Lead AI Architect

Role Description

We are seeking a visionary AI Architect to serve as the technical cornerstone of our artificial intelligence strategy. While an AI Engineer builds the models, you will design the entire ecosystem they live in. You will be responsible for defining the high-level structure of our AI systems, ensuring they are scalable, secure, and seamlessly integrated with our enterprise infrastructure. As an Architect, you sit at the intersection of business value and technical feasibility, translating executive goals into robust technical blueprints.

This role involves defining the end-to-end architecture for AI solutions, encompassing:

• Data pipelines
• Model storage
• Inference engines
• Front-end integration

The individual will be responsible for evaluating and selecting the optimal tech stack, including specific:

• LLMs
• Vector databases
• Orchestration frameworks

Key responsibilities also include establishing best practices for MLOps to ensure consistent coding standards, model versioning, and deployment strategies across the engineering team. The architect will design scalable systems capable of handling massive data throughput and low-latency inference for real-time applications. A critical aspect of the role is architecting Human-in-the-loop systems and guardrails to ensure:

• Data privacy
• Compliance (GDPR/CCPA)
• AI safety

This position requires strong cross-functional leadership, acting as the technical liaison between Data Science, DevOps, and Product teams to align the AI roadmap with infrastructure capabilities.

Candidates should possess architectural expertise, including a deep understanding of:

• Distributed systems
• Microservices architecture
• API design
• Cloud-native patterns

Proficiency in designing complex data schemas for both structured and unstructured data, as well as experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Ansible to manage AI infrastructure, is required. Technical proficiencies include expert-level knowledge of cloud platforms such as:

• AWS (SageMaker)
• Azure (Azure ML)
• GCP (Vertex AI)

Mastery of the AI lifecycle, from frameworks like PyTorch/TensorFlow to deployment tools like Kubeflow, MLflow, or BentoML, is essential. An expert understanding of Generative AI, including:

• Transformer architectures
• RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
• Fine-tuning methodologies

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of:

• 5+ years in software engineering or data science
• At least 3 years in an architectural role

Experience in enterprise integration, particularly in migrating legacy systems to AI-augmented workflows, is highly valued. This role also demands thought leadership, including the ability to mentor senior engineers and present complex architectural decisions to the C-suite.

Essential competencies for this role include:

• Strategic thinking, with the ability to anticipate 12–24 months ahead in AI trends and prepare the infrastructure accordingly
• Cost management skills, specifically optimizing cloud spend for GPU/TPU resources
• Exceptional communication skills, demonstrated through the ability to document architectural patterns and lead technical design reviews

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology or closely related field
• Master's Degree (preferred)

Requirements

• 7 years in an IT discipline
• 7 years in a Business discipline
• Health insurance industry business knowledge (preferred)

Benefits

• Pay Range Minimum: $118,400.00
• Pay Range Maximum: $196,800.00

Company Description

This position adheres to the ethical and legal standards and behavioral expectations as set forth in the code of business conduct and company policies.

Highmark Health and its affiliates prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on any category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.