Principal AI Platform Architect

Principal AI Platform ArchitectLocation: New York, NYHybrid – 3 days per week in officeOur client is seeking a hands-on Principal AI Platform Architect to lead the design, development, and implementation of enterprise-scale AI platforms and capabilities.This role combines technical architecture with hands-on engineering, requiring someone who can design scalable AI solutions while remaining actively involved in Python development, platform implementation, and technical problem-solving.The ideal candidate will have strong experience in AI platform engineering, AWS cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, and agentic AI technologies, with a proven ability to build secure, resilient, and production-ready AI platforms within a large enterprise environment.ResponsibilitiesDesign, develop, and implement enterprise-scale AI platforms supporting multiple applications, engineering teams, and business functions.Remain hands-on with Python development, contributing to AI platform services, integrations, and technical implementations.Lead the technical design and implementation of AI solutions, including model gateways, orchestration frameworks, retrieval systems, agent frameworks, and tool integrations.Design and build agentic AI solutions, including multi-agent systems, Agentic RAG, and complex retrieval workflows.Develop and optimise cloud-based AI platform capabilities using AWS technologies and services.Work closely with engineering teams to build scalable, secure, and production-ready AI solutions.Design highly available, fault-tolerant, and resilient distributed systems capable of operating at enterprise scale.Implement best practices for RAG, vector search, tool calling, agent orchestration, guardrails, and AI evaluation frameworks.Establish and implement technical standards for identity management, access controls, data governance, observability, and platform security.Support CI/CD pipelines, automation, and deployment processes across AI platform services.Develop monitoring, telemetry, tracing, logging, and alerting capabilities to ensure platform reliability and performance.Identify and resolve technical challenges relating to scalability, performance, workload management, and system integration.Evaluate emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and tooling through hands-on proof of concepts and technical implementations.Conduct architecture and code reviews, provide technical guidance, and mentor engineers while remaining actively involved in development.Collaborate with engineering, security, architecture, and business stakeholders to deliver AI platform capabilities aligned with business requirements.Requirements7+ years of experience in Software Engineering, Platform Engineering, AI Engineering, or Distributed Systems, with strong architecture experience.Proven experience designing, building, and delivering enterprise-scale AI platforms supporting multiple applications, teams, and business functions.Strong hands-on Python development experience, with the ability to contribute directly to coding, platform development, and technical implementation.Strong AWS cloud experience, including designing, developing, and deploying scalable cloud-based platforms and services.Hands-on experience with AI architecture and engineering, including LLMs, model gateways, RAG, vector databases, and orchestration frameworks.Experience designing and implementing agentic AI solutions, including multi-agent systems, Agentic RAG, and complex retrieval workflows.Strong understanding of distributed systems, scalability, high availability, resiliency, and performance optimisation.Experience building secure AI platforms, including identity management, access controls, data governance, and enterprise security requirements.Knowledge of AI evaluation frameworks, guardrails, observability, monitoring, and production support.Experience with CI/CD, automation, and modern software engineering best practices.Ability to provide technical leadership, conduct code reviews, and mentor engineering teams while remaining hands-on.Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with engineering, security, and business stakeholders.