AI​/MLOps Architect - R&D IT; Onsite

About the Opportunity

Driscoll’s is building an AI-assisted R&D capability that depends on trusted data, governed delivery patterns, secure environments, and production-grade model operations. This role sits within an emerging R&D IT function embedded in Global R&D and partners closely with Global IS, scientists, product leads, and engineers to define how AI is safely and repeatedly deployed across breeding, genomics, lab, phenotyping, sensory, and agronomy workflows.

We are seeking an AI / MLOps Architect who can design and operationalize the backbone for governed AI at Driscoll’s. This role is responsible for the patterns, platforms, controls, and runtime operations that allow models and AI-enabled services to move from prototype to dependable production use. The ideal candidate combines strong architecture judgment with hands‑on experience in MLOps, model serving, evaluation, observability, lineage, and secure deployment.

This is a hands‑on architecture role for someone who enjoys building repeatable systems, reducing technical ambiguity, and creating a foundation that multiple R&D AI use cases can share. You will work closely with the AI Engineer, Product Owner, Full‑Stack Engineer, data engineers, and domain partners to ensure AI solutions land on a common backbone rather than emerging as disconnected pilots.

Driscoll’s Information Services (IS) department is responsible for maintaining and developing digital services and solutions to support and enable the Driscoll’s business, growers, and customers. Global IS operates in a rapidly changing business environment and has embarked on a significant digital transformation journey.

The Global Information Services (IS) function operates through a global structure and is organized in departments by IT expertise. This role is located at our corporate headquarters in Watsonville, CA.

• Define and evolve the reference architecture for AI and model operations across the R&D IT ecosystem.
• Establish repeatable patterns for model packaging, deployment, serving, evaluation, monitoring, retraining, rollback, and lifecycle governance.
• Design and implement the technical backbone for governed AI, including model registry patterns, evaluation flows, observability, lineage, auditability, and access controls.
• Partner with R&D IT, Global IS, and data/platform teams to ensure AI solutions land on approved architecture, environments, and data pathways rather than separate, ungoverned stacks.
• Define minimum standards for production AI services, including environment separation, release controls, security, performance, logging, approvals, and recovery procedures.
• Develop and standardize patterns for integrating models and AI services into applications, APIs, workflow tools, and enterprise platforms.
• Design model-serving and inference patterns for different use cases, including batch, near‑real‑time, and interactive assistant workflows.
• Establish practical evaluation approaches for AI-enabled systems, including offline testing, human‑in‑the‑loop review, regression checks, drift monitoring, and quality gates.
• Drive technical decisions around observability, cost/performance tradeoffs, model telemetry, and operational supportability.
• Partner with the AI Engineer and Full‑Stack Engineer to ensure product experiences are backed by reliable, scalable, and measurable AI services.
• Work with product and domain stakeholders to translate scientific workflows into durable operational patterns and platform requirements.
• Contribute to roadmap planning, architecture reviews, vendor assessment, backlog shaping, and implementation sequencing.
• Mentor engineers on deployment patterns, infrastructure tradeoffs, service design, evaluation, and operational excellence.
• Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with business and technical teams.
• Domestic and international travel required up to 10%.
• Represent Driscoll’s in an ethical and professional manner during all interactions with growers, co‑workers, suppliers, customers, and the business community at large.
• Ensure the security of Driscoll’s confidential and proprietary information and materials.

• 5+ years of…