About this opportunity
Vertex Pharmaceuticals LLC lists this Principal Full Stack AI Engineer opportunity in boston, Massachusetts. Review the employer’s description below for duties, qualifications and application requirements.
Job description
Position Summary
Vertex is seeking an AI Full-Stack Engineer to create the next generation of AI-powered applications and agents that deliver practical value across internal and user-facing experiences. This role will own solutions end to end—from user experience and application services to agent orchestration, data access, platform integration, deployment, and production operations. The ideal candidate combines strong full-stack software engineering fundamentals with hands-on experience building AI-enabled products. This individual will use a forward deployed engineering mindset to work closely with stakeholders, rapidly iterate on real-world use cases, connect applications and agents to enterprise systems, and continuously improve quality through measurement and feedback. The AI Full-Stack Engineer will help shape how secure, reliable, and scalable AI solutions are adopted across Vertex.
Key Responsibilities
Design, build, and productionize full-stack AI applications, agents, and multi-step workflows for internal and user-facing use cases
Apply a forward deployed engineering approach by working closely with end users, product teams, and business stakeholders to solve real workflow problems quickly and effectively
Build agents that can reason across steps, invoke tools, call APIs, retrieve information, and take actions within defined enterprise guardrails
Own end-to-end solution delivery across user interfaces, application services, APIs, data access, agent orchestration, and integrations with internal platforms, third-party applications, and business-critical systems
Develop reusable agent patterns, components, prompts, tools, and orchestration logic that can be scaled across use cases
Rapidly iterate on agent behavior based on usage data, qualitative feedback, evaluation results, and operational metrics
Improve agent quality through testing, experimentation, benchmarking, and structured measurement of outcomes
Partner with platform, integration, data, security, and product teams to ensure agents are secure, reliable, maintainable, and aligned with enterprise architecture
Help define best practices for agent design, tool use, fallback behavior, escalation paths, and human-in-the-loop workflows
Support the complete software lifecycle, including architecture, development, integration, deployment, monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization in production environments
Contribute to observability practices for agent execution, including logging, tracing, performance tracking, and issue analysis
Ensure solutions are designed with security, compliance, and responsible AI principles in mind
Stay current on emerging patterns, frameworks, and technologies in generative AI and agentic systems, and translate them into practical applications for Vertex
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or a related technical field; equivalent practical experience may be considered
Experience in full-stack software engineering, AI engineering, machine learning engineering, or intelligent application development
Hands-on experience building and operating production applications powered by large language models, AI workflows, or agentic systems
Experience designing and delivering end-to-end applications across front-end, back-end, APIs, data stores, and enterprise systems
Demonstrated experience using AI-assisted software development and autonomous coding agents to design, generate, test, review, debug, optimize, and refactor code across complex enterprise systems
Deep understanding of AI-native software engineering practices and experience establishing standards, governance, and best practices for the responsible use of AI coding assistants and software engineering agents across engineering teams
Demonstrated ability to move from prototype to production while balancing speed, quality, and operational rigor
Experience working directly with users or stakeholders to iteratively refine technical solutions based on real-world needs
Strong problem-solving and systems-thinking skills
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to work effectively across technical and non-technical teams
Technical Skills Required
Full-stack application development across modern front-end and back-end technologies
Large language model application development
Agentic workflow design and orchestration
Prompt engineering and prompt iteration
Tool use and API integration for AI agents
Multi-step workflow automation
Rapid prototyping and productionization
Evaluation, testing, and quality measurement for AI systems
Application logging, monitoring, and observability
API design, service development, data modeling, and application architecture
Distributed systems and service integration
Secure software development practices
Enterprise application integration
Cloud-based application development
Version control, CI/CD, and deployment practices
Preferred Skills
Experience using a forward deployed engineering or similar embedded delivery model
Experience building internal copilots, assistants, or task-oriented AI agents
Familiarity with orchestration frameworks, agent runtimes, tool-calling architectures, and retrieval patterns
Experience integrating with enterprise collaboration tools, workflow systems, document platforms, or knowledge repositories
Familiarity with evaluation frameworks for AI quality, groundedness, task completion, and reliability
Experience designing human-in-the-loop workflows and safe failure or escalation mechanisms
Exposure to AI observability, tracing, and operational analytics
Experience in regulated industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, or life sciences
Pay Range
Pay Range: $166,640 - $250,000
Disclosure Statement: The range provided is based on what we believe is a reasonable estimate for the base salary pay range for this job at the time of posting. This role is eligible for an annual bonus and annual equity awards. Some roles may also be eligible for overtime pay, in accordance with federal and state requirements. Actual base salary pay will be based on a number of factors, including skills, competencies, experience, and other job-related factors permitted by law. At Vertex, our Total Rewards offerings also include inclusive market-leading benefits to meet our employees wherever they are in their career, financial, family and wellbeing journey while providing flexibility and resources to support their growth and aspirations. From medical, dental and vision benefits to generous paid time off (including a week-long company shutdown in the Summer and the Winter), educational assistance programs including student loan repayment, a generous commuting subsidy, matching charitable donations, 401(k) and so much more.
Flex Designation
Hybrid-Eligible Or On-Site Eligible
Flex Eligibility Status: In this Hybrid-Eligible role, you can choose to be designated as:
Hybrid: work remotely up to two days per week;
On-Site: work five days per week on-site with ad hoc flexibility.
Note: The Flex status for this position is subject to Vertex’s Policy on Flex @ Vertex Program and may be changed at any time.
Company Information
Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation. Vertex is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, or any characteristic protected under applicable law. Vertex is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. Vertex will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law. Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should make a request to the recruiter or hiring manager, or contact Talent Acquisition at
Help Us Achieve Our Mission Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. The company has approved medicines that treat the underlying causes of multiple chronic, life-shortening genetic diseases — cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia — and continues to advance clinical and research programs in these diseases. Vertex also has a robust clinical pipeline of investigational therapies across a range of modalities in other serious diseases where it has deep insight into causal human biology, including APOL1-mediated kidney disease, acute and neuropathic pain, type 1 diabetes, myotonic dystrophy type 1 and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency . Founded in 1989 in Cambridge, Mass., Vertex's global headquarters is now located in Boston's Innovation District and its international headquarters is in London. Additionally, the company has research and development sites and commercial offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Latin America and the Middle East. Vertex is consistently recognized as one of the industry's top places to work, including 14 consecutive years on Science magazine's Top Employers list and one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. For company updates and to learn more about Vertex's history of innovation, visit or follow us on Facebook, Twitter/X , LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. The diversity and authenticity of our people is part of what makes Vertex unique, and we recognize that each employee brings diverse perspectives and strengths. By embracing those strengths and celebrating differences, we are fostering an inclusive culture where each of us can bring our authentic selves to work, inspire innovation together, and change people’s lives. Our vision is clear: to be the place where an authentic, diverse mix of talent want to come, to stay, and do their best work.
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Worksite address
boston, MA, 02298, US
Who can apply
Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.