Principal AI Architect
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Full Time
3 weeks ago
$197,000 - $337,000 USD
No H1B
Key skills
CAIMLLLMRAGAgenticAWSAzureGCPLeadership
About this role
Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy that integrates strategy, design and engineering to drive digital innovation. The Principal AI Architect will design, build, and scale enterprise-grade AI systems while acting as a trusted technical leader and advisor to clients, shaping AI strategy and delivering impactful solutions.
Responsibilities:
- Architect scalable, production-ready AI and ML systems, including LLM-powered applications, agentic frameworks, and real-time inference platforms
- Define and deliver end-to-end technical blueprints covering model development, data pipelines, serving infrastructure, monitoring, and governance
- Lead the design of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, fine-tuning pipelines, and model evaluation frameworks
- Evaluate and recommend AI/ML platforms, cloud-native services (AWS, GCP, Azure), vector databases, and open-source tooling
- Act as a strategic AI advisor to C-suite and senior technical stakeholders, translating business challenges into AI-driven solutions
- Lead architecture discovery workshops, technical due diligence, and capability assessments
- Shape and present compelling technical proposals, RFP responses, and point-of-view documents
- Navigate complex client organisations, managing stakeholder expectations and building lasting trust
- Lead and mentor cross-functional teams of engineers, data scientists, and ML practitioners on client engagements
- Define engineering standards, architectural principles, and best practices for AI systems
- Champion responsible AI practices including fairness, explainability, privacy, and security by design
- Drive hands-on delivery — this is not a purely advisory role; you will write code, review designs, and unblock teams
- Contribute to Thoughtworks' AI practice development: thought leadership, internal accelerators, reusable frameworks, and IP
- Represent Thoughtworks at conferences, publish articles, and engage with the broader AI community
- Mentor and grow the next generation of AI practitioners within the firm