Lead Data & AI Architect

Zühlke Group; Schlieren; Hybrid; CHF 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Work life balance

Profit sharing

Global Zühlke community

Professional development

Job summary

Zühlke Group is seeking a Lead Data & AI Architect to design and deliver data and AI platforms that underlie advanced applications from analytics to GenAI. You will align architectural choices with client needs, guide your team, and ensure secure, scalable solutions across cloud and on‑prem environments.

You bring deep data/AI expertise, DataOps/MLOps experience, and strong German and English communication.

Qualifications

• Technical degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or related field.
• Fluent German and English communication is essential.
• Extensive experience architecting data and AI platforms across cloud and on‑prem environments.
• Strong DevOps/DataOps/MLOps mindset with production ML enablement.
• Proven ability to lead teams and influence stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design sophisticated data & AI architectures and drive implementation with your team.
• Showcase data mesh, data security, governance and scalable pipelines.
• Create production‑ready ML/GenAI capabilities across cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Lead data engineering efforts and ensure data structures support AI readiness.
• Promote thought leadership, pre‑sales support, and coaching of junior colleagues.

Skills

AI & data platforms

stakeholder communication

leadership

DevOps mindset

team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in Computer Science or Mathematics

Tools

Python

Spark

Iceberg

Delta Lake

dbt

Kafka

Databricks

Microsoft Fabric

Foundry

Amazon SageMaker

Snowflake

GenAI tooling (vector stores & agent frameworks)

Job description

Founded in Switzerland in 1968, Zühlke is owned by its partners and located across Europe and Asia. We are a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation in our DNA. We're trusted to help clients envision and build their businesses for the future – to run smarter today while adapting for tomorrow’s markets, customers, and communities. Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in tech strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications, and device and systems engineering. We excel in complex, regulated spaces including health and finance, connecting strategy, tech implementation, and operational services to help clients become more effective, resilient businesses.

If you share our values and want to do the best work, for the right reasons, we can offer you the chance to do it on a global scale and play a real role in shaping our exciting journey.

The role

As a Lead Data & AI Architect, you are responsible for architecting data and AI platforms that lay the foundation for advanced applications, from analytics to generative and agentic AI. You explain architectural choices in a way that resonates with stakeholders and inspire them with your vision. Your deep understanding of modern data platforms, security, and AI governance, coupled with a DevOps mindset, enables you to create sustainable, value-driven solutions. With a concept-driven approach and practical engineering skills, you empower your team to succeed in high-impact projects. You bring data integrations, analytical data products, machine learning, and agentic systems into production and implement principles such as transparency, reproducibility, and measurable quality. Whether on-premises or in the cloud, you design solutions that fit the client's context and leverage leading platforms. As a thought leader, you help shape Zühlke's offerings, drive service development, engage in pre-sales, and stay on top of market trends. You actively contribute to the growth of internal talent and educate clients on data and AI possibilities.

How You'll Make An Impact

• Architecture & Implementation: You design sophisticated architectures for data and AI projects, implementing them together with your team while inspiring your stakeholders.
• Methodology & Concepts: You possess a deep understanding of data & AI platforms, data products, data mesh, data security, and data & AI governance, along with a strong agile DevOps, DataOps, and MLOps mindset.
• Cloud Expertise: You feel at home in both cloud and on-premises environments. In the cloud, you design scalable solutions on AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Data Engineering: You lead your team to success in flagship projects with solid data engineering knowledge, ensuring optimal data structures and pipelines that make data AI-ready.
• AI Operationalization: You take ML and GenAI solutions from prototype to production readiness, focusing on evaluation, observability, traceability, and reproducibility.
• Thought Leadership & Consulting: You promote understanding of AI and data technologies, share your knowledge both internally and externally, and assist in the development of junior colleagues.

What's Important To Us

• You bring solid expertise in AI and data solutions, along with a deep understanding of their possibilities and limitations.
• You have a passion for sustainable software architecture in data and AI platforms and have taken on responsibility in technical mandates.
• With your confident presence and strong self-motivation, you take responsibility for projects and the further development of our data and AI competencies.
• Excellent communication skills in both German and English are essential.
• Your architectural decisions consider non-functional requirements such as availability, flexibility, and security, as well as economic aspects and their impact on the code level.
• You hold a technical degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a comparable field.
• You are proficient in technologies such as Python, Spark, Iceberg, Delta Lake, dbt, and streaming with Kafka, as well as the data and AI platform services of Databricks, Microsoft Fabric and Foundry, Amazon SageMaker, or Snowflake, and you are familiar with GenAI tooling such as vector stores and agent frameworks.

What We Offer

• Work life blend: we offer a safe & healthy workplace, with flexible working hours and the possibility to work from home
• Profit share scheme: In addition to your annual salary, you may receive a profit share defined by the company's success in the previous year
• Global and Diverse Zühlke community: witness how colleagues from all our 16 offices across the globe come together to create a unique, positive and inclusive work culture, learning from one another at annual team camps, and celebrating year-end parties and other local festivities.
• Committed to development: we are committed to the growth of our people and are investing in your development. We're empowering you to build the skills you need to make a positive impact, both personally and for our clients, today and in the future.

To dive deeper into local benefits of working in Zühlke follow the link.

If you feel you don't meet all the requirements, we are still happy to get to know you, learn more about your ambitions and ideas and look forward to receiving your application!

We welcome people from all backgrounds, regardless of their gender, personality, national origin, race, religion, colour, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability or veteran status.