Lead AI Application Engineer

ThoughtSpot is a Data & AI platform that helps companies turn data into enterprise advantage. We're Gartner MQ leaders with more than 1,000 customers globally and offices in Mountain View, Chicago, London, Bangalore, Sydney, and Tokyo.

About the Role

We’re building an in-house engineering team to replace major enterprise SaaS platforms with custom internal tools, designed and delivered with AI-augmented development. We’re looking for an architect-level Lead Engineer to own this initiative. You’ll lead a lean, AI-augmented team, define the technical blueprints, host and scale applications from scratch, and grow new college graduates into productive engineers. This is greenfield, end-to-end ownership with direct business impact: every tool you ship replaces a vendor we no longer need to pay.

What You’ll Do

• Architect and design: Design scalable backend services, data models, and integrations for internal tools that replace complex SaaS platforms. Set and enforce architectural standards across the team.
• Understand the business: Work directly with stakeholders to turn ambiguous requirements into clear technical designs, and make pragmatic build-vs-buy and scope trade-offs.
• Host and scale from scratch: Own the full lifecycle of internal applications: provisioning infrastructure, deploying, scaling, monitoring, and operating them in production.
• Own CI/CD: Build and maintain end-to-end pipelines with automated testing, code scanning, and branch-protection guardrails, making them the definitive quality gate for all code, including AI-generated code.
• Build with AI: Use tools like Claude Code and Cursor to accelerate delivery, and establish team practices for reviewing, refactoring, and hardening AI-generated code.
• Collaborate across teams: Partner with Sales, Pre-Sales, Project Management, and other internal teams to prioritize work, gather feedback, and iterate quickly.
• Mentor: Guide new graduates and junior engineers on architectural first principles, code quality, security, and effective AI-assisted development.

What You Bring

• 7+ years building production-grade, full-stack applications (e.g., Python, Node.js, Go, React, relational and vector databases).
• Strong backend architecture and system design skills, with a proven ability to design distributed systems and to critically evaluate, refactor, and modularize sub-optimal code, including LLM-generated code.
• Core knowledge of Kubernetes, Docker, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP), and distributed systems, with experience running multi-service containerized environments in production.
• Demonstrated experience hosting and scaling internal applications from scratch, including building CI/CD pipelines end to end (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins).
• Hands-on experience with AI development tools and agentic coding workflows, and a record of using them to ship real products.
• Working knowledge of secure SDLC practices: automated static/dynamic code scanning, secret detection, and OWASP Top 10 awareness built into the pipeline.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work directly with non-engineering stakeholders and turn use cases into shipped software.
• A track record of mentoring junior engineers.

In-Office at ThoughtSpot

Spotters are expected in-office 3+ days per week to be part of the energy of their local team. Momentum compounds when we're in the room together with faster decisions, sharper problem-solving, and the kind of peer learning that doesn't happen over a screen. Being in-office is our default way of working, with flexibility available where it's genuinely needed.

About ThoughtSpot

The world’s most innovative companies turn to ThoughtSpot’s AI-Powered Analytics to put data in the hands of everyone, from the C-suite to the frontline. With simple, natural language search and AI, anyone can ask questions, discover insights, and act with confidence. Unlike legacy tools that sacrifice performance for complexity, ThoughtSpot is intuitively designed for every business user while being built to handle the most complex, large-scale data, wherever it resides. This unique combination of speed and simplicity is why enterprise leaders trust ThoughtSpot to transform decision-making into a truly data-driven culture.

At ThoughtSpot, we’re a curious, data-driven bunch. We believe the world works better when everyone has access to facts. That’s why we build products that make asking and answering data questions as natural as having a conversation.

Mandatory and Required Skills for All ThoughtSpot Roles

Spotters are expected to demonstrate AI literacy and workflow integration to include to ability to:

• Comfortably and confidently integrate AI into their daily workflows to increase productivity and quality.
• Hands-on experience to leverage AI tools (industry-leading LLMs) to increase productivity, automate routine tasks, and improve work quality.
• Speak to the experience of using AI for research, content creation, and document summarization while maintaining ownership of judgment and final decisions.
• Write effective prompts to get the most accurate and creative results from AI tools.

Spotters are expected to exemplify these key traits and possess an AI Mindset:

• Curiosity in exploring new AI tools
• Adaptability to quickly learn and implement new, emerging AI technologies
• Critical thinking to know when to identify when AI should be used versus when human judgement is necessary

This combination of curiosity, adaptability, and discernment defines the AI mindset, and it’s required for every role at ThoughtSpot.

AI Mindset for All Spotters

At ThoughtSpot, we believe AI is a necessary and essential part of how we work. Every role, across every team, is expected to be fluent and comfortable with using AI to do their best work.

All Spotters are expected to experiment with ThoughtSpot’s AI tools (like AgentSpot, Spotter, and SpotterViz) and leading industry LLMs to streamline workflows, enhance output, and uncover new insights. Whether drafting content, analyzing data, or summarizing documents, AI is a daily partner.

We value curiosity, openness to learning, and thoughtful application of AI to create real value. Training and resources are provided so every Spotter can confidently create with AI.

ThoughtSpot for All

At ThoughtSpot, diverse teams build better products. Complex data problems need many perspectives, not just one. We welcome different backgrounds, identities, and experiences, and we work to create a place where everyone can be themselves and do their best work. If this role excites you and you believe you’re a strong match, we encourage you to apply.

What Makes ThoughtSpot a Great Place to Work?

ThoughtSpot is the Agentic Analytics Platform that empowers every enterprise to transform insights into action, on a mission to make the world more fact driven. We hire people with unique identities, backgrounds, and perspectives - this balance-for-the-better philosophy is key to our success. When paired with our culture of Trust, Customer Obsession, Innovation and Intensity, ThoughtSpot cultivates a respectful culture that pushes norms to create world-class products. If you’re excited by the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in the business and make your mark on a truly innovative company, we invite you to read more about our mission, and apply to the role that’s right for you.

We’re building an in-house engineering team to replace major enterprise SaaS platforms with custom internal tools, designed and delivered with AI-augmented development. We’re looking for an architect-level Lead Engineer to own this initiative. You’ll lead a lean, AI-augmented team, define the technical blueprints, host and scale applications from scratch, and grow new college graduates into productive engineers. This is greenfield, end-to-end ownership with direct business impact: every tool you ship replaces a vendor we no longer need to pay.