Principal AI Software Engineer (.NET / Modernization / LLMs)

Peak Performers has partnered with a Texas State Agency to assist in their search for a remote Principal AI Software Engineer. In this contract position, you will be responsible for providing advanced technical leadership and hands-on development expertise to support the agency's Mainframe Transformation initiative, including modernization of legacy applications, implementation of AI-assisted software engineering practices, and acceleration of application development, analysis, testing, and documentation activities., * Serve as a technical lead and subject matter expert for AI-assisted software engineering and modernization initiatives.

• Assist in defining and implementing AI development standards, governance, and best practices for agency use.
• Support modernization efforts involving migration of legacy mainframe applications and business processes to modern .NET and cloud-compatible architectures.
• Evaluate, prototype, and implement AI-assisted development tools and workflows, including but not limited to code generation, documentation generation, automated testing, code analysis, and developer productivity solutions.
• Design and develop secure AI-enabled solutions that comply with agency cybersecurity, privacy, and data governance requirements.
• Assist development teams in integrating AI capabilities into agency business applications where appropriate.
• Work closely with enterprise architecture and security teams to ensure alignment with approved standards and governance.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, architectural diagrams, implementation standards, and operational procedures.
• Provide mentoring and knowledge transfer to agency staff regarding AI-assisted development practices and modern software engineering approaches.
• Participate in technical planning, backlog refinement, sprint activities, and solution reviews.
• Assist with evaluation of AI/LLM platforms, APIs, vector databases, orchestration frameworks, and related tooling.
• Support prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI workflow orchestration, and model evaluation activities where applicable.
• Assist with establishment of guardrails for responsible AI usage, including validation, traceability, explainability, and security considerations.
• Perform hands-on development activities as required.

• 8 years of experience in in enterprise application development and software engineering.
• 5 years of experience leading software development teams or technical modernization initiatives.
• 5 years of hands-on experience with .NET application development and modern software architecture.
• 5 years of experience with relational databases and data integration concepts.
• 4 years of experience implementing secure software development practices and application security principles.
• 3 years of experience evaluating or implementing AI development tools, frameworks, or platforms
• 2 years of experience with prompt engineering, AI workflow orchestration, or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) concepts
• 3 years of experience with AI-assisted software development, machine learning integration, or large language model (LLM) technologies
• Experience with cloud platforms, APIs, microservices, or distributed application architectures preferred.
• Experience supporting legacy modernization or mainframe transformation initiatives preferred.
• Experience with Azure OpenAI, OpenAI APIs, AWS AI services, Anthropic, Google Vertex AI, or equivalent AI platforms preferred.
• Experience with GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, or other AI-assisted developer productivity tools preferred., All employment offers are contingent on the successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws.

Applicants for employment with Peak Performers must possess work authorization that does not require sponsorship for a visa now or in the future.

• Rate: $101.00/hour
• W2 Contract
• Remote
• 3 month contract with opportunity for extension

The Peak Performers difference

• Excellent medical health, dental & vision insurance at 60 days
• Our employees may choose to participate in a 403(b) retirement plan
• Qualified applicants with chronic medical conditions and/or disabilities receive priority placement
• We pay weekly through direct deposit
• In business since 1994 and thousands of job placements