AI Architect

ClearRoute; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Profit sharing

Private healthcare

Home office budget

Learning budget and Udemy access

Job summary

ClearRoute is seeking an experienced AI Architect to lead the architecture of an Azure-based enterprise AI platform, including model gateway, MCP-based orchestration, and secure data residency patterns. The role focuses on delivering scalable, governed AI capabilities within a collaborative, hybrid-working environment in the UK.

You will steer integration patterns for HR and other systems, drive security posture, and advise senior stakeholders on strategic platform choices, with travel to client

Qualifications

• Hands-on Azure AI platform architecture experience.
• Proven enterprise GenAI and agentic systems in production.
• Experience with APIs, events and identity propagation.
• Strong governance: data residency, auditability and monitoring.
• Able to present architecture decisions to senior stakeholders.
• UK-based; available to start within three weeks.

Responsibilities

• Produce and maintain platform architecture, decisions and roadmaps for enterprise AI platform.
• Define path-to-production standards for agents including environments, gates and release processes.
• Design the agent gateway and integration architecture for HR and other enterprise systems.
• Set security, identity (Entra), data classification and residency controls with client teams.
• Review designs and unblock delivery across multiple streams on the platform.
• Maintain knowledge of Python and agent frameworks (Semantic Kernel, LangGraph, Foundry Agent Service).
• Advise senior client stakeholders on platform choices, including build-vs-buy.
• Hand over architecture patterns to in-house team as it forms.

Skills

Azure architecture

GenAI / agentic systems

API Management

Entra identity

Security & governance

Stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Tools

Azure

Azure AI Foundry

LangGraph

APIM

Job description

About Us

ClearRoute is an engineering consultancy bridging Quality Engineering, Cloud Platforms and Developer Experience. We help enterprises reliably bring high-impact digital products to market faster, cheaper, and safer, working with technology leaders facing complex business challenges. We take as much pride in our people, culture and work-life balance as we do in making better software. We’re not just making better software. We’re making the making of software better. Collaborative, entrepreneurial and dedicated to problem solving, we bring the step change our customer need to sustain innovation. Our values challenge us to do the best we can for ClearRoute, our customers and most importantly our team. This is an opportunity for you to build the organisation from the ground up, use your voice to drive change and help transform organisations and problem domains.

Role

The AI Architect will be working as part of a workstream focused on the underlying Azure platform foundations that the other AI / agentic workstreams build on. The team will stand up and harden shared Azure platform capabilities — identity, networking, CI/CD, observability, and environment management — so delivery teams can ship quickly and safely. Own the target architecture for an enterprise AI platform already in production: Azure-hosted model gateway (APIM / AI Foundry), a custom orchestration harness, MCP servers and sub-agents, and the path to production for agents built by the wider programme. Set the architectural direction for one governed route to models that the in-house assistant, Microsoft 365 tooling and potential third-party clients can all use. Design integration patterns for enterprise systems of record (HR and service management first) and for the client's data platform, with data classification and UK/EU data residency built in. Act as the technical authority for the client's emerging AI Centre of Excellence: reusable patterns, reference architectures and guardrails that business-area teams can adopt.

Key Responsibilities

• Produce and maintain the platform architecture, decision records and roadmap, aligned to a user beta in November and a wider enterprise rollout in early 2027.


• Define the path-to-production standard for agents: environments, evaluation gates, observability, cost controls and release process.


• Design the agent gateway and integration architecture for the first enterprise system (HR) and subsequent systems.


• Set security, identity (Entra), data classification and residency controls in partnership with the client's architecture and security functions.


• Review solution designs from product, labs and forward-deployed engineering teams; unblock delivery and keep them on the platform patterns.


• Python and agent frameworks understanding (Semantic Kernel, LangGraph, Foundry Agent Service).


• Advise senior client stakeholders (up to CIO level) on platform choices and trade-offs, including build-vs-buy.


• Hand over architecture and patterns to the permanent in-house team as it forms.

Required Experience

• Azure is mandatory: hands-on architecture experience with Azure AI Foundry / Azure OpenAI, API Management as a model gateway, Azure AI Search, Entra ID and core landing-zone services.


• Proven track record architecting enterprise GenAI and agentic systems in production, not just prototypes: RAG, tool use, multi-agent orchestration, Model Context Protocol (MCP).


• Enterprise integration architecture: APIs, event-driven patterns, identity propagation, integration with SaaS systems of record.


• Strong grasp of AI governance and controls in a regulated environment: data classification, residency, auditability, evaluation and monitoring.


• Able to operate as the senior technical voice on a programme: write clear architecture decisions, present to exec stakeholders, challenge constructively.


• Available to start within three weeks; UK-based, with occasional travel to client sites.

Desirable Experience

• Energy or utilities sector, or other critical national infrastructure / regulated public-sector environment.


• Workday or ServiceNow integration.


• LLM evaluation and observability tooling (Azure Monitor / App Insights for LLM workloads, Langfuse, Arize).


• Secure AI deployment patterns: private endpoints, customer-managed keys, UK South / EU hosting.


• Azure Solutions Architect Expert or Azure AI Engineer certification.


• Consultancy / client-facing delivery, ideally having inherited a live platform mid-flight.

Working at ClearRoute

We have grown from six founders to 180+ people across five countries in three years, and what sets us apart isn't the pace, it's how we grow.

Real flexibility, in practice. We trust you to perform at your best and still have a life outside of work, with genuine hybrid working, a home office budget, an open feedback culture where your voice shapes decisions, and time off when life needs it (birthday included).

When ClearRoute wins, you win. We offer profit share so success is shared, meaningful recognition for great work, and benefits that look after you and your family, including private healthcare, competitive salary benchmarking, and a confidential employee assistance program covering counselling, mental health support, and financial wellbeing.

A community you'll genuinely want to be part of. Interest based communities like running and book clubs, Women in Tech group, monthly socials, and cross regional events bring people together across the company.

An inclusive, collaborative culture where you don't need to conform to succeed, where people support one another and feel comfortable being themselves.

Where meaningful work meets real growth. You will tackle complex, real world problems at the forefront of platform engineering, AI, security, and scalable systems. Your growth is supported by learning budgets, Udemy access, a clear career framework, internal mobility, and thought leadership opportunities that take your impact beyond ClearRoute.

At ClearRoute, we believe diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes, and inclusion creates the conditions for everyone to thrive. We are proud to have built a family friendly working environment and have many employees who have caring responsibilities alongside work. We welcome applications from people who require flexibility and will be happy to discuss needs on an individual basis.

We are committed to fostering a culture where all team members feel respected, supported, and empowered to do their best work. We celebrate individuality and our differences and understand that some differences may mean that you require changes made to the interview process. We are happy to cater to your needs to make the interview accessible, if this is something you require please let us know by emailing us at [e-mail].