Sr. Principal, Growth & AI Systems

About Engine

At Engine, we’re transforming business travel into something personalized, rewarding, and simple. For too long, managing travel and spend has been overwhelming and fragmented — we’re here to change that. We believe the future of travel should be seamless and powered by technology that delights customers at every step. That’s why we’re building a platform that brings together corporate travel, a powerful charge card, and modern spend management in one place.

To make this vision real, we’re looking for exceptional, mission-driven people to help redefine how businesses manage and experience travel.

More than 20,000 companies already rely on Engine to support over 1 million travelers and billions in annual bookings each year. Cash flow positive with rapid growth, we pair exclusive Engine-only rates, industry-leading rewards, and intelligent automation to help businesses save money while delivering world-class personalization and convenience.

Backed by Telescope Partners, Blackstone, and Permira, Engine has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing travel and fintech platforms in North America, with honors including the Deloitte Fast 500 and Built In’s Best Places to Work.

About the Role

Engine's Performance Marketing team has a unique opportunity to significantly scale the impact of our paid programs. Our mission is to power connection through simplified travel and this role is a key hire in building a firm technical foundation for how we scale. We’re looking for an AI & Marketing Technology expert who can understand complex systems, connect the dots with data and drive business outcomes.

The Sr. Principal, Growth & AI Systems is the connective tissue between Engine's data infrastructure and our media channels – and the person responsible for making the entire Performance Marketing team AI-native over time. This role reports to the Director of Performance.

Our ideal candidate is a systems thinker who can see how a broken Salesforce field creates a cascade of bad media optimization decisions three steps downstream. You've personally implemented CAPI, offline conversion imports, or similar signal infrastructure, not just directed an agency to do it. You're comfortable with APIs, no-code automation, and SQL at a functional level, and you've used AI tools in a marketing context enough to evaluate them on outcomes rather than novelty. You translate fluidly between marketing and technical language, and you build things the team actually uses.

What you'll do

• Build a MarTech infrastructure to support a Growth team with ambitious targets allowing us to seamlessly enrich our 1P data and connect with our ideal clients.

• Implement and own our attribution infrastructure in partnership with our Analytics and Product teams to ensure proper measurement is feeding how we report impact

• Drive measurable improvements in Google Optimization Score and Meta EMQ score by feeding platforms the full conversion funnel, not just platform-reported events

• Partner with the analytics team to define which events and audiences flow into our media platforms and in what format

• Audit existing AI experiments across the Performance Marketing team; consolidate, kill what isn't working, and build a maintained skill library to supercharge our team

• Build and document repeatable AI workflows for audience segmentation, creative brief generation, channel optimization, performance reporting, and channel expansion

• Evaluate, onboard, and own AI tools relevant to performance marketing including vendor relationships and team training

• Maintain the team's AI system over time as models, tools, and channels evolve — this is not a "set it and forget it" role

• Build the measurement and signal architecture for each new channels before launch – defining the "channel readiness checklist" that net-new channels must meet before spend begins

• Own the unified performance dashboard that surfaces channel health, spend efficiency, and optimization signals to the team and leadership

• Build automated alerts and anomaly detection so Performance Managers spend less time on reporting and more time on strategy

• Partner across the Growth and Ops team on tooling overlap – you own AI and signal systems

Who you are

• 7-10 years in marketing technology, performance marketing, or growth engineering

• You've personally implemented or managed complex marketing systems, CAPI, or similar signal infrastructure

• Comfortable working in APIs, no-code automation tools, and SQL at a functional level

• You've used AI tools in a marketing context and understand how LLMs, automation, and data pipelines fit together

• Experience working alongside or within a data/analytics team, you understand how to consume data infrastructure

• Systems thinker who can see how a broken upstream field creates a cascade of bad downstream optimization decisions

• Curious about AI and what can be built, you’re constantly evaluating tools on outcomes

• You can translate between marketing language and technical language with equal fluency – comfortable in a room with the analytics team in the morning and a Performance Manager in the afternoon

• Bias toward shipping things the team uses, not elegant systems nobody touches

• You are NOT a marketing generalist who "also knows some AI tools" – technical depth on signal and attribution is non-negotiable

• This is an IC role, not a management role – you build, you don't direct

Applications for this role will be accepted through August 31st, 2026 or until the role is filled. We encourage you to apply early, as we may begin reviewing applications before the deadline.

Compensation
Our compensation packages are based on several factors, including your experience, expertise, and location. In addition to a competitive base salary, total compensation may include equity and/or variable pay (OTE). Your recruiter will share your complete compensation package as you move through the process.

Base Pay Range
$142,400—$197,000 USD

The Engine Edge: Perks & Compensation
We believe in rewarding great work with great benefits:

• Compensation: Competitive base pay tied to role and experience, with opportunities for bonuses, commissions, and equity.

• Benefits: Check out our full list at engine.com/culture.

• Environments for Success: Different roles have different needs in terms of the environments that drive success which is why we have a hybrid-hub model. Whether you are in one of our amazing offices or fully remote, we’ll make sure you have what you need to succeed.

Perks and benefits may vary based on employment type, location, and more.

Ready to Build the Future of Work Travel?
Join us on our mission to transform how work travel works—for businesses, for travelers, and for the industry. Apply now and let’s make travel simpler, smarter, and more enjoyable—together.