Architect

ABOUT PERSISTENT:

We are an AI-led, platform-driven Digital Engineering and Enterprise Modernization partner, combining deep technical expertise and industry experience to help our clients anticipate what’s next. Our offerings and proven solutions create a unique competitive advantage for our clients by giving them the power to see beyond and rise above. We work with many industry-leading organizations across the world, including 20 Fortune 50 companies and 4 of the 5 top banks in both the US and India, and numerous innovators across the healthcare ecosystem.

Our disruptor’s mindset, commitment to client success, and agility to thrive in the dynamic environment have enabled us to sustain our growth momentum. Persistent has been recognized across top industry platforms for innovation, leadership, and inclusion. We have delivered 23 sequential quarters of growth with $422.5M in Q3 FY26 revenue, up 4.0% Q-o-Q and 17.3% Y-o-Y growth. Our 26,500+ global team members, located in 18 countries, have been instrumental in helping the market leaders transform their industries. We won the 2025 ISG Star of Excellence™ Award for AI and Data Excellence and were named a Leader in the Everest Group Talent Readiness for Next-generation Data, Analytics and AI Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025

Principal Forward Deployed Engineer — Microsoft Stack

Product Development, Sustenance, Modernization & Agentic AI infusion

Employment Type: Full-time

Travel: 25% during active client engagements

Experience Level: 15+ years

About the Role

As a Principal Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you will be the most senior technical leader embedded inside our strategic client accounts. You will architect, code, and ship the highest-risk components of large-scale Microsoft-stack modernization programs while embedding agentic AI into client products and engineering workflows. You will own technical outcomes — measured in cost, velocity, quality, and revenue impact — and lead an 8–15 person Persistent delivery pod alongside the client's engineering leadership.

This is a hands-on principal role. Approximately 60% of your time will be on engineering, architecture, and code; the remainder on client leadership, pod direction, and platform contribution.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and code the components of complex Microsoft-stack modernization programs, replacing legacy .NET Framework, WebForms, WCF, and VB.NET monoliths with .NET 8/9 cloud-native systems on Azure.
• Design and ship production agentic AI systems on Azure AI Foundry, Semantic Kernel, and the Microsoft Agent Framework, embedded into client products or SDLC workflows to deliver measurable engineering productivity gains.
• Lead target-state architecture, strangler-fig migration sequencing, agent topology design, eval frameworks, and architectural decision records the client engineering organization will operate for years.
• Establish the data and insight layer using Microsoft Fabric (OneLake, Lakehouse, Direct Lake) and Power BI to make modernization and AI outcomes visible to client executives within weeks.
• Own engineering standards for the Persistent pod, including code reviews, CI/CD discipline, observability, and security posture; raise the technical bar continuously.
• Partner with Persistent account leadership on SOWs, change orders, and expansion opportunities; serve as the technical face of Persistent at the client.
• Support all relevant pre-sales pursuits as principal technical advisor.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years at principal architect, distinguished engineer, or equivalent senior technical leadership level on Microsoft-stack programs.
• Lead architect on at least three legacy-to-cloud-native modernization programs of $5M+ TCV or equivalent enterprise scale, with documented business outcomes.
• 3+ years building production GenAI or agentic systems, with at least one system live in production carrying real user load and measurable business outcomes.
• Active hands-on coder, currently writing production code, reviewing pull requests, and producing reference implementations.
• Demonstrable client-facing seniority: defending technical decisions to CTOs and Boards, contributing to SOW and contract negotiations, and holding engineering quality under commercial pressure.

Product Development, Sustenance & Modernization on Microsoft stack (required — primary focus area)

• C# 12+, .NET 8/9, ASP.NET Core, Minimal APIs, gRPC; proven uplift patterns from .NET Framework 4.x, VB.NET, WCF, WebForms, classic ASP.
• Strangler fig, anti-corruption layer, branch-by-abstraction, event interception; domain-driven decomposition of monoliths; CQRS and event sourcing where warranted.
• Cloud-native on Azure: AKS, Container Apps, App Service, Azure Functions, Service Bus, Event Grid, API Management, Application Insights, OpenTelemetry.
• Data tier modernization: SQL Server to Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, or PostgreSQL Flexible Server; CDC patterns; dual-write transitions.
• Engineering platform: Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, Bicep, ARM, Terraform, GitHub Actions, GitHub Copilot Enterprise.
• Security and identity: Microsoft Entra ID (including B2C / External ID), managed identities, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud, Zero Trust patterns.

Agentic AI on Microsoft stack (required — primary focus area)

• Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI Service (GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, o-series); embeddings, fine-tuning, prompt-flow; model routing and cost / latency optimization.
• Semantic Kernel, Microsoft Agent Framework, AutoGen, Copilot Studio; single-agent and multi-agent topologies (planner-executor, hierarchical, swarm).
• Model Context Protocol (MCP) server design and consumption; function-calling discipline; secure tool use against enterprise systems.
• Retrieval and grounding: Azure AI Search with hybrid retrieval and semantic re-ranking; vector stores on Cosmos DB and PostgreSQL pgvector; citation-grade grounding.
• Eval-driven development (offline and online); Azure AI Content Safety; prompt-injection defense; Responsible AI practices; human-in-the-loop design.
• Embedding agents across the SDLC — requirements, test generation, code review, release notes — with disciplined measurement of productivity uplift.

Infrastructure & DevOps on Azure stack (required — primary focus area)

• Infrastructure & Networking: Azure VMs, VNet, ExpressRoute, Firewall, Load Balancing, and Availability Zones
• Landing Zones: CAF-aligned Governance, RBAC, Subscriptions
• DevOps, Automation & Agentic PDLC: Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitHub Actions, GitHub Copilot (incl. Copilot Workspace and code review), Visual Studio / VS Code with Copilot, Copilot for Azure, Terraform, Bicep/ARM, AI-assisted code generation / test generation / release automation

Microsoft Fabric and Power BI (Preferred but not mandatory)

• Microsoft Fabric: OneLake, Lakehouse and Warehouse experiences, Direct Lake, Data Factory pipelines, Real-Time Intelligence (KQL), Data Activator.
• Power BI: semantic modeling, DAX, Direct Lake vs. Import vs. DirectQuery trade-offs, row-level security, deployment pipelines, embedded analytics.
• Migration awareness: Synapse, Azure Data Factory, and legacy SSIS / SSRS onto Fabric; Microsoft Purview for governance and lineage.

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft certifications at expert level: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure AI Engineer Associate, Fabric Analytics Engineer etc
• Prior Forward Deployed Engineer or customer engineer experience at Microsoft, Palantir, Databricks, Snowflake, or top-tier engineering-led consulting firms.
• Conference speaking, open-source contributions, or technical writing on .NET modernization, agentic AI, or Microsoft Fabric.
• Industry depth in one of: PE-backed software ISVs, financial services, healthcare, or industrial / manufacturing.
• Experience operating inside Global Capability Center (GCC) transitions or PE portfolio-company value-creation engagements.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and benefits package
• Culture focused on talent development with quarterly promotion cycles and company-sponsored higher education and certifications
• Opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies
• Employee engagement initiatives such as project parties, flexible work hours, and Long Service awards
• Annual health check-ups
• Insurance coverage: group term life, personal accident, and Mediclaim hospitalization for self, spouse, two children, and parents

Inclusive Environment:

Persistent Ltd. is dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We invite applications from all qualified individuals, including those with disabilities, and regardless of gender or gender preference. We welcome diverse candidates from all backgrounds.

• We offer hybrid work options and flexible working hours to accommodate various needs and preferences.
• Our office is equipped with accessible facilities, including adjustable workstations, ergonomic chairs, and assistive technologies to support employees with physical disabilities.
• If you are a person with disabilities and have specific requirements, please inform us during the application process or at any time during your employment. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where all employees can thrive.

Our company fosters a value-driven and people-centric work environment that enables our employees to:

• Accelerate growth, both professionally and personally
• Impact the world in powerful, positive ways, using the latest technologies
• Enjoy collaborative innovation, with diversity and work-life wellbeing at the core
• Unlock global opportunities to work and learn with the industry’s best

Let’s unleash your full potential at Persistent!

“Persistent is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind.”