AI Systems Architect

DarkRoast Design; Canada; Remote; CAD 96,000 - 165,000; Part time

Job summary

A leading technology firm in Canada is seeking a Senior AI Systems Architect to design the foundational intelligence layer for innovative AI-driven features. The role includes defining robust retrieval systems and ensuring cost control and reliability. Ideal candidates should have experience with systems design in real products. This is a contract position with the possibility of full-time employment, requiring 10-20 hours per week.

Qualifications

• Experience designing AI intelligence systems inside real products.
• Fluent in RAG, memory design, and retrieval strategies.
• Care about idempotency, reliability, and cost control.
• Focus on idempotency, reliability, and cost control.
• Able to guide engineers through clear abstractions and contracts.

Responsibilities

• Own the design of the AI intelligence layer.
• Define a robust memory taxonomy and retrieval strategies.
• Design evaluation and feedback loops for intelligence.
• Define retrieval + reasoning flows adapting to intent, context, and confidence.
• Establish failure handling, guardrails for production AI systems.
• Create idempotent AI workflows for actions, updates, and automation.
• Set cost controls, usage boundaries, and observability.
• Design evaluation and feedback loops to improve intelligence over time.
• Deliver memory schemas, retrieval strategies, interface contracts, and a Phase-2 build plan.

Skills

AI intelligence systems design

RAG, memory design, retrieval strategies

System-level thinking

Idempotency and reliability

Clear abstractions and contracts

Job description

Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features.

We’re building an AI intelligence infrastructure embedded inside a B2B platform used by consumer brands to manage creative work, assets, and workflows.

This infrastructure is designed to support a wide range of intelligent and intuitive product features, including (but not limited to) conversational interfaces, image generation, contextual recommendations, automation, analysis, and decision support.

This is not a chatbot project.

This is not a ChatGPT wrapper.

Senior AI Systems Architect

We’re looking for a senior AI Systems Architect to design the foundational intelligence layer that powers these capabilities in a way that is reliable, evolvable, and cost‑controlled.

Responsibilities

You will own the design of the AI intelligence layer and this includes:

• Designing a clear intelligence architecture that supports multiple AI‑driven features
• Defining a robust memory taxonomy (short‑term, long‑term, client‑level, org‑level, and meta memory)
• Designing RAG‑based retrieval systems that serve different product use cases
• Defining retrieval + reasoning flows that adapt to intent, context, and confidence
• Establishing failure handling and guardrail strategies for production AI systems
• Designing idempotent AI workflows for actions, updates, and automation
• Establishing cost controls, usage boundaries, and observability
• Designing evaluation and feedback loops so intelligence improves through use

Deliverables

• Memory schemas and retrieval strategies
• Interface contracts and reference patterns for implementation
• A Phase‑2 build plan outlining how intelligence evolves post‑MVP

What You'll Not Do

• Building UI or frontend features
• Acting as a generalist full‑stack developer
• Shipping one‑off demos or prototypes
• Writing large amounts of production code
• Optimizing prompts in isolation from system design

Desired Profile

• Have designed AI intelligence systems inside real products
• Think in terms of systems, state, and failure modes
• Are fluent in RAG, memory design, and retrieval strategies
• Care deeply about idempotency, reliability, and cost control
• Can guide engineers through clear abstractions and contracts
• Fractional / Contract
• 10–20 hours per week
• Opportunity for full‑time employment

How to Apply

• Examples of production AI systems you’ve architected
• How you think about memory, retrieval, and reasoning
• Any diagrams, writing, or artifacts that show your system‑level thinking

Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Contract

Job function

Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

Design Services