Principal AI Architect

Principal Ai Architect

NYSTEC is a nonprofit technology consulting company, advising agencies, organizations, institutions, and businesses since 1996. We're independent and vendor-neutral, so we have our clients' best interests at heart. At NYSTEC, we know that we succeed when individuals and teams flourish personally and professionally, so our benefits and perks support that mindset.

The Principal AI Architect is a senior technical specialist responsible for translating NYSTEC's artificial intelligence priorities into secure, scalable, supportable, and reusable solutions. The role combines AI solution architecture, engineering leadership, rapid experimentation, and technical delivery to move opportunities from concept through prototype, pilot, implementation, and reuse.

The Principal AI Architect serves as a key technical partner to the Deputy Chief AI Officer, providing technical leadership for architecture, engineering approach, feasibility, integration, implementation, and production readiness. The position also strengthens NYSTEC's long-term technical capability by developing reusable AI patterns and tools, mentoring technical professionals, leading assigned technical resources, and helping teams adopt emerging technologies effectively and responsibly.

Key Responsibilities

• AI Architecture and Technical Leadership
  • Lead architecture and solution design for AI-enabled applications, agents, intelligent workflows, knowledge solutions, automation, integrations, and related emerging technologies.
  • Translate business problems and approved use cases into technical designs, prototypes, pilots, implementation approaches, and production-ready solutions.
  • Define reusable architecture and engineering patterns for generative AI, agentic AI, retrieval-augmented generation, model and tool integration, context management, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
  • Evaluate technical approaches based on feasibility, data requirements, security, integration, scalability, maintainability, user experience, cost, and business value.
  • Lead technical design reviews, identify architecture risks and dependencies, and provide independent technical recommendations on significant AI decisions.
  • Serve as a trusted technical advisor to leadership, project teams, product owners, engineers, and other technical staff.
• Technical Delivery and Engineering Execution
  • Provide hands-on technical leadership through discovery, prototyping, proof-of-concept development, pilot execution, implementation, and transition to sustainable operations.
  • Lead resolution of complex technical problems spanning systems, teams, technologies, vendors, data sources, or organizational boundaries.
  • Establish practical engineering approaches for testing, output validation, observability, access control, data handling, security, lifecycle management, and operational support of AI-enabled solutions.
  • Balance speed, quality, security, maintainability, and business value while helping teams move from ambiguous requirements to executable solutions.
  • Assess prototypes and pilots and recommend whether solutions should be scaled, redesigned, reused, transitioned, consolidated, or retired.
• AI Innovation, Adoption, and Reusable Capabilities
  • Explore emerging models, frameworks, development tools, protocols, and engineering practices and recommend where experimentation or adoption may create meaningful value for NYSTEC.
  • Develop reusable tools, components, integrations, prompts, context practices, agents, architecture patterns, and technical accelerators that can be shared across teams.
  • Create mechanisms for discovering and reusing approved AI capabilities and successful patterns, reducing unnecessary duplication and tool sprawl.
  • Partner with the Deputy Chief AI Officer and organizational leaders to translate AI capabilities into practical workflows, demonstrations, playbooks, and enablement approaches for technical and nontechnical teams.
  • Partner with Service Delivery to evaluate whether internal solutions, patterns, and accelerators can improve consultant productivity or be adapted for client-facing offerings.
• Technical Talent Development and Enterprise Collaboration
  • Provide technical leadership and guidance for teams engaged in prototyping, developing, or implementing AI and emerging-technology solutions.
  • Mentor technical professionals and create hands-on development opportunities in AI, architecture, software engineering, automation, cloud, integration, and emerging technologies.
  • Establish technical learning opportunities such as design sessions, labs, demonstrations, workshops, hackathons, and communities of practice.
  • Build strong working relationships across IT, Corporate Information Security, Service Delivery, Data/BI, PMO, Legal, Strategy, Finance, HR, and Business Development.
  • Lead through influence across technical, product, business, and delivery teams; communicate technical tradeoffs and recommendations clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
  • Represent NYSTEC technical capabilities in internal forums and, when appropriate, client discussions, demonstrations, proposals, and external innovation activities; demonstrate the NYSTEC Core Values and Behaviors.

About You

Required Qualifications

• Experience and understanding of generative AI, large language models, agentic AI, retrieval-augmented generation, AI-enabled workflows, context engineering, model/tool integration, and output evaluation.
• Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous business needs into practical, scalable technical solutions and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to operate effectively from technical strategy through hands-on experimentation, architecture, and implementation.
• Understanding of modern software architecture, APIs, integration, cloud technologies, security, testing, CI/CD, data considerations, and production operations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams and influence technical direction across organizational boundaries without relying solely on formal authority.
• Experience with modern software engineering and cloud-native architecture, including programming languages and technologies such as JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js, Java, Python, APIs, integration, containers, CI/CD, and messaging.
• Experience with AI and cloud platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Azure OpenAI, OpenAI/ChatGPT Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot technologies, or comparable platforms.
• Experience with product and solution development, including rapid delivery from concept or prototype through production and development of reusable tools, frameworks, technical accelerators, or intellectual property.

Preferred/Desired Qualifications

• Experience in technical leadership and advisory experience, including applying AI and emerging technologies to business or engineering problems, consulting, client solution development, establishing adoption practices, mentoring technical professionals, or contributing to technical and innovation communities is preferred.

Education and Experience

• A bachelor's degree and a minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in software engineering, technical architecture, engineering leadership, AI, technical product development, cloud technology, automation, or related disciplines required.
• Experience should include providing technical leadership and delivering complex technology solutions from concept through implementation.
• An equivalent combination of advanced education, training, and experience will be considered.

The target starting salary range for this role is $163,659 - $205,000. When determining compensation, we analyze and carefully consider several factors, including skill set, experience, location, and job-related qualifications.

It is NYSTEC's policy to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all individuals, regardless of actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, sex, or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), gender identity or gender expression (including transgender status), age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, protected medical condition as defined by applicable state or local law, genetic information, military service and veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws and ordinances. NYSTEC is strongly committed to this policy and believes in the concept and spirit of the law.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please contact View email address on click.appcast.io if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for or to perform this job. Examples of reasonable accommodation include making a change to the application process or work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.