Principal AI Architect

We’re looking for a Principal Architect to lead the design and delivery of complex, multi-domain systems spanning cloud, data, and AI. This role is ideal for a deeply experienced engineer who owns the hardest architectural challenges, sets technical direction, and serves as the senior technical voice on the engagements they support.

In this role, you willoperateas the senior technical authority on a cross-functional team, defining architecture across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and AI/ML workloads.

You’llpartner closely with leadership and clients on technical strategy, mentor experienced engineers, and own high-stakes decisions that shape the long-term success of the systems you build.

At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems fora human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencilsmeansengineering paired with creativity, because every agent we shiphas towork for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate.
Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on.

• Define technical strategy and lead architectural design across cloud, data, and AI/ML systems for end-to-end engagements
• Architect scalable cloud-native solutions, including multi-cloud and hybrid strategies (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes)
• Design data architectures including warehouses, data lakes, and pipelines for batch and streaming workloads (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift,Big Query, Spark, Kafka)
• Design AI/ML systems including model serving,MLOpspipelines, feature stores, and LLM-based applications (e.g., Sage Maker, Vertex AI,MLflow, Hugging Face)
• Define infrastructure as code, CI/CD, and Dev Ops standards across engagements (e.g., Terraform, Cloud Formation, Git Hub Actions)
• Drive performance, scalability, cost, and reliability optimization across deployed systems
• Ensure architecture meets security, governance, and compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2)
• Lead cloud migrations and platform modernization initiatives
• Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace
• Partner with senior leadership and clients as the principal technical voice on strategy and direction
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to engineering and non-engineering stakeholders alike
• Engage closely with engineering, data, AI, and product teams to align architecture with broader business priorities
• Develop andmaintainarchitecture documentation, standards, and guidelines

• Define and champion architectural standards and best practices on the engagements you support
• Mentor experienced engineers and architects, helping them grow their technical judgment and impact
• Own the most difficult architectural and integration challenges, serving as the senior technical decision-maker
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend tools, frameworks, and patterns that improve architecture over time

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in technical leadership roles
• Deepexpertisein cloud platforms and cloud-native architectures (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Strong background in microservices, serverless, containers, and event-driven systems (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker, Lambda,Event Bridge)
• Proficiency with infrastructure as code and CI/CD (e.g., Terraform, Cloud Formation,Pulumi, Git Hub…