AI Lead for Kotlin (Experimenting, Code Generation)

JetBrains is seeking an AI Lead for Kotlin to guide its evolution as the preferred language for AI-driven applications. This role involves leading an AI Exploration and Evaluation Group, defining hypotheses, prototyping, and collaborating with core Kotlin teams. The leader will ensure Kotlin's strong presence in AI workflows, focusing on generating trustworthy, valuable code and avoiding technical debt. Challenges include ensuring idiomatic Kotlin generation by frontier models, increasing dataset coverage, integrating with agentic tools, and evaluating new language features.

Must Have

• Recent experience as a Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, or similar in a development-tool or product-focused software company
• Possesses broad technical knowledge and understands both backend and frontend development lifecycles
• Has knowledge of how CI/CD infrastructure and AI/ML evaluation pipelines are set up
• Displays strong product sense and instinctively feels what’s next challenges for the product
• Is a hands-on leader who actively uses the technology rather than directing from slides
• Communicates persuasively with both technical peers and executives
• Has experience in hiring, people management, and project management

Good to Have

• Experience in AI/ML, developer tools, programming languages, or emerging tech R&D
• A track record of contributing to special projects and advanced technology initiatives

At Kotlin, we have always wanted to create a pragmatic language that makes programming fun and productive. With the appearance of LLMs and coding agents, we have new ways to achieve our vision, and that means that the AI tools of today and tomorrow should play nicely with Kotlin.

We see a huge opportunity to win over programming ecosystems by leveraging AI, as Kotlin is uniquely positioned to be the tool of choice for AI-generated apps. It is modern, type-safe, optimized for readability, and most importantly, multiplatform – targeting Android, iOS, web, desktop, and even backend use cases.

We are looking for a leader who will guide Kotlin on its journey to becoming the language that plays best with AI tools – where generated code can be trusted, adds value, and avoids technical debt.

This role is about more than building the tools themselves – it’s about inspiring the ecosystem to evolve. You will lead efforts to strengthen Kotlin’s presence in AI-driven workflows, ensuring it remains the language of choice for modern multiplatform and multitarget development.

There are many challenges on the way. We’ll count on you to ensure that frontier models generate idiomatic Kotlin, maintain visibility in benchmarks, increase dataset coverage and the volume of Kotlin code in datasets, integrate with agentic tools, build MCPs, and evaluate how new language features affect code generation quality.

In this role, you will:

• Build and lead the AI Exploration and Evaluation Group within Kotlin.
• Together with the Product Manager, define and prioritize hypotheses for exploration.
• Lead prototyping and experimentation efforts.
• Collaborate with Kotlin Core teams to transform prototypes into high-quality solutions.
• Create evaluation pipelines to ensure that results stick over time.
• Engage and negotiate with external partners.
• Increase internal and external visibility through blog posts, talks, and technical previews.

We’re looking for someone who:

• Has recent experience as a Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, or similar in a development-tool or product-focused software company.
• Possesses broad technical knowledge and understands both backend and frontend development lifecycles.
• Has knowledge of how CI/CD infrastructure and AI/ML evaluation pipelines are set up.
• Displays strong product sense and instinctively feels what’s next challenges for the product.
• Is a hands-on leader who actively uses the technology rather than directing from slides.
• Communicates persuasively with both technical peers and executives.
• Has experience in hiring, people management, and project management.

We’d be especially thrilled if you have:

• Experience in AI/ML, developer tools, programming languages, or emerging tech R&D.
• A track record of contributing to special projects and advanced technology initiatives.