Senior AI Platform Architect

Department

IT Cyber Collaboration Svcs

ITS/83

We are seeking a senior-level engineer to shape Northwestern's strategy, architecture, and governance for AI services within the campus collaboration suite, with a primary focus on Microsoft 365 Copilot and related AI capabilities. While Microsoft 365 will be the central area of responsibility, the role will also evolve to provide architectural guidance, governance, and strategic direction for AI capabilities across other campus collaboration platforms as institutional needs mature, while ensuring strong security, privacy, and compliance across the environment.

In this role, the successful candidate will serve as a senior technical lead and individual contributor, guiding the secure adoption of AI-powered capabilities—including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, agents, connectors, and other AI services that are part of or integrate directly with the M365 tenant—in support of Northwestern's academic and research mission. While the initial emphasis will be on Microsoft 365, the role is also expected to help shape architectural patterns and governance approaches that can inform institutional use of AI across other campus collaboration platforms over time.

This individual will define the roadmap, architecture, and operating standards for integrating AI capabilities across the M365 tenant and will work closely with the team responsible for day-to-day tenant administration and Level 3 support. In parallel, the role will help establish governance models and architectural guidance that may be extended, where appropriate, to other institutionally supported AI‑enabled collaboration platforms.

This position does not have direct reports, but it requires strong leadership through influence—guiding standards, architectural decisions, governance practices, and adoption models across the institution. The ideal candidate brings deep technical expertise in M365 cloud services, identity, security, and compliance, along with the strategic ability to develop governance models, rollout strategies, and architectural standards for emerging AI technologies in a research-focused, mission-driven environment.

• Microsoft 365 Copilot & AI Strategy and Governance:
  Develop and maintain a multi-year strategy and roadmap for adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot and related AI capabilities across the institution. Define organizational goals, success metrics, and phased rollout plans in coordination with the IT@NU community, while informing broader institutional standards for AI-enabled collaboration services beyond M365 as appropriate.
  • Advance and formalize governance practices for responsible AI use, licensing allocation, and adoption monitoring. Provide architectural and governance oversight for enterprise AI services, including agent intake and approval, publishing standards, lifecycle management, and usage reporting, with Microsoft 365 as the primary platform and with governance patterns that can inform other institutionally supported collaboration environments as needed. Monitor the evolution of Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities and incorporate relevant changes into institutional standards, policies, and implementation guidance.
• Tenant Architecture & AI Feature Integration:
  Lead tenant-wide architectural and design decisions for integrating Copilot and AI capabilities across M365 services. Evaluate, govern, and support Copilot extensibility through connectors, agents, and tools across the platform. In addition to this core M365 responsibility, help define architectural patterns and governance considerations that may be applied to other institutionally supported AI-enabled collaboration tools over time.
  • Ensure the tenant is technically prepared for AI capabilities, including configuration readiness, content accessibility, permissions alignment, and platform dependencies. Assess emerging integrations for architectural, security, privacy, and compliance implications before production deployment.
  • Define architectural guardrails for AI-enabled services within the M365 tenant, including approved integration patterns, identity and access…