding systems in production engineering environments Hands-on experience with modern coding agents and AI development workflows Strong systems thinking and ability to influence engineering organizations at scale Track record of introducing transformative developer tooling, engineering platforms, or workflow improvements Ability to balance experimentation with operational rigor, security, and engineering quality Exceptional communication, mentoring, and technical leadership skills Passion for helping engineering teams evolve and adapt to AI-native ways of working Why Join Us At Jeppesen ForeFlight, we know you want a rewarding career. To do that, you need challenging projects, a good work environment, and awesome coworkers. We believe in our employees, and we empower them to make a direct impact on our products and services. We strive to provide our employees with a world-class benefits experience, focused on supporting their physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing. Our benefits package includes but is not limited to the following: Medical, dental, vision insurance with Employer paid health premiums Open PTO Policy 401(k) with up to 10% company matching and immediate vesting 12 Weeks Paid Maternity Leave 4 Weeks Paid Paternity Leave Flight Training Rewards Pay is based upon candidate experience and qualifications, as well market and business considerations: Summary Pay Range: Jeppesen ForeFlight - EOE including Disability/Vets | Pay Transparency | E-Verify Participant | Equal Opportunity Employer