AI Solutions Architect

Location: United States of America - Illinois Compensation: USD 150000 - USD 185000 - yearly Company Description QAD is building a world-class SaaS company, providing enterprise software solutions globally. We are a virtual-first company, enabling our team to work primarily from home, while fostering a collaborative culture focused on growth, innovation, and well-being. We value diversity and strive for an inclusive environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute to our success. Job Description The AI Solutions Architect is a senior, customer-facing role at the front of our delivery motion. You are the person who sits with a customer, leads an agentic workshop on their core manufacturing processes, designs what an agent can and should do, and architects the solution. This is not a slideware role, nor is it a hand-off role. You own the solution end-to-end—from the first workshop through to a live, adopted production deployment—designing it, prototyping it, building it collaboratively with our offshore FDE team, and standing next to it at go-live. Key Responsibilities: Run Agentic Process Workshops: Lead structured workshops with customer process owners across core manufacturing value chains (Procure-to-Pay, Order-to-Cash, Source-to-Contract, and Plan-to-Manufacture). Separate standard habits from true human-in-the-loop requirements and identify decision points an agent can own. Adapt Requirements into Agentic Flows: Turn messy spreadsheets, email threads, and tribal knowledge into structured agentic flows. Determine what the standard Persona Agent covers versus what needs custom engineering, and produce defensible work estimates up front. Architect Integrated Solutions: Own the technical design of the deployment, including integration across ERP systems (QAD and non-QAD), PLM, EDI, email, and sourcing tools (e.g., Ariba, Coupa). Perform light prototyping on-site to de-risk complex elements quickly. Build End-to-End with the FDE Team: Stay embedded with the offshore FDE engineering team through the entire build phase. Pair on hard technical problems, resolve ambiguity, adjust designs live, and maintain strong customer relationships through go-live. Drive Go-Live & Continuous Feedback: Run UAT against pre-defined evaluation metrics, measure the attributed value delta post-launch, and capture reusable components/accelerators to speed up future customer builds. Qualifications Must-Have Qualifications: Strong working understanding of modern AI agents, including LLMs, tool/function calling, RAG, autonomy, and human-in-the-loop design patterns. Proven experience leading customer-facing workshops or discovery sessions with enterprise stakeholders (e.g., Heads of Procurement or Supply Chain). Demonstrated ability to architect integrated enterprise solutions (ERPs, enterprise data flows, and contextualizing AI with customer data). Hands-on technical depth to prototype and pair credibly with software engineers (ability to read, shape, and unblock code). Working fluency in at least two major enterprise value chains: Procure-to-Pay (P2P), Order-to-Cash (O2C), Source-to-Contract (S2C), or Plan-to-Manufacture (P2M). Strongly Preferred & Nice-to-Have: Background in software architecture, forward-deployed engineering, or implementation leadership (e.g., experience at firms like Palantir, Microsoft Frontier, OpenAI, Anthropic, or enterprise AI/ERP software vendors). Hands-on experience building/deploying agentic systems (prompt engineering, orchestration, evals). Familiarity with AWS cloud deployment, APIs, and enterprise data integration patterns. Additional Information Compensation Package: Base Salary Range: $150,000 - $185,000 USD annually, bonus eligible. Placement within our pay range will vary based on knowledge, skills, experience, and market location variations as well as internal peer equity. U.S. benefits package includes medical, dental and vision coverage, a 401(k) plan with company match, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, paid-time off, parental leave, and well-being programs. About QAD and QAD Redzone: QAD Inc. is a leading provider of adaptive, cloud-based enterprise software and services for global manufacturing companies. Global manufacturers face ever-increasing disruption caused by technology-driven innovation and changing consumer preferences. In order to survive and thrive, manufacturers must be able to innovate and change business models at unprecedented rates of speed. QAD calls these companies Adaptive Manufacturing Enterprises. QAD Redzone helps to enable QAD’s vision for the Adaptive Enterprise. Labor productivity improvements directly impact efficiency. Productive and empowered employees increase the effective capacity of your plant and accelerate time to productivity for new employees giving manufacturers the agility to increase production beyond what was previously possible without having to invest in production equipment or new plants, and reduce the amount and impact of employee attrition. Empowered employees with a growth mindset take extreme ownership of challenges that impact their production goals, creating resilience in the face of disruption. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. About QAD: QAD |Redzone is redefining manufacturing and supply chains through its intelligent, adaptive platform that connects people, processes, and data into a single System of Action. With three core pillars — Redzone (frontline empowerment), Adaptive Applications (the intelligent backbone), and Champion AI (Agentic AI for manufacturing) — QAD | Redzone helps manufacturers operate withChampion Pace , achieving measurable productivity, resilience, and growth in just 90 days. QAD is committed to ensuring that every employee feels they work in an environment that values their contributions, respects their unique perspectives and provides opportunities for growth regardless of background. QAD’s DEI program is driving higher levels of diversity, equity and inclusion so that employees can bring their whole self to work. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. #J-18808-Ljbffr QAD Inc.