Distinguished Engineer

Autodesk Autodesk · Enterprise · San Francisco, CA +1

Distinguished Engineer to lead the technical vision and implementation of Product Access capabilities, including entitlements, licensing, and access enforcement for cloud and AI-powered products. This role involves defining scalable and intelligent access for human and non-human actors, including AI agents, and driving AI-assisted software development practices across the company.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead the design and implementation of scalable Product Access and entitlement systems supporting cloud, API, and AI-driven products
  2. Define and drive the long-term technical strategy and engineering vision for Product Access platforms and access enforcement capabilities
  3. Drive the development of greenfield initiatives and foundational platform capabilities through hands-on prototyping and implementation
  4. Serve as a technical accelerator across teams by contributing directly to critical projects and resolving complex engineering challenges
  5. Champion adoption of AI-assisted software development practices, including effective use of tools such as Claude Code to improve engineering productivity, software quality, and delivery velocity

Skills

Required

  • 12+ years of experience building large-scale distributed systems and platform services
  • Strong hands-on software engineering background with the ability to contribute directly to architecture, design, and implementation
  • Proven experience building or evolving: Product Access platforms, Entitlement and licensing systems, Usage-based or consumption-driven services
  • Deep expertise in: Cloud-native architectures, Distributed systems design, Microservices and API design, Scalability, reliability, and operational excellence
  • Recognized technical expertise in distributed systems, platform engineering, or Product Access architectures
  • Demonstrated ability to shape engineering direction through technical vision, innovation, and influence
  • Strong experience driving engineering productivity improvements through modern tooling and developer platform investments
  • Practical experience leveraging AI-assisted software development workflows and tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar technologies in real-world engineering environments
  • Familiarity with AI-enabled product patterns, agentic workflows, and API-driven consumption models
  • Proven ability to influence technical strategy and drive alignment across multiple organizations without direct authority
  • Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to navigate complex organizational and technical tradeoffs
  • Demonstrated ability to balance short-term delivery pressures with long-term platform and architectural sustainability
  • Strong product and business acumen, with the ability to align technical decisions with customer

Nice to have

  • Mentoring engineers through hands-on collaboration, code reviews, architecture guidance, and technical leadership
  • Evaluating emerging technologies and translating them into practical engineering capabilities and strategic advantages for the organization
  • Influencing engineering culture by promoting simplicity, developer experience, operational excellence, scalable architectures, and high-quality execution

What the JD emphasized

  • hands-on technical leader
  • hands-on prototyping and implementation
  • hands-on engineering
  • hands-on collaboration

Other signals

  • AI-assisted software development workflows
  • AI agents
  • cloud and AI-powered products
  • AI-driven consumption models