Principal AI Solutions Architect

Simplok Pty Ltd; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Simplok Pty Ltd in Sydney is seeking a senior technical leader to guide AI initiatives from solution design through delivery. You will set the technical direction, lead AI solution leads, engineers and testers, and work with customers to turn complex requirements into reliable AI solutions.

You will stay close enough to the technology to challenge designs, review implementations and resolve difficult decisions.

Qualifications

• Experience leading teams delivering enterprise AI applications.
• Deep understanding of AI architectures, agent workflows, retrieval, tool use, model behavior and evaluation.
• Strong foundations in software and cloud architecture, with ability to review Python implementations, APIs, integrations, CI/CD and operational design.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI initiatives from solution design through delivery.
• Set technical direction and deliver reliable AI solutions.
• Mentor and grow engineering teams and QA engineers.
• Evaluate models, frameworks, cloud services and deployment options.
• Engage with customers and stakeholders to translate complex requirements into implementable designs.

Skills

Team leadership

AI application architecture

Python

Cloud architecture

CI/CD

Model evaluation

Open-source frameworks

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Kubernetes

Job description

We are hiring a senior technical leader to guide AI initiatives, projects and programmes from solution design through delivery. You will set the technical direction, lead AI solution leads, engineers, and test and automation engineers, and work with customers to turn complex requirements into reliable AI solutions.

You will remain close enough to the technology to challenge designs, review implementation and resolve difficult decisions. Your accountability is for the team’s technical outcomes, not for writing every component yourself.

What you will lead

• Solution architecture and technical delivery across multiple AI and agentic initiatives.
• Technical teams, including solution leads, software engineers, and test and automation engineers.
• Decisions on models, agent frameworks, cloud services and open-source or self-hosted alternatives.
• Architecture reviews, engineering standards, evaluation methods and release criteria.
• Technical planning, dependencies, risks and estimates across projects and programmes.
• Customer workshops and discussions with architects, security teams and delivery stakeholders.
• Mentoring and knowledge sharing that builds capability across the organisation.

What you bring

• A track record of leading teams that have delivered and supported enterprise AI applications, beyond prototypes.
• Deep understanding of AI application architecture, agent workflows, retrieval, tool use, model behaviour and evaluation.
• Strong software and cloud architecture foundations, with the ability to review Python implementations, APIs, integrations, CI/CD and operational design.
• Experience evaluating more than one AI platform. You should have depth in at least one cloud environment and practical familiarity with open-source frameworks and local or privately hosted models.
• Sound judgment about when an agent is appropriate and when simpler software will be more reliable.
• The ability to make clear technical decisions, bring teams with you and explain trade-offs to customers.

We do not expect expertise in every model, framework or cloud. We do expect evidence that you can learn unfamiliar platforms quickly, test competing approaches and lead a team to a defensible result.