Principal AI Architect - Remote

About the job Job Description Principal AI Architect Company: Paradigm Location: Lombard, IL Remote Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Employment Type: Full-time, Remote Responsibilities Architect and deliver end-to-end AI, Generative AI, and agentic AI solutions from concept through production Apply hands-on expertise to build LLM-based systems, RAG pipelines, AI agents, and multi-agent orchestration solutions Design AI platform capabilities including model selection, LLM routing, retrieval strategies, memory systems, and tool/function orchestration Lead hands-on prototyping and proof-of-concepts to validate technologies and accelerate adoption Ensure AI solutions are designed for performance, scalability, observability, privacy, and operational readiness Define and drive architecture across multiple domains/business segments, ensuring alignment with enterprise strategy Partner with business and technology leadership to shape AI roadmap, priorities, and execution strategy Establish and promote architecture standards, reusable patterns, and best practices Drive modernization initiatives to reduce technical debt and improve scalability, resilience, and performance Implement and guide AI governance, security, responsible AI, and compliance practices Collaborate across engineering, data, product, and business teams to deliver production-grade AI solutions Mentor engineers and architects and effectively communicate AI concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders Partner with business and technology leadership to define AI strategy, roadmap, and execution priorities Establish and promote architecture standards, reusable patterns, and best practices Mentor architects and engineers; build internal capability for AI solution delivery Communicate complex AI concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders Lead adoption of AI-enabled tools within the team, ensuring effective integration into workflows; coach employees on usage, monitor impact on productivity/quality, identify process improvement opportunities Demonstrate customer-first mindset; understand Paradigm organization, products, operations, customers; prioritize collaboration and service quality Continuously evaluate evolving AI landscape (LLMs, agents, frameworks, tools) Translate emerging technologies into practical enterprise use cases and capabilities Drive modernization initiatives to improve scalability, resilience, and performance Qualifications 10+ years of experience in software engineering, architecture, and enterprise system design Proven experience delivering end-to-end AI/ML and Generative AI solutions in production environments Strong hands-on engineering capability across architecture, design, and implementation Deep expertise in LLMs, prompt engineering, RAG, embeddings, vector databases, and agent-based systems Experience with agent frameworks and orchestration including multi-agent patterns and integrations Strong programming experience in Python and building APIs, microservices, and distributed systems Experience designing and implementing solutions on cloud platforms (Azure preferred) Experience with DevOps practices, including CI/CD, containerization, and scalable deployment of AI systems Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Bicep) and Kubernetes-based deployments Strong understanding of data architecture and integration patterns supporting AI workloads Ability to evaluate emerging technologies and translate them into enterprise-scale capabilities Solid knowledge of AI governance, risk, compliance, privacy, and responsible AI principles Strong communication and stakeholder management skills Ability to influence decisions across engineering, data, and business teams Proven ability to mentor, guide, and elevate engineering and architecture teams Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field