(1113439) Principal Software Architect - AI & Cloud

Diversified Services Network; Peoria (IL); Hybrid; USD 161,000 - 171,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Dental insurance

Vision Insurance

Disability insurance

Employee assistance program

Health insurance

Health savings account

Life insurance

Paid time off

Paid Holidays

Job summary

Diversified Services Network, Inc. (DSN) is seeking a full-time Principal Software Architect – AI & Cloud to lead design and delivery of multi-agent, AI-native systems in a hybrid Chicago or Peoria office.

You will mentor engineering teams, establish secure cloud-native practices, and oversee integration of foundation models and vector databases, while guiding governance and responsible AI adoption. The role requires 10+ years of deep software experience and a track record delivering large-scale

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience or
• 2+ years in a technical leadership role with a Master’s degree

Responsibilities

• Design and orchestrate multi-agent workflows and stateful AI systems.
• Integrate foundation models via secure API gateways with cost and rate limiting.
• Architect data models pairing relational and vector databases for retrieval-augmented generation.
• Mentor engineers and establish governance for secure, cloud-native development.
• Drive AI-assisted engineering velocity and integrate next-gen development tools into SDLC.

Skills

Backend development

Cloud & DevOps

AI & LLM integration

Software architecture

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's degree in a related field

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

LangChain / LangGraph / AutoGen

Job description

Principal Software Architect – AI & Cloud

Diversified Services Network, Inc. (DSN) is seeking a full-time Principal Software Architect – AI & Cloud to join our team in their choice of our Chicago, IL or Peoria, IL office locations. We offer full a hybrid work model, requiring 2 days of onsite work per week, benefits, PTO, 401k, and more! If you're looking to grow your career within an extremely reputable, stable Fortune 100 company - let's talk!

Position Overview

This role designs and orchestrates multi-agent workflows and stateful AI systems, integrates foundation models into secure production environments, and architects AI-native data models that pair relational and vector databases for retrieval-augmented generation. Beyond hands-on architecture, the role provides technical leadership across engineering teams — mentoring engineers, establishing governance and standards for secure, cloud-native development, and driving the responsible adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Architecture & AI Integration

• Design and orchestrate multi-agent workflows and stateful AI systems using modern frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, or CrewAI.
• Integrate foundation models (e.g., Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini) via secure API gateways, managing token limits, costs, and rate-limiting.
• Architect data models optimized for AI-native structures, integrating relational databases with vector databases for semantic search and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Implement robust white-box testing and continuous evaluation metrics to monitor AI outputs for factual correctness, hallucinations, and safety compliance.
• Champion secure, reliable, and scalable software solutions through architectural leadership, risk management, and continuous improvement of engineering practices.

Technical Leadership & Workflow Optimization

• Mentor and scale an engineering team, establishing engineering standards, best practices, and architectural governance for secure coding, continuous integration, and cloud-native deployment.
• Drive AI-assisted engineering velocity by integrating next-gen development tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf) into the team's daily Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Establish governance policies and coach developers on the responsible use of AI, focusing on input data sensitivity, license compliance, and security guardrails.
• Evaluate existing systems, services, APIs, and data models to identify opportunities for modernization, scalability, and performance improvements.

Influence Across Teams & Developer Experience

• Facilitate technical leadership forums with Product Owners, Technical Leads, Architects, and Engineering Managers.
• Drive conversations around architecture, engineering health, technical debt, AI adoption, and continuous improvement.
• Foster collaborative decision-making through architecture reviews, RFCs, and technical discussions.
• Promote self-service engineering capabilities and platform enablement.
• Drive automation initiatives that improve productivity and software quality.

Team Interaction & Work Environment

• Significant, ongoing interaction with the Scrum team, including all ceremonies (Daily Standups, Sprint Planning, Grooming, Retro, Demo) and PR reviews.
• Regular engagement with other teams as needed.
• Strong collaboration is required across the role.

Candidate Requirements

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, plus 10+ years of professional software engineering experience OR
• Master's degree plus 8+ years of experience, including 2+ years in a technical leadership role.

Core Software Engineering

• Backend Systems: Deep proficiency in backend environments, microservices architectures, and API design using Java.
• Cloud & DevOps: Extensive experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and public cloud infrastructure such as AWS.

AI & LLM Infrastructure

• Orchestration & Tooling: Hands-on experience with production-level AI agents, prompt engineering, and advanced Agentic PDLC patterns.
• Vector Databases: Practical knowledge of vector technologies such as Pinecone, Milvus, Chroma, or pgvector.
• AI Tool Fluency: Demonstrated mastery of AI coding assistants and a firm understanding of Model Context Protocol (MCP) to mediate agent connections with external databases.

Additional Qualifications

• Proven experience designing and delivering large-scale distributed systems.
• Strong expertise in software architecture, APIs, microservices, cloud-native applications, and modern engineering practices.
• Experience influencing multiple engineering teams and leading organization-wide technical initiatives.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and drive technical excellence.
• Experience with Generative AI, AI agents, LLM-powered applications, or intelligent automation platforms.
• Knowledge of security architecture, application security, and cloud security best practices.
• Experience establishing technical governance and engineering standards across multiple teams.

Soft Skills

• Ability to work under pressure and within time constraints.
• Passion for technology and an eagerness to contribute to a team-oriented environment.
• Ability to lead architectural designs and work across teams to develop solutions.

• 401(k)

• Dental insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Disability insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Paid Holidays

Salary expectations: 161000-171000 per annual