Principal Software Engineer

Pearson VUE

. Own the end-to-end technical design connecting structured learning content, learner and performance data, and adaptive learning experiences .

Posted 11/12/2026full-timeRemote • North Carolina • United StatesLead💰 $155,000 - $175,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in designing and building adaptive learning systems using AI and large language models, with a strong focus on data modeling, security, and quality evaluation. Proven ability to lead cross-team initiatives and translate concepts into production-grade services.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Software Engineering ExperienceLarge Language ModelsData Modeling and PipelinesCloud-Native EngineeringAdaptive Learning Design

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Technical LeadershipProduction Application DevelopmentPrompt DesignRetrieval DesignAPI DesignEvent-Driven DesignContent Authoring ToolsEvaluation of AI-Generated ContentStructured Curriculum ModelingPersonalized Sequencing

Soft Skills

Cross-Program CollaborationKnowledge TransferProblem Solving

Tools & Technologies

AWSAI AgentsMCP ServersContent Delivery Platforms

Certifications & Qualifications

Degree in Computer Science

Industry Keywords

EducationEd-TechLearning DesignAdaptive LearningPedagogy

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSCloud

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the end-to-end technical design connecting structured learning content, learner and performance data, and adaptive learning experiences
Define shared contracts between content, data and adaptive services
Advise on architecture choices for high-profile adaptive features and make speed, quality and long-term platform health tradeoffs explicit
Act as technical point of contact for cross-program escalations and drive them to resolution
Design and build LLM- and agent-driven capabilities that personalize learning paths for K-12 students
Establish evaluation suites and quality gates for AI-generated content and recommendations, covering accuracy, pedagogy, safety and bias
Lead evaluation of new models, frameworks and tools, and pilot retrieval, tool-using agents and MCP servers
Partner with curriculum and learning design experts
Build prototypes with learners and educators and harden successful concepts into production-grade services
Reduce systemic risk through refactoring, hardening and observability
Safeguard student data security and privacy
Model AI-first engineering and help teams adopt it
Review critical designs and code across teams
Facilitate knowledge transfer between programs
Shape learner model, recommendation, multimodal generation, teacher insights, content repository, authoring, publishing, data pipeline, API and AI services

Requirements

What you’ll need

8-12 years of software engineering experience, including technical leadership of complex, cross-team initiatives
Hands-on experience building production applications with large language models and AI agents, including prompt and retrieval design, tool use and evaluation
Experience designing data models and pipelines that turn learner or user behavior into signals a product can act on
Experience with structured content models, content authoring tools or content delivery platforms
Strong cloud-native engineering background, with AWS preferred, API-first and event-driven design
Background in education, teaching, learning design or ed-tech is a strong plus
Track record of turning a rough proof of concept into a durable platform that others build on
Relevant degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience
Knowledge of adaptive learning design, including learner mastery modeling and personalized sequencing
Ability to evaluate AI-generated learning content and recommendations for accuracy, pedagogy and safety
Ability to model structured curriculum content so it can be reused, assembled and generated

Benefits

Comp & perks

Eligibility to participate in an annual incentive program
Benefits information provided by Pearson