Principal Digital Architect

iQuasar, LLC is looking to fill the Principal Digital Architect position in Chicago, IL At iQuasar LLC, we strive to provide the next generation of cutting-edge technologies. Our growth means exciting career opportunities for talented professionals in engineering, software development, and other key areas. We offer competitive compensation and benefits including Health, Vision, and Dental Insurance, a matching 401k plan, and other benefits given below, excellent training, and a vibrant working environment. Our employees are exceptional, giving us a competitive advantage by innovating solutions with a strong sense of mission and integrity. We are currently seeking a Principal Digital Architect for a contract with our client, a premier global manufacturing leader based in Peoria, IL, or Chicago, IL. Given your deep technical skillset and experience with enterprise AI architectures, you are a fantastic fit for this role. Position: Principal Digital Architect Contract Location: Chicago, IL or Peoria, IL (Local Candidates Only) Pay Rate: Up to $65/hr on C2C Key Requirements: 10+ years of technical experience with 5+ years in architecture, strong background in Generative AI/RAG workflows, vector databases, and enterprise-scale distributed systems. Required Education Requirements: Bachelor's degree Required Qualifications: 10+ years of experience in the highlighted technical skill sets, with at least 5+ years of dedicated architectural experience Architectural Thinking: Ability to decompose complex problem spaces and develop pragmatic architecture options with clearly articulated trade-offs Technical Leadership: Influence without authority; guide teams through architectural decisions and implementation challenges Hands-on experience designing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures, including data ingestion pipelines, document preprocessing/chunking strategies, vectorization/embedding models, and query-time retrieval Deep understanding of embedding techniques, similarity search, and trade-offs (vector dimensions, chunk size, latency vs. recall vs. cost) Experience with Agentic Frameworks and vector databases (managed or self-hosted) Ability to architect end-to-end AI workflows, including prompt design, context management, memory patterns, and model routing/fallback strategies Knowledge of LLM lifecycle considerations (model selection, fine-tuning, evaluation, drift detection) Strong understanding of AI system non-functional requirements (performance, cost controls, security, data privacy, guardrails) Communication: Clearly articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders Desired Qualifications: Experience defining AI reference architectures and standards for enterprise adoption Ability to explain and defend architectural trade-offs between classical ML, LLM-based approaches, and non-AI solutions Proven experience taking AI systems from proof-of-concept to scaled production use Strong programming background in Python and Java, with the ability to reason at code level Hands-on experience with cloud-native architectures, including AWS services, containerization, and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes) Deep understanding of data architecture: SQL and NoSQL databases, data warehouses (Snowflake specifically), data modeling, replication, and sharding Experience with modern DevOps practices: CI/CD, infrastructure as code, observability, and automated testing Strong API design experience (REST, GraphQL, gRPC), including versioning and documentation Job Duties: Own the end-to-end architecture solutions for complex systems-balancing scalability, performance, security, and rapid delivery-while influencing Enterprise technology strategy Own and define solution and platform architectures for large-scale, distributed systems from concept through production Create architecture that meets high standards for scalability, performance, resilience, and security Partner closely with business leaders, product owners, engineering managers, and delivery teams to ensure architectural alignment with business outcomes Assess, select, and introduce new technologies, including proof-of-concept development and architectural spikes Establish and enforce architectural standards, patterns, and best practices across platform teams Provide architectural guidance and mentorship to engineering teams, ensuring high-quality implementation Ensure solutions meet security, compliance, and regulatory requirements Produce and maintain clear architecture documentation, including rationale and trade-offs Continuously evolve platform architecture to improve developer productivity, system reliability, and cost efficiency This is an architecture position for AI-related projects which require daily communications with business owners and other members of the architecture team located in the US. An Equal Opportunity Employer iQuasar LLC is a proud partner of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP) and the Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Program, reflecting our strong commitment to supporting military spouses, veterans, and inclusive hiring practices. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital/parental/veteran status, disability, genetic information, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, military service, non-merit factors, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law. iQuasar