Forward Deployed AI Architect

Tribe AI; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Tribe AI is seeking a Forward Deployed AI Architect to lead mission-critical client engagements, acting as the technical cofounder on accounts, shaping the system from the ground up, and building and guiding the team to deliver end-to-end AI solutions in the field.

You will be the technologist, strategist and translator, dropping into the weeds when needed, and shaping client strategy while focusing on building technology that solves important business problems.

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing and delivering complex software systems with strong AI/ML depth.
• Proven experience leading and coaching a team of 3+ engineers over multiple years.
• Hands-on technical lead building and shipping in high-stakes enterprise environments.
• Mastery of the AI development lifecycle from data ingestion to deployment and monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: drive discovery, design architectures balancing speed, reliability and cost.
• Team Leadership: lead and coach engineers, set technical direction.
• Client Engagement: act as forward-deployed technical leader with clients.
• Delivery & Enablement: translate client solutions into reusable patterns and share insights.

Job description

About Tribe AI:

At Tribe, we’re on a mission to help enterprises realize the value of AI for their business. Every large enterprise wants to use AI to transform how they operate — but many don’t have the capabilities to do it. That gap is our opportunity.

We’re an AI-native services company that helps enterprises build and deploy best-in-class AI products that deliver real business impact. We partner closely with OpenAI and Anthropic, giving us rare visibility into the most advanced models, roadmaps, and GTM strategies in the world.

About the Role

We're looking for a Forward Deployed AI Architect to lead our most mission-critical client engagements. Think of it as being the technical cofounder of the account: often starting as the first engineer on a new engagement, shaping the system from the ground up, and building and leading the team around you to deliver it. You'll be in the field — shoulder-to-shoulder with clients — designing end-to-end AI systems, setting technical direction, and leading and coaching the team that makes it real.

You'll be equal parts technologist, strategist, and translator: dropping into the weeds when systems need unblocking, stepping up to the balcony to shape client strategy, and always keeping focus on the only thing that matters - building technology that solves the most important problems for our customers.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership

• Drive technical discovery with clients: understand environments, constraints, and the realities of dynamic enterprises.

• Design AI/ML architectures that balance speed, reliability, and cost - but never at the expense of outcomes.

• Provide architectural guardrails while enabling engineers to move fast and adapt in the field.

Team Leadership

• Lead and coach the engineers on the account — set technical direction for people, not just systems.

• Partner with the Forward Deployed CTO to support team’s growth as well as figure out team composition according to account needs.

Client Engagement

• Act as the forward-deployed face of technical leadership, tailoring communication from engineers to C-levels.

• Teach and enable client teams by turning complexity into clarity.

• Influence decision-making by linking technical choices to business wins.

Delivery & Enablement

• Guide engineers through execution without smothering them in process.

• Translate client-specific solutions into reusable patterns that strengthen our platform.

• Share insights across the company, raising the bar for future deployments.

About You:

• 10+ years designing and delivering complex software systems, with strong AI/ML depth.

• Track record of leading and coaching a team of 3+ engineers over multiple years

• Proven experience as a hands-on technical lead — building and shipping — in high-stakes enterprise environments.

• Mastery of the AI development lifecycle: from messy data ingestion to model deployment and monitoring.

• Ability to engage credibly across audiences - engineers in the trenches, executives in the boardroom.

• Background in consulting or client-facing engineering roles where outcomes mattered more than process.

• Systems thinker with a missionary mindset: you’re here to win, not to optimize for your next job.

Why Join Us:

• Impact: Lead the design of AI systems that move the needle for global enterprises.

• Exposure: Work across industries on problems that rarely have playbooks.

• Enablement: Build not just solutions, but client capabilities that outlast your engagement.

• Culture: Join a team that prizes creativity, resilience, and the primacy of winning over process.

• Growth: Stretch yourself - real growth is painful, nonlinear, and career-defining.