Principal Engineer, Product
Pika Labs · Palo Alto HQ
About this role
**ABOUT PIKA** At Pika, we’re building the next generation of AI creative tools to empower human creativity. Our mission is to make video creation seamless, intuitive, and accessible to everyone—leveraging advanced AI to amplify creative expression. We believe AI should enable everyone to create, collaborate, and communicate across media. Our team includes engineers, artists, and product thinkers, and we’re based in Palo Alto, CA. We prefer hybrid in-office—sharing ideas and launching products together. **ABOUT THE ROLE** We’re seeking a **Principal Product Engineer** to lead the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for user-facing systems at Pika. In this high-impact senior leadership role, you’ll guide engineering direction for features that serve millions of creative users—from intuitive UIs and collaboration tools to real-time interactions and advanced generative AI experiences. You’ll partner closely with product, design, and engineering leadership to deliver robust, scalable, delightful experiences. **WHAT YOU’LL DO** - Own and define the architecture and technical strategy for Pika’s web and multi-platform products - Spearhead real-time collaboration capabilities, messaging, and live multi-user interactions - Drive product features from ideation through scoping, development, launch, and continuous improvement - Integrate complex generative AI workflows (LLMs, models, agentic tools) into creative tooling - Partner deeply with product and design leaders to deliver groundbreaking, accessible creative workflows - Champion technical excellence through architecture reviews, mentorship, and strong proposals - Oversee and improve cross-service metrics, tracing, and observability for critical product features **WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR** - **8+ years** of professional software engineering experience, including substantial time in senior/principal and product-focused roles - Proven track record leading design, execution, and scaling of high-impact web or mobile products (e.g., **React, TypeScript, Node.js, Go**, or similar) - Demonstrated strategy and execution building robust, user-centric features for creative applications - Strong systems design expertise: distributed systems, scalable APIs, cloud infrastructure (**AWS/GCP**) - Experience across the stack, including ML/AI infrastructure (**Python**, GPU-backed workflows) as needed - Exceptional product intuition and strategic mindset grounded in user and business needs - Excellent communication and leadership skills—able to influence across disciplines and build consensus - Strong ownership and passion for delivering delightful creative experiences at scale **NICE TO HAVE** - Experience building or integrating generative AI, agentic workflows, or ML inference platforms (**Python/PyTorch**) - Creative background (design, art, architecture, or similar) - Expertise in media-rich and real-time collaboration applications - Startup experience and ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments **OUR STACK** React, TypeScript, Python, Go, Postgres, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS/GCP **WHAT WE OFFER** - Competitive salary in the AI industry - Significant equity in a rapidly growing startup shaping the future of AI and creativity - Comprehensive health benefits, monthly stipends, and company retreats - Supportive, collaborative office culture—building and launching together
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