Senior Principal AI Architect

HCL SINGAPORE PTE. LTD.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

HCL SINGAPORE PTE. LTD. seeks an experienced Senior Principal AI Architect to lead enterprise AI architecture across Digital Banking, Payments and Corporate Banking platforms. You will drive modernization, define engineering standards, and guide large offshore teams while aligning AI opportunities with business outcomes.

Expertise in GenAI, agentic AI, and secure, scalable architectures is essential, with hands-on ability to connect AI to banking challenges and governance considerations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/IT/CS or related field.
• 12–15 years of architecture experience in Banking with AI focus.
• Domain exposure across Payments, Transaction Banking, Corporate Banking, Digital Banking.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture across Digital Banking, Payments and Corporate Banking platforms.
• Lead solution design, architecture reviews, governance and pre-sales solutioning.
• Drive modernization initiatives including refactoring and platform transformation.
• Shape GenAI/agentic AI use cases with architecture, security, data and governance controls.
• Define and enforce engineering standards, coding practices and API design standards.
• Provide technical leadership across onsite and offshore teams.
• Engage with client architects and senior technology stakeholders.
• Translate AI opportunities into secure, scalable enterprise architectures with Alibaba Cloud/Qwen relevance.
• Mentor architects and senior developers.

Skills

Core Java

Spring Boot

Microservices

REST APIs

Event-Driven Architecture

Kafka/RabbitMQ

Security Architecture

AI-ready architecture

Agile/Safe

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/CS/IT

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

GRPC

Pact/WireMock

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Senior Principal AI Architect to provide architecture leadership across multiple portfolios and strategic initiatives. This role will be responsible for defining and driving enterprise architecture decisions, partnering with client stakeholders, advancing engineering excellence, and leading large-scale modernization programs.

The role should also possess a strong AI architecture focus, with proven expertise in particularly around enterprise adoption of GenAI and agentic AI on platforms such as Alibaba Cloud/Qwen and comparable hyperscaler AI ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture across Digital Banking, Payments and Corporate Banking platforms.
• Lead solution design, architecture reviews, technical governance and pre-sales solutioning.
• Drive modernization initiatives including application refactoring, framework upgrades and platform transformation.
• Shape AI-enabled modernization and identify practical GenAI/agentic AI use cases across banking platforms, with appropriate architecture, security, data and governance controls.
• Define and enforce engineering standards, coding practices and API design standards.
• Provide technical leadership across onsite and offshore teams.
• Review sizing, estimates, technical risks and delivery feasibility during ROM/SOW stages.
• Engage directly with client architects, engineering managers and senior technology stakeholders.
• Ability to connect AI opportunities to banking business outcomes and translate them into secure, scalable enterprise architectures, especially where Alibaba Cloud/Qwen or similar AI platforms are relevant
• Ability to discuss real-world banking architecture challenges, resiliency patterns, scalability and modernization approaches.
• Mentor architects, technical leads and senior developers

Skills Requirement

• Bachelors degree in Engineering / Information Technology/Computer Science or related field
• 12-15 years of experience in Architecture with expertise in Banking domain with AI architecture
• Domain Exposure: Payments/Transaction Banking/Corporate Banking/Digital Banking/API Banking/Core Banking Platforms
• Strong expertise in Java (Java 8/11/17+) and enterprise application development.
• Deep knowledge of Spring Framework, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, and microservices architecture.
• Understanding of performance tuning, scalability, resiliency, and high-availability architectures
• Exposure in GenAI and agentic AI architecture, including RAG, model integration/orchestration and AI-enabled engineering or modernization
• Strong knowledge of security architecture, authentication, authorization, and API security best practices.
• Experience in Agile, Scrum, and SAFe environments
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.
• Improved engineering standards, platform reliability, and operational efficiency.
• Effective stakeholder engagement and alignment between Business and Technology objectives.

Mandatory Technical Skills

• Core Java (Java 17+ preferred)
• Spring Boot
• Microservices Architecture
• REST APIs and API Governance
• Event-Driven Architecture
• Kafka and/or RabbitMQ
• Distributed Systems Design
• Design Patterns
• High Concurrency and Transaction Processing Systems
• PostgreSQL / Oracle
• CI/CD, Jenkins, SonarQube
• Container and Cloud-Native Architecture
• Test Driven Development (TDD)
• Contract Testing (Pact / WireMock)
• AI-ready architecture: API-first integration of AI models/services, enterprise data integration, security, observability and responsible AI controls

Preferred Skills

• Kubernetes and Container Orchestration
• GRPC
• Apache Camel
• Serverless Architecture
• Performance Engineering
• Application Modernization and JDK Upgrade Programs
• ReactJS and Full-Stack Architecture Exposure