Head of Technical Architecture & AI Enablement

Zendesk; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 166,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Zendesk in Austin, TX, seeks a Senior Technical Architect to lead and grow the Americas Architecture team. You will guide enterprise SaaS designs, coordinate with Sales, Professional Services, and customers, and drive scalable, AI-enabled delivery in a fast-moving environment.

You will influence senior stakeholders, define scope, improve delivery health, and shape platform standards while partnering with Product to close capability gaps and accelerate value realization.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in Technical Architecture or related enterprise SaaS role.
• 3+ years leading architecture or consulting teams with distributed staff.
• Experience designing complex customer-facing SaaS implementations across multiple engagements.
• Understanding of product-led delivery and repeatable solution patterns.
• Strong analytical, project management, and executive communication skills.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Americas Technical Architecture team, hiring and coaching.
• Define scope with Sales and customers, assess effort, risks, and delivery value.
• Improve portfolio delivery health via planning, forecasting, and risk management.
• Drive cross-functional alignment and stakeholder consensus.
• Partner with Product to provide roadmap feedback and capability gaps.
• Advance AI adoption and scalable patterns across teams.
• Raise architecture standards with consistent discovery, design, and governance.

Skills

People leadership

Technical architecture

SaaS delivery

Stakeholder influence

AI-enabled delivery

Delivery portfolio management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

Zendesk APIs

App framework

Cloud/SaaS architecture

Job description

Zendesk in Austin, TX, seeks a Senior Technical Architect to lead and grow the Americas Architecture team. You will guide enterprise SaaS designs, coordinate with Sales, Professional Services, and customers, and drive scalable, AI-enabled delivery in a fast-moving environment.

You will influence senior stakeholders, define scope, improve delivery health, and shape platform standards while partnering with Product to close capability gaps and accelerate value realization.