AI-Native Architect

The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Inc.; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Carnegie Mellon University’s SEI seeks an AI-Native Architect to help organizations solve architecture-scale challenges with AI. You will modernize legacy systems, rearchitect for new tech, and design reference architectures across domains.

You’ll shape agentic workflows and coach teams in aligning development with architectures. The role requires leading engineering efforts, applying AI to software engineering tasks, and communicating complex ideas to diverse stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with eight (8) years of experience; OR MS with five (5) years; OR PhD with two (2) years.
• Active background investigation and ability to obtain DoD security clearance.
• Willing to travel up to 25% of the time to off-site locations.
• Travel sites include SEI offices in Washington, D.C., sponsor sites, and conferences.

Responsibilities

• Assess customer system challenges and recommend technical solutions.
• Review existing systems and design modernization strategies.
• Create novel architectures and reference architectures for diverse domains.
• Coach engineering teams to achieve architecture-scale changes.
• Architect and prototype systems and agentic workflows.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI to architecture challenges.
• Share experiences and best practices with the technical community.

Skills

Software architecture

AI in software eng

Architectural modernization

Leadership experience

Communication skills

Mentoring

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/SE

MS in CS/SE

PhD (relevant)

Job description

The future of software engineering is AI-native. Our team works to shape that future through pioneering research, practical engineering methods, and close collaboration with government, industry, and academia.

At the AI-Native Software Engineering Directorate, we focus on how today's engineering teams can quickly exploit emerging technologies and harness AI capabilities to create and evolve software quickly without losing fundamental software qualities.

To address this new world, we : study and guide industry and government teams’ use of AI in software engineering distill best practices and lessons from experiments and experience to shape AI-native software engineering pilot and transition improvements with organizations and measure their success create novel agents and agentic workflows to support software engineering apply AI to accelerate architecture-scale modernization help organizations establish AI-native software engineering practices guide organizations in evolving their software with architecture and AI-native approaches Our overarching goal is to create new workflows and tools that enable AI-paced delivery of software without loss of quality.

We're seeking candidates with a demonstrated track record who are motivated to shape AI-native software engineering.

AI-Native Architect

As an AI-Native Architect, you will focus on helping organizations solve architecture-scale challenges with the assistance of AI. Common challenges include modernizing legacy systems, rearchitecting systems to enable insertion of new technologies, and creating new architectures and reference architectures across different domains. New challenges include creation and evolution of agentic workflows, both for business processes and software engineering activities.

• assessing customer system challenges and recommending technical solutions
• reviewing existing systems against today's challenges and designing modernization strategies
• creating novel architectures and reference architectures to address customer challenges
• coaching engineering teams in achieving architecture-scale changes
• architecting and prototyping systems and agentic workflows
• identifying opportunities to apply AI to diverse architecture challenges
• sharing experiences, solutions, and practice improvements with the technical community through publications and presentations

You will have the opportunity to work with world class software engineers, researchers, and data scientists working on national and global scale problems.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Comprehensive knowledge of software architecture and software engineering fundamentals
• Broad knowledge of architecture principles, practices, and tools
• Ability to quickly learn new problem domains and technologies
• A track record of architecting or rearchitecting systems at scale
• A track record of aligning development activities with planned architectures
• Ability to keep up with and adapt to rapidly changing technical advances
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to convey complex technical ideas in a layperson’s terms to stakeholders with different backgrounds
• Proficiency developing task plans or roadmaps to solve complex problems
• Strong collaboration skills for working with colleagues and sponsors
• Willingness and ability to guide and mentor junior team members

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or related discipline with eight (8) years of experience; OR MS in the same fields with five (5) years of experience; OR PhD with two (2) years of experience.
• You will be subject to a background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance.
• Willing to travel up to 25% of the time to locations outside of your home location.
• Travel sites include SEI offices in Washington, D.C., sponsor sites, and conferences.

Desired Experience

• Experience leading engineering teams to produce successful outcomes for industry or government projects
• Successful application of AI to improve software engineering activities
• Experience working with leadership to plan, develop, and deliver an overall technical strategy
• Experience drafting work proposals

Location Pittsburgh, PA

Job Function Software/Applications Development/Engineering

Position Type Staff – Regular Full time/Part time Full time

Pay Basis Salary

More Information: Please visit “Why Carnegie Mellon” to learn more about becoming part of an institution inspiring innovations that change the world.

Carnegie Mellon University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran.

Statement of Assurance Always focused on the future, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) advances software as a strategic advantage for national security. We lead research and direct transition of software engineering, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence technologies at the intersection of academia, industry, and government. We serve the nation as a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and are based at Carnegie Mellon University, a global research university annually rated among the best for its programs in computer science and engineering. Our people apply special knowledge and skills and are part of an elite research university. We perform research and apply our expertise every day to foresee problems and exploit opportunities in software engineering, AI engineering, and cybersecurity. Quality software that is secure will control the future. At CMU SEI, we are engineering that ever-greater software-fueled future.

Need Help? For technical assistance, email [e-mail] or call 412-268-4600.

If you are an individual with a disability and you require assistance with the job application process, please contact Equal Opportunity Services by emailing [e-mail] or calling 412-268-3930.