ai-platform/roadmap
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  1. How to use this roadmap
  2. Two kinds of role
  3. Read code, write it rarely
  4. Target profile
  5. Eight principles
  6. Work on a real product

Phases

  1. 01Direct coding agents and read their code
  2. 02Learn how models behave and what they cost
  3. 03Build retrieval that finds the right evidence
  4. 04Build tool servers with MCP
  5. 05Design agent workflows that survive failure
  6. 06Run agent workloads on AWS
  7. 07Trace every step an agent takes
  8. 08Build evals that catch regressions
  9. 09Run agents reliably in production
  10. 10Secure agents and the code they write
  11. 11Build an internal AI platform
  12. 12Get teams to adopt the platform
  13. 13Build Forge, the capstone platform
  14. Elective: Kubernetes

After the phases

  1. Staff skills
  2. 12-month plan
  3. A typical week
  4. Show your work
  5. Tools to know
  6. What to skip
  7. Final checklist

Start here

Apply to AI-native product roles first

Job postings in AI engineering now describe two different jobs. The table compares them.

AI-native product engineerStaff AI platform engineer
Typical employerA company or studio that builds agents and workflow automation for clients.An established software company that builds agent platforms and developer tools for its own engineers.
What they screen forThings you built without being asked, a product that people use, heavy use of AI tools, and attention to the customer.Many years of engineering experience, often 8 or more, including time as a technical lead. Deep skill in one backend language and one major cloud. Experience running agents in production.
How code gets writtenModels write most or all of the code. You direct the agents and you own what you merge.You get engineering teams to adopt coding agents and shared tool servers, and you build the agent platforms those teams use.
When you can applyAfter Phase 3, around month 3 or 4, with a shipped AI product as your main evidence.After Phase 11, around month 9 to 12, with visible leadership work. The tenure requirement still applies.

Apply for the product roles early. A job on an AI-native team gives you production experience with agents faster than any side project, and the Staff role asks for exactly that experience.

Staff postings also ask for years of experience and for time spent leading teams. No curriculum can give you those. What the roadmap can do is make your leadership work visible: tools you got teams to adopt, standards you wrote, and incidents you ran. When you meet the tenure requirement, the rest of your case is already made.