Chief Artificial Intelligence Architect

National Bank of Canada; Montreal (administrative region); On-site; CAD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health program

Flexible insurance

Pension plan

Employee ownership

Assistance program

Preferential banking

Community involvement

Telemedicine

Sleep clinic

Job summary

The National Bank of Canada is seeking a Senior AI Architect to shape the bank's AI architecture vision, defining enterprise patterns, guardrails, and scalable reference architectures aligned with business priorities and risk appetite.

You will lead the architecture for generative and agentic AI, ensure security-by-design, auditable operations at enterprise scale, and collaborate with executives, delivery, governance, data, and technology stakeholders to translate opportunities into golden paths.

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of experience in enterprise and/or solution architecture, with hands-on AI domains.
• Deep expertise in AI technologies including ML, generative AI, agent-based systems, and enterprise platforms.
• Strong understanding of AI governance, ethics, regulatory constraints, and risk management in large organizations.
• Experience designing AI reference architectures and scalable architectural patterns.
• Knowledge of data platforms, MLOps/LLMOps, and cloud-native AI services (AWS/Azure).
• Strong leadership to influence executives and senior peers, and challenge stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the Bank’s enterprise AI architecture strategy, roadmap, and reference architectures.
• Establish pragmatic AI principles, guardrails, and reusable patterns to accelerate delivery with control.
• Lead the architectural vision for generative and agentic AI at enterprise scale.

Skills

AI architectures

Enterprise architecture

Leadership

Cloud platforms

MLOps

Stakeholder influence

Governance

Ethics

Languages: French/English

Tools

AWS

Azure

Job description

The Bank is accelerating its transformation by placing artificial intelligence at the core of its business and technology strategies. AI is a key enabler for innovation, operational efficiency, and hyper-personalized customer experiences. To support this ambition, we are creating a strategic role dedicated to shaping the Bank’s AI architecture vision.

The rapid evolution of generative and agent‑based AI introduces new architectural, operational, and risk challenges that cannot be addressed through traditional solution or data architecture practices alone. This role exists to ensure the Bank can leverage AI at scale, at speed, and within its risk appetite, while preserving security, regulatory compliance, ethical standards, and enterprise coherence.

You are a senior architect recognized not only for your ability to combine strategic vision with deep technical expertise in AI, but also for your strong leadership presence and your ability to influence peers, executives, and multidisciplinary teams. You thrive in uncertainty and fast‑moving environments, consistently demonstrating initiative, sound judgment, and accountability. You are comfortable taking decisions, assuming responsibility for them, and constructively challenging internal stakeholders as well as vendors, partners, and suppliers to protect the Bank’s interests and raise the quality of outcomes. You balance time‑to‑value with risk management, challenge the status quo when needed, and foster collaboration across disciplines. You operate naturally at the executive level, leveraging your credibility, clarity, and structured approach to create real impact through your leadership and vision.

Your role

• Define and evolve the Bank’s enterprise AI architecture strategy, roadmap, and reference architectures in alignment with business priorities, enterprise architecture, and risk appetite.
• Establish pragmatic AI principles, guardrails, and reusable patterns that accelerate delivery while ensuring consistency, reuse, and control across the organization.
• Lead the architectural vision for generative and agentic AI, ensuring solutions are secure‑by‑design, auditable, and operable at enterprise scale.
• Define enterprise patterns for agentic systems, including autonomy boundaries, human‑in‑the‑loop controls, lifecycle management, and safe‑stop mechanisms.
• Partner with AI delivery, governance, business, data, and technology stakeholders to drive a coherent enterprise AI approach, clarify decision rights, and translate opportunities into scalable golden paths.
• Advise executives on AI‑related investments, platform and vendor choices, adoption sequencing, and trade‑offs between speed, control, and risk.
• Oversee AI risk management, emerging technology assessment, and architectural escalation for complex or high‑risk AI initiatives.

Your team

As Chief AI Architect, you are accountable for defining and driving the Bank’s enterprise AI architecture strategy, including the reference architectures, guardrails, and scalable patterns required to enable AI adoption and operationalization across the organization. Reporting to the Chief Architect, you ensure that AI solutions can scale safely, remain aligned with enterprise standards, and operate within the Bank’s risk appetite.

Prerequisites

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in enterprise and/or solution architecture, including significant hands‑on experience in AI‑related domains.
• Deep expertise in AI technologies, including machine learning, generative AI, agent‑based systems, and the enterprise platforms required to operationalize them.
• Strong understanding of AI governance, ethics, regulatory constraints, and risk management in large organizations.
• Demonstrated experience designing AI reference architectures, defining enterprise guiding principles, and shaping scalable architectural patterns.
• Solid knowledge of data platforms, MLOps / LLMOps, and cloud‑native AI services such as AWS and Azure.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to influence executives and senior peers, challenge stakeholders constructively.

Languages: French, English

Reason to require this language: you will need to discuss frequently with our service providers or partners who speak a language other than French.

Required skills: Architecture Governance, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Cloud‑Native Architecture, Coaching, Decision Making, Diversity & Inclusion, Domain‑Driven Design, Empathy, Enterprise Architecture, Event Driven Architecture, Initiative, Mobilization, Resiliency, Solution Architecture, Teamwork, Web Architecture

Your benefits

• Health and wellness program, including many options
• Flexible group insurance
• Generous pension plan
• Employee Share Ownership Plan
• Employee and family assistance program
• Preferential banking services
• Involvement in community initiatives
• Telemedicine service
• Virtual sleep clinic

We have an offer that keeps up with trends as well as your needs and those of your family.

Our dynamic work environments and cutting‑edge collaboration tools foster a positive employee experience. We value employees’ ideas. Whether through our surveys or programs, regular feedback and ongoing communication are encouraged.

Making a bold move in a people‑first environment

We’re a bank on a human scale that stands out for its courage, entrepreneurial culture, and passion for people. Our mission is to have a positive impact on people’s lives. Our core values of partnership, agility, and empowerment inspire us, and inclusion is central to our commitments. We aim, wherever possible, to provide a barrier‑free and accessible environment to all employees.

We strive to provide accessibility measures throughout the recruitment process within the limits of our available resources. If you require accommodations, feel free to let us know during our initial conversations. We welcome all candidates! What can you bring to our team?

Join us!