Data & AI Architect - DA 26-10438

Data & AI Architect

Location: NYC, NY
Work Arrangement: Hybrid – 3 Days Onsite / 2 Days Remote
Duration: 6 Months

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced Data & AI Architect to design, define, and deliver enterprise-scale data and artificial intelligence solutions across a large, complex organization.

This is a hands-on architecture role combining deep technical expertise with strong stakeholder engagement. The architect will work directly with business and operational teams to identify ambiguous or emerging data and AI challenges, translate them into clear requirements, obtain stakeholder and governance approval, and deliver solutions using modern AI-assisted and agentic development tools.

The ideal candidate will be equally comfortable communicating with non-technical business leaders and working hands-on with complex multi-cloud data and AI platforms. Recent experience with Microsoft Azure, along with hands-on knowledge of Copilot-style AI development tooling, multiple cloud platforms, database technologies, and AI/ML frameworks is highly desirable.

Key Responsibilities

• Engage with stakeholders across multiple business and operational departments to identify, clarify, and define emerging data and AI use cases.
• Translate business requirements into clear, actionable technical and functional specifications.
• Present proposed solutions, technical trade-offs, benefits, and value propositions to stakeholders and governance bodies.
• Drive requirements and proposed architectures through formal review and approval processes.
• Architect end-to-end data and AI solutions covering:
  • Data ingestion
  • Storage
  • Transformation
  • Data modeling
  • Data serving
  • Data and AI consumption
• Utilize agentic development tools and AI-assisted development workflows to accelerate solution delivery while maintaining security, quality, and maintainability.
• Define reference architectures, reusable patterns, and technical standards for data and AI solutions.
• Design solutions across multi-cloud and multi-database environments.
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise requirements related to security, privacy, data governance, cost optimization, and regulatory compliance.
• Collaborate with engineering, data science, platform, and product teams to transition approved architectures into production.
• Mentor engineers and analysts and provide technical guidance on data and AI architecture.
• Champion enterprise-wide best practices for data, artificial intelligence, responsible AI, and modern development.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of overall experience in data engineering, data architecture, software engineering, or a closely related field.
• 6+ years of experience in an architecture-focused role.
• Hands-on multi-cloud experience, with design and delivery experience across at least two major cloud providers such as:
  • Microsoft Azure
  • AWS
  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Experience working with multiple database technologies, including:
  • Relational databases
  • NoSQL databases
  • Analytical databases/data warehouses
  • Vector databases
  • Graph databases
• Practical experience across multiple AI/ML and generative AI technologies, frameworks, models, and platforms, including areas such as:
  • Large Language Models (LLMs)
  • Machine Learning pipelines
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
  • Model orchestration
  • Generative AI
• Strong requirements-gathering and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to extract clarity from ambiguous business problems and convert them into actionable requirements and specifications.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to secure stakeholder buy-in and drive solutions through approval and implementation.
• Hands-on experience delivering solutions using agentic development tooling and AI-assisted development workflows.
• Demonstrated experience taking technology solutions from concept through approval and into production.

Preferred Qualifications

• Recent and extensive experience with the Microsoft Azure technology stack, including technologies such as:
  • Azure Data Services
  • Azure Synapse
  • Microsoft Fabric
  • Azure OpenAI
  • Azure Machine Learning
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Copilot technologies, including:
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Copilot Studio
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Candidates without Copilot experience may be considered if they demonstrate exceptional relevant experience.
• Experience working within large, complex, public-sector, transportation, infrastructure, or similarly regulated organizations.
• Relevant cloud, data, or enterprise architecture certifications.
• Familiarity with:
  • Enterprise data governance
  • MLOps
  • Responsible AI
  • AI security and compliance
  • Enterprise data architecture standards