Job Location: hybrid in Bucharest

Recruitment process:

• HR discussion
• 2 x Technical interview

Role description:

Our client (a German retail company) is undergoing one of the most far-reaching technology transformations in its history. The goal is not just to modernize systems, but to rethink how business software is designed, built and experienced.

A key part of this transformation is the creation of cloud-native applications built where standard software reaches its limits and where differentiation, speed or new user experiences matter most. 

To build this new application ecosystem, we are looking for a Principal AI-Native Software Engineer. This is the first role of its kind in this company and intentionally designed as a founding position, offering exceptional freedom, responsibility and impact.

What Makes This Role Special

This role is for people who want to rethink how software is built, not just implement existing patterns.

Our ambition is to develop business software in a truly AI-native way. This means applying modern AI-based development approaches across the entire software lifecycle –from ideation and development to testing, operations and evolution. This includes AI-assisted and AI-driven development (vibe coding), new human–system interaction paradigms and the targeted use of AI to create tangible functional business benefits.

Tools, technologies and ways of working are not predefined. They are expected to evolve through experimentation, learning and deliberate decision-making. You will play a central role in shaping this evolution.

The company collaborates with exceptional external partners in this context. This includes close exchange with SAP's product development teams as well as direct access to Google, including the latest AI models and hands-on support from Google experts. These relationships are explicitly understood as peer-level collaboration and sparring – for learning, feedback and inspiration.

At the same time, the company is strictly technology-agnostic. There are no mandated platforms or vendors. AI models, tools and technologies are selected solely based on what best serves the client's business and engineering goals.

Your Responsibilities

• Design and build software applications as cloud-native business software
• Establish and continuously evolve an AI-native approach to software development 
• Act as a hands-on principal engineer, building prototypes and production-grade systems 
• Select, evaluate and shape tools, frameworks and platforms for AI-assisted development 
• Design and implement new interaction models between users and systems Identify and realize AI use cases that deliver measurable business value
• Ensure high engineering quality while embracing experimentation 
• Share knowledge and mentor engineers across a distributed European team
• Act as a technical role model and driver of new ways of working

Working Model

You will work closely with engineers and stakeholders in other European locations. The role requires strong communication skills, autonomy and a proactive approach to distributed collaboration.

Your Profile

• Extensive experience as a senior or principal software engineer 
• Proven hands-on experience with AI-assisted software development and modern coding tools 
• Strong cloud-native engineering background (architecture, APIs, integration, scalability) 
• Experience working with modern AI models and platforms, with the ability to assess trade-offs critically 
• Strong technology-agnostic mindset and confidence in technology selection 
• Combination of engineering discipline and curiosity-driven experimentation 
• Ability to think end-to-end about business software, not just technical components 
• Excellent communication skills and a passion for sharing knowledge 
• Motivation to build something new with long-term impact

Why this role?

• Rare opportunity to shape a new way of building business software from the ground up 
• Work on real, business-critical products rather than isolated innovation labs 
• Collaboration and sparring with outstanding engineers, internally and externally 
• Access to state-of-the-art AI models and expert networks without vendor lock-in 
• High level of trust, autonomy and responsibility 
• Visible impact on a company-wide transformation 
• Long-term strategic relevance