THE ROLE & THE TEAM

As a Principal Software Engineer in Zalando’s Customer Care (CuCa) Tech department, you will be the primary architect of our transformation from traditional service models to AI-powered automated resolution. You will move beyond a single team's scope to provide hands-on technical leadership for the entire department.

Your mission is to define the architecture for systems where complex AI models meet customer-facing production environments. You will ensure that automated intelligence handles high-volume customer queries monthly while maintaining a seamless "human-in-the-loop" fallback for complex cases. You will be the go-to expert for Product and Engineering Management, ensuring our technology roadmap directly supports the next generation of automated customer care.

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• System Architecture for AI: Own and drive the technical design for large-scale projects that integrate Python-based AI/ML microservices into our production environment.
• Applied Science Collaboration: Partner with Applied Scientists to move experimental models into reliable, high-performing production services at Zalando scale.
• Strategic Automation: Design and execute technical improvements for intelligent query routing and automated response workflows that impact the long-term (2-3 year) strategic vision.
• Engineering Excellence & MLOps: Act as a guardian of Operational Excellence, conducting architecture and production readiness reviews to ensure AI systems are observable and scalable.
• Technical Leadership & Mentoring: Lead other Engineers across the department, enabling them to deliver complex features and proactively supporting their growth.
• Innovation & Standards: Proactively contribute to setting engineering standards for AI productionization (MLOps) and influence our internal Tech Radar.

WE'D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF…

• Pyth on & Engineering Expertise: You are a recognized expert in Python with a deep understanding of software design, data modeling, and distributed systems.