AI Architect / Senior Data Architect

Mavent Analytics; Illinois; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive rates

Project oversight

Long-term partnership opportunities

Job summary

A leading analytics firm seeks an experienced contractor to lead high-impact AI and data architecture projects in the Greater Chicago area. Candidates should have over 10 years of experience in data roles, with at least 5 years in designing enterprise-scale solutions. This position offers competitive rates and the flexibility to work onsite, hybrid, or remotely. Responsibilities include developing AI strategies, designing governance frameworks, and collaborating with senior stakeholders. The ideal candidate thrives in independent, strategic roles.

Qualifications

• 10+ years experience in data or analytics roles.
• 5+ years designing enterprise-scale data and AI architectures.
• Ability to operate as a trusted technical advisor.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement enterprise AI strategies.
• Develop governance frameworks for data and AI models.
• Lead architecture review boards and technical workstreams.

Skills

AI/ML infrastructure expertise

Enterprise data architecture

Communication skills

Data governance frameworks

Cloud data services (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Education

B.S. Degree in relevant field

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

AWS SageMaker

GCP Vertex AI

Azure AI Studio

Job description

High-Impact Enterprise Data & AI Strategy Engagements

📍 Location: Greater Chicago area - onsite, hybrid, remote options

💼 Engagement Type: Corp-to-Corp Independent Contractor (No third-party resources will be considered)

The Opportunity

We connect elite AI and Data Architecture contractors with strategic enterprise transformation initiatives.

What you get:

• Direct access to strategic leaders
• High-impact, revenue-critical projects
• Competitive rates reflecting your expertise
• 3–6-month engagements with extension potential
• Project oversight and ongoing support
• Long-term partnership for future opportunities

Why We're Combining Two Roles

Exceptional architects often bridge AI strategy and data infrastructure domains. We want to understand your full skillset rather than force you into a narrow box.

Where do you excel?

✅ Both → Deep expertise across AI/ML infrastructure and enterprise data architecture

What You Bring

Experience:

• B.S. Degree required (advanced degree preferred) in computer science, software engineering, data analytics, or related field
• 10+ years overall hands‑on experience in data or analytics related roles
• 5+ years designing and implementing enterprise‑scale data and AI architectures
• Track record working with senior stakeholders on business‑critical initiatives
• Comfortable operating autonomously as a trusted technical advisor

Technical Skills (one or both areas)

• Enterprise AI strategy and roadmap development
• ML platform architecture and MLOps infrastructure design
• Model governance, monitoring, and lifecycle management frameworks
• AI Center of Excellence (CoE) design and implementation
• Cloud AI services architecture: AWS (SageMaker, Bedrock), GCP (Vertex AI), Azure (AI Studio)
• Responsible AI frameworks, model risk management, and compliance
• Modern data platform design: data lakes, lakehouses, data mesh architectures
• Cloud data platform experience: Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Redshift
• Data governance and metadata management frameworks
• Real‑time and batch data pipeline architecture
• Data modeling: dimensional modeling, data vault, one big table (OBT) approaches
• Integration patterns: ETL/ELT, CDC, event‑driven architectures

Plus:

• Strong communication skills—translate technical complexity for business stakeholders
• Experience leading architecture review boards or technical workstreams
• Domain expertise in financial services, healthcare, retail, or manufacturing (bonus)

The Right Fit

• Established as an independent contractor
• Currently operating through your own business entity (e.g. C Corp, S Corp, LLC) or willingness and ability to establish entity
• Selective about strategic, high‑impact projects

Not the right fit:

• Subcontractors through a third party
• Early to mid‑career or primarily implementation/developer focused

Our Client Projects

SMB & Enterprise organizations tackling:

• Modernizing legacy data infrastructure to cloud‑native platforms
• Designing enterprise AI/ML platforms and governance frameworks
• Building data mesh and federated data architectures
• Implementing lakehouse architectures (Databricks, Snowflake)
• Creating AI CoEs and ML platform strategies
• Data governance and compliance frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, SOX)