AI Architect

Cognitive Group | Part of the Focus Cloud Group; Greater London; Remote; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognitive Group | Part of the Focus Cloud Group in the UK is seeking an experienced AI Architect to lead secure, scalable AI solutions for enterprise and public sector clients. This is a hands-on leadership role, shaping solutions from discovery through production.

You will mentor delivery teams, set technical direction, and ensure governance, security and Responsible AI by design while leveraging Microsoft Foundry, Azure and related tools.

Qualifications

• Strong leadership and architecture skills for AI platforms.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts for executives.
• Experience with secure, scalable AI governance and Responsible AI.

Responsibilities

• Design and own end-to-end AI architectures spanning Generative AI, agents and ML.
• Define reference architectures, patterns and reusable accelerators within the Microsoft ecosystem.
• Lead AI governance, security and Responsible AI by design across delivery teams.
• Support pre-sales and discovery, shaping solutions, estimates and roadmaps, advising senior stakeholders on feasibility, risk and value.
• Mentor junior AI engineers and consultants while delivering production-grade solutions.
• Hands-on AI delivery from discovery to live operation in complex enterprise environments.
• Proven expertise in Microsoft cloud and AI ecosystem (Azure, Foundry, Copilot Studio, Power Platform).
• Experience with LLM-based solutions, including RAG and agent architectures (Semantic Kernel, LangChain).
• Security and identity concepts (Entra ID, RBAC) and data governance practices.

Tools

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Fabric

Azure Databricks

Power Platform

Copilot Studio

LangChain

Job description

Location: HQ in London - home-based with occasional client visits (UK wide)

We're working with a leading Microsoft partner and digital, data and technology consultancy that is investing heavily in AI. They're now looking for an experienced AI Architect to lead the design and delivery of secure, scalable and responsible AI solutions for major enterprise and public sector clients. This is a genuinely hands-on leadership role: you'll shape solutions from early discovery right through to production, act as a trusted advisor to clients, and set the technical direction for their delivery teams.

The role is home-based, with occasional visits to client sites or the London office as projects require. You'll join a collaborative team with a flat structure and a strong learning culture, backed by a structured development programme with mentoring and certification support.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and own end-to-end AI architectures spanning Generative AI, agents and traditional machine learning.
• Define reference architectures, patterns and reusable accelerators within the Microsoft ecosystem.
• Lead AI governance, security and Responsible AI by design, providing architectural oversight across delivery teams.
• Support pre-sales and discovery, shaping solution approaches, estimates and roadmaps, and advising senior stakeholders on feasibility, risk and value.
• Stay close to the code by building prototypes and reference implementations, while mentoring junior AI engineers and consultants.
• Hands-on AI delivery, taking production-grade solutions from discovery to live operation in complex enterprise environments.
• Strong expertise across the Microsoft cloud and AI ecosystem (Microsoft Foundry, Azure, Power Platform, Copilot Studio), with at least two relevant Microsoft certifications (e.g. AZ-305, AI-103, AI-300, AI-901, DP-800) or working towards them.
• Deep experience designing LLM-based solutions, including RAG and agent architectures (Semantic Kernel, LangChain, Microsoft Agent Framework), plus solid classical ML and the judgement to know when to use each.
• Cloud-native architecture and MLOps/LLMOps experience, with a solid grasp of Microsoft security and identity (Entra ID, RBAC) and Responsible AI governance.
• A consulting background, with the ability to turn complex technical concepts into clear business outcomes for senior stakeholders.
• Enterprise data platforms built on Microsoft Fabric or Azure Databricks, including lakehouse and medallion architectures, data governance (Microsoft Purview, Unity Catalog), data modelling and infrastructure as code
• Applying Well-Architected Frameworks to enterprise cloud and data estates
• Agentic development tools and AI coding assistants (e.g. GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex), plus agent orchestration and automation patterns across Copilot Studio, Power Platform, Microsoft Fabric and Azure AI Foundry
• Existing UK Security Clearance

Please note: due to the nature of the client work, candidates must hold, or be eligible for, UK Security Clearance.