AI Architect

01A; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 288,000; Full time

Job summary

Navan is seeking an AI Architect to set the technical direction for AI systems across teams. You will guide the design, evaluation, integration, and operation of AI capabilities, partnering with product and engineering leaders to translate high‑value opportunities into measurable, production‑ready systems.

This strategic, hands‑on role emphasizes reusable architecture, evaluation practices, and cross‑functional collaboration to improve workflows, quality and value while maintaining safety and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend software development experience.
• 3+ years of AI architecture with organization-wide impact.
• Strong track record delivering production AI/ML powered systems.
• Proven ability to set technical direction across teams with evidence-driven decisions.
• Practical understanding of LLM apps, retrieval, context construction, tools, agents and failure handling.
• Experience defining quality expectations and building AI behavior evaluations.
• Judgment on when AI is appropriate versus deterministic approaches.
• Exposure to observability, privacy, security, reliability, cost, latency and safe escalation.

Responsibilities

• Set AI architecture direction: define reference architectures, design principles for AI services, data flows, tools, and human review.
• Build the evaluation discipline: define behavior, create datasets, write evals, establish regression checks and thresholds.
• Guide production readiness: establish tracing, versioning, monitoring, incident response, privacy and lifecycle management.
• Enable teams to ship: create reusable patterns, reference implementations, and guidance; coach engineers through architecture reviews.
• Connect architecture to outcomes: measure whether AI improves completion, quality, time, or other outcomes.
• Stay close to implementation: prototype high‑risk designs and refine architecture with production evidence.
• Track the evolving AI ecosystem: evaluate models, runtimes, orchestration, and tooling against requirements.

Skills

Backend software development

AI architecture

Production AI systems

Technical direction

LLM applications

AI evaluations

AI applicability judgment

Observability, privacy, security

Cross-functional communication

Job description

About the Role

We are building AI capabilities that improve important human workflows across the company. As AI Architect, you will set the technical direction for how we design, evaluate, integrate, and operate AI systems. You will help teams choose the right approach for each problem—from conventional software and deterministic workflows to retrieval-augmented systems and agents—and ensure those systems meet clear standards for quality, reliability, safety, and value.

This is a strategic, hands‑on role. You will establish reusable architecture and evaluation practices, guide cross-functional teams, and prototype or validate key patterns where needed. You will partner with product and engineering leaders to turn high‑value opportunities into systems that can be measured and operated in production.

What You'll Do

• Set AI architecture direction: define reference architectures and design principles for AI services, agents, model integrations, data and context flows, tools, and human review. Make trade‑offs among quality, autonomy, reliability, latency, cost, and complexity.
• Build the evaluation discipline: help teams define expected behavior and success measures; design representative datasets and evaluation methods; write and maintain evals; establish regression checks and quality thresholds; and use results to prioritize improvements.
• Guide production readiness: shape shared practices for tracing and observability, versioning, monitoring, incident response, privacy, security, and lifecycle management of AI systems.
• Enable teams to ship: create reusable patterns, reference implementations, and practical guidance. Coach engineers through architecture reviews and help teams move valuable work from prototype to production.
• Connect architecture to outcomes: partner with product, operations, and domain teams to identify workflow needs and measure whether AI improves completion, quality, time, or other agreed outcomes.
• Stay close to implementation: prototype high‑risk or foundational designs, review critical implementations, and use production evidence to refine architecture.
• Track the evolving ecosystem: evaluate models, agent runtimes, orchestration approaches, and evaluation tooling against our requirements, and recommend adoption based on evidence.

What We're Looking For

• At least 8 years of experience in backend software development.
• At least 3 years of experience in AI architecture with demonstrated organization‑wide impact.
• Strong experience designing and delivering production software systems, with substantial work on AI/ML‑powered products or services.
• A track record of setting technical direction across teams and influencing decisions through evidence and collaboration.
• Practical understanding of LLM applications, including retrieval and context construction, tool use, agent patterns, model selection, and failure handling.
• Experience defining quality expectations and building evaluations for AI behavior; able to connect offline evaluations to production outcomes.
• Sound judgment about where AI is appropriate and when a simpler deterministic approach is better.
• Experience with production concerns such as observability, privacy and security, reliability, cost, latency, and safe human escalation.
• Clear communication across engineering, product, and executive audiences, with a builder's mindset and comfort prototyping and reviewing implementation.

Helpful Experience:

• Establishing shared AI platforms, service patterns, or architecture standards across multiple teams.
• Creating evaluation datasets, test harnesses, regression suites, or quality dashboards for LLM or agent systems.
• Operating AI products with measurable user or business outcomes.
• Working with cloud AI platforms, model APIs, agent frameworks, tracing/evaluation tools, and data platforms. Adaptable judgment matters more than one vendor's tools.

The posted pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the compensation for this position and is subject to change based on business need. To determine a successful candidate’s starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location, an evaluation of the candidate’s skills and experience, market demands, and internal parity.

Pay Range

$129,600 — $288,000 USD

Navan uses AI-assisted Automated Employment Decision Tool (Metaview) to assist with evaluating resumes against job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by human recruiters and hiring managers.

Human oversight:

Metaview does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our recruiters and hiring managers review all outputs and make the final hiring decision regarding every application.

• Your rights: If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email here.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.

About Navan

Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the global AI-powered business travel and expense platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels, to automating expense reconciliation, with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. See how Navan customers benefit and learn more at navan.com.

Culture of Excellence

Our team is our competitive edge — a high-performance group of smart, driven people committed to winning together. This dedication to excellence is why we’ve been recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In (2023–2026), a G2 Best Global Software Company (2025–2026), Forbes Cloud 100 (2022–2025), and CNBC Disruptor 50 (2022–2025). At Navan, we provide an environment where top talent excels, offering the autonomy and fast-paced trajectory needed to build a defining career and do the best work of your life.

Our Benefits

Navan offers a comprehensive benefits program designed to support your well‑being, financial security, and life outside of work. Our benefits, thoughtfully tailored by country to meet local needs, include healthcare coverage, insurance offerings, and wellness resources for you and your family.

We support long‑term financial growth through retirement savings programs and opportunities to participate in our equity plans, so you can share in Navan’s success. To promote balance, we offer flexible time off, country‑specific holidays, and paid parental leave for all new parents. Additional benefits include connectivity and commuting support*, mental health resources, and exclusive travel‑related perks. Wherever you’re based, our benefits evolve with you.

Workplace Policy

Navan believes in the value of in‑person connections, whether that’s sitting down to have lunch with one another, taking a walking 1:1, or collaborating in a room together. The connections forged through face‑to‑face interactions improve company culture and drive business results. Navan invests in global office spaces — in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, among others — that feel welcoming. In‑office perks such as company‑provided lunches and happy hours create a strong team environment to help you do your best work. Our employees work from the office four days a week. Please expect this policy for all roles that are tied to an office.

Equal Opportunity

Navan is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based solely on merit. We provide equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees without discrimination on the bases of race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We prohibit any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring.

Accommodations

Navan complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act, and all applicable state or local law. Navan will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability in connection with applications for employment as required by law.

If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, you are welcome to email us at talent‑[e-mail].

Candidate Privacy Notice and Use of AI

As part of the recruitment process, certain personal data may be processed using automated tools, including tools that use AI. For details on how Navan collects and uses your personal data, please review Navan's Candidate Privacy Notice here.

Job Search Best Practices

We have been made aware of recruitment scams involving fraudulent attempts to lure job seekers into sending money or personal information in return for fake job offers or coerce them into purchasing equipment by electronic funds transfer (Zelle, Venmo, etc.) Legitimate Navan recruiters will never ask for money in any recruitment or onboarding activities. All available job openings at Navan will be posted on Navan’s website and all Navan recruiters will be reachable through an email address ending in “@navan.com” or “@navan.tech” or "@talent.navan.com".

*Applies to select locations.