Sr. Engineer, AI Platform Engineering

Sr. Engineer, AI Platform Engineering

Job Summary

The Sr. Engineer, AI Platform Engineering will play a critical role in the design, architecture, and deployment of scalable AI infrastructure, foundation models, and generative AI solutions across Petco. This role requires deep expertise in AI platform engineering, model serving, vector databases, and LLMOps/MLOps pipelines. The Sr. Engineer will collaborate closely with cross-functional software engineering, product, and data teams to drive innovation, establish robust AI platform capabilities, and contribute to the strategic technology vision of the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• AI Architecture & Solution Design

• Lead end-to-end AI architecture and solution design to build resilient, enterprise-grade platform infrastructure.

• Design and implement Generative AI capabilities, including LLMs, foundation models, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), and Agentic AI / AI agents.

• Architect efficient model serving and high-throughput inference systems optimized for real-time and batch workloads.

• Integrate embeddings, vector databases, and cloud AI/ML services into core engineering products.

• MLOps, LLMOps & Infrastructure

• Establish and champion MLOps and LLMOps best practices across the engineering organization.

• Build automated CI/CD pipelines specifically tailored for AI/ML applications, ensuring seamless testing, deployment, evaluation, and monitoring.

• Design end-to-end AI platform pipelines emphasizing scalability, security, high availability, and performance.

• Research & Platform Innovation

• Stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence technologies, open-source foundation models, and emerging platform tooling.

• Lead evaluation and proof-of-concept initiatives for cutting-edge generative AI frameworks, inference engines, and vector stores.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration & AI Integration

• Partner with software engineers, system architects, and business stakeholders to drive seamless AI application integration into production ecosystems.

• Translate complex enterprise requirements into robust, reusable AI platform services and developer APIs.

• Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing

• Provide technical leadership, architectural guidance, and mentorship to software and platform engineers.

• Maintain comprehensive documentation of AI architectures, platform interfaces, design patterns, and operational procedures.

• Foster a culture of technical excellence and contribute to internal technical knowledge repositories.

• Continuous Improvement

• Continuously evaluate and optimize AI platform infrastructure, runtime performance, resource utilization, and reliability.

• Qualifications and Requirements

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or AI engineering in production environments.

• Proven track record in end-to-end AI solution design, model serving, inference optimization, and AI application integration.

• Strong expertise with Generative AI concepts including LLMs, foundation models, RAG architectures, embeddings, and vector databases.

• Hands-on experience implementing MLOps / LLMOps frameworks and building robust CI/CD pipelines for AI/ML applications.

• Advanced programming proficiency in languages such as Python, Go, or Java.

• Demonstrated technical leadership and mentorship capabilities.

• Excellent problem-solving, architectural design, and communication skills.

• Preferred Skills

• Deep hands-on experience with major cloud platforms and cloud AI/ML services (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).

• Strong familiarity with containerization, microservices, and orchestration tools (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, Ray).

• Experience with distributed systems and big data technologies.

• Strong foundation in modern software development methodologies, API design, and system reliability engineering (SRE).

• LI-CS1

• CORP

• Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

• The pay ranges outlined below are presented in accordance with state-specific regulations. These ranges may differ in other areas and could be subject to variation based on regulatory minimum wage requirements. Actual pay rates will depend on factors such as position, location, level of experience, and applicable state or local minimum wage laws. If the regulatory minimum wage exceeds the minimum indicated in the pay range below, the regulatory minimum wage will be the minimum rate applied.

• Salary Range: $137,100.00 - $227,000.00

• Hourly or

Salary

Range will be reflected above. For a more detailed overview of Petco Total Rewards, including health and financial benefits, 401K, incentives, and PTO - see https://careers.petco.com/us/en/key-benefits

Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or any other protected classification.