Sr. Principal Software Architect (AI)

OpenText; Ottawa; Hybrid; CAD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Thoughtfully designed benefits package

Variable and commission opportunities

Vacation entitlement and paid time off

Job summary

A global leader in information management is seeking a hands-on Sr. Principal Software Architect (AI) to drive the design and evaluation of AI solutions. The role collaborates with architects and development teams to implement best practices across the AI lifecycle. Applicants should have 12+ years of software engineering experience, strong Python and AI frameworks knowledge, and a Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field. This opportunity in Ontario promises a supportive environment for innovation and collaboration.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with experience in principal or architect roles.
• Hands-on experience building enterprise AI solutions.
• Understanding of the AI lifecycle from experimentation to production.
• Ability to evaluate, adjust, and improve AI systems based on quality, performance, and reliability.
• Experience guiding multiple teams through architectural decisions without direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Shape AI solutions design and evaluation at OpenText.
• Work closely with architects and development teams.
• Adopt best practices across the AI lifecycle.
• Advise on prompt engineering best practices, evaluation strategies, and observability patterns.
• Identify architectural gaps and help teams refactor or improve existing AI solutions.
• Translate AI patterns into production-ready designs with architects and developers.
• Stay current with AI frameworks, tools, and research and apply them pragmatically.
• Explain complex AI architecture decisions clearly and effectively.

Skills

Design modern RAG pipelines

Build agent orchestration solutions

Create prototypes and POCs

Advise on prompt engineering best practices

Identify architectural gaps

Stay current with AI frameworks

Explain AI architecture decisions

Agentic systems

Prompt engineering

Observability

Cloud platforms

Vertex AI

APIs/FastAPI

Microservices

Event-driven

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Python

JavaScript / TypeScript

Google Vertex AI

FastAPI

Job description

Overview

OpenText is a global leader in information management, where innovation, creativity, and collaboration are the key components of our corporate culture. As a member of our team, you will have the opportunity to partner with highly regarded companies, tackle complex issues, and contribute to projects that shape the future of digital transformation.

AI-First. Future-Driven. Human-Centered. At OpenText, AI is at the heart of everything we do—powering innovation, transforming work, and empowering digital knowledge workers. We are hiring talent AI can\'t replace to help us shape the future of information management. Join us.

Job Title & Location

Job Title: Sr. Principal Software Architect (AI)

Job Location: Waterloo/ Ottawa/ Richmond Hill, ON, Canada

The Opportunity

The AI Engineering and Enablement organization defines and evolves OpenText’s AI architecture and technical foundations, enabling teams to build secure, scalable, and production-grade AI solutions across the enterprise. We operate at the intersection of platform engineering, applied AI, and product innovation, translating emerging AI capabilities into real-world enterprise solutions. This organization partners closely with engineering, product, and architecture teams to establish modern AI patterns, reference architectures, and best practices that accelerate adoption while maintaining reliability, security, and governance.

As Sr. Principal Software Architect (AI), you will be a hands-on technical leader and architectural partner responsible for shaping how AI solutions are designed, built, evaluated, and evolved at OpenText. You will work closely with architects and development teams to design, review, and improve modern RAG and agentic solutions, both new and existing. This role is intentionally very hands-on. You are expected to prototype, build proof-of-concepts, create starter projects, and validate architectural approaches in code. You will help teams adopt best practices across the full AI lifecycle, including prompt design, evaluation, observability, and continuous improvement. This role requires deep technical credibility, strong enterprise experience, and the ability to guide teams through practical, real-world AI architecture challenges.

You Are Great At

• Designing and reviewing modern RAG pipelines and agentic systems for enterprise use cases.
• Building and evolving agent orchestration and agent-to-agent solutions, including task delegation and tool calling.
• Creating hands-on prototypes, POCs, and starter templates to guide development teams.
• Advising teams on prompt engineering best practices, evaluation strategies, and observability patterns.
• Identifying architectural gaps and helping teams refactor or improve existing AI solutions.
• Working closely with architects and developers to translate AI patterns into production-ready designs.
• Staying current with AI frameworks, tools, and research, and applying them pragmatically.
• Explaining complex AI architecture decisions clearly and effectively.
• Technology Stack & Focus Areas
• Strong experience in the following areas is highly preferred:
• Primary Languages: Python (primary), JavaScript / TypeScript, Java
• AI & Agentic Frameworks: LangGraph (highly preferred), Google ADK (highly preferred)
• LLM-based agent frameworks and orchestration patterns
• AI Techniques & Practices: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Prompt engineering and prompt management, Evaluation frameworks and quality measurement, Observability, tracing, and debugging of AI systems
• Cloud & Platforms: Google Vertex AI (strong preference), Experience with AWS or Azure AI services, Containerized and cloud-native AI deployments
• Application & Platform Architecture: FastAPI and modern backend frameworks, Microservices and API-driven architectures, Event-driven and scalable runtime systems

What It Takes

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time in principal or architect-level roles.
• Proven, hands-on experience building and evolving enterprise AI solutions.
• Deep understanding of the end-to-end AI lifecycle, from experimentation to production and optimization.
• Strong ability to evaluate, adjust, and improve AI systems based on quality, performance, and reliability.
• Experience guiding multiple teams through architectural decisions without direct authority.
• A practical, builder mindset with the ability to move from theory to working code quickly.
• Curiosity, strong learning instincts, and a passion for continuous improvement.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field

One Last Thing

OpenText is more than just a corporation—it's a global community where trust is foundational, the bar is raised, and outcomes are owned. Join us on our mission to drive positive change through privacy, technology, and collaboration. We don\'t just have a culture; we have character. OpenText is committed to diversity and inclusion and maintains an Equal Employment Opportunity Statement of Policy promoting a respectful and empowering environment for employees of all backgrounds, cultures, national origins, races, colors, genders, gender identities, sexual orientations, family statuses, ages, veteran statuses, disabilities, religions, or other protected bases. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please submit a ticket at Ask HR. Our proactive approach fosters collaboration, innovation, and personal growth, enriching OpenText\'s workplace.

Compensation: OpenText offers a thoughtfully designed benefits package that supports your physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing. As you move through the hiring process, more details about compensation programs, including variable and commission opportunities for eligible roles, vacation entitlement, and paid time off, can be provided.

AI Usage Disclosure: As part of our commitment to transparency, we use AI tools to assist in various stages of our recruitment process, including resume screening, candidate matching, interview scheduling, and communications. These tools are designed to improve efficiency, reduce bias, and enhance candidate experience. All hiring decisions are made by qualified human professionals, and we continuously monitor our AI systems to ensure fairness and compliance with applicable regulations.