Lead AI Architect, Front-Deployed & Cloud-Native

Crowe; South Bend (IN); Hybrid; USD 102,000 - 204,000; Full time

Job summary

Crowe is seeking a Forward Deployed AI Architect (Manager) to act as a hands-on technical authority, designing, developing, and delivering production-ready AI solutions for clients. You will own solution architecture, feasibility, engineering quality, and production readiness while coding and prototyping as needed.

Within Crowe Studio's Forward Deployed Engineering practice, collaborate with clients and cross-functional teams to translate complex business challenges into scalable, secure AI

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field.
• 6+ years of production software or cloud/AI/ML engineering experience.
• Experience architecting cloud-native apps using Azure/AWS/GCP.
• Strong communication and ability to mentor teams.

Responsibilities

• Architect and develop end-to-end applied AI solutions, including generative AI applications, agentic systems, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and AI-enabled enterprise workflows.
• Lead solution architecture for AI build and proof-of-concept engagements, ensuring solutions are technically feasible, scalable, secure, and aligned with client business objectives.
• Remain hands-on across solution development, including application coding, data integration, prototyping, debugging, and technical implementation.
• Design and implement cloud-native AI solutions using Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and relevant AI platforms and services.
• Define architecture and integration patterns for large language models (LLMs), vector databases, APIs, microservices, enterprise data platforms, and client systems.
• Take ownership of technical feasibility, solution design decisions, and build quality from initial discovery through production deployment.
• Guide solutions through Architecture Review Board processes, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture standards, security requirements, responsible AI principles, and production readiness expectations.
• Assess technical feasibility during client discovery sessions, solution scoping, and sales support discussions, clearly communicating technical tradeoffs, risks, and recommended approaches.
• Establish engineering standards, reusable architectural patterns, technical documentation, and development best practices across client engagements.
• Design solutions with appropriate evaluation frameworks, monitoring, observability, guardrails, and performance optimization to support reliable AI operations.
• Collaborate with AI engineering, data engineering, MLOps, DevOps, cloud infrastructure, and security teams to deliver integrated enterprise solutions.
• Evaluate technical tradeoffs among custom development, managed AI services, and low-code or automation platforms to select appropriate implementation strategies.
• Identify and address technical risks, including performance, scalability, security, reliability, and cost considerations.
• Mentor engineers through architecture reviews, code reviews, technical guidance, and hands-on problem-solving to strengthen engineering quality and team capabilities.
• Evaluate emerging AI frameworks, cloud capabilities, and engineering tools to identify opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement.

Skills

Cloud engineering

AI/ML engineering

Distributed systems

APIs & microservices

Kubernetes

Terraform

Observability

Prompt engineering

Client-facing

Hands-on engineering

Education

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

Tools

Azure

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

Terraform

Azure AI

Amazon SageMaker

Google Vertex AI

Job description

Crowe is seeking a Forward Deployed AI Architect (Manager) to act as a hands-on technical authority, designing, developing, and delivering production-ready AI solutions for clients. You will own solution architecture, feasibility, engineering quality, and production readiness while coding and prototyping as needed.

Within Crowe Studio's Forward Deployed Engineering practice, collaborate with clients and cross-functional teams to translate complex business challenges into scalable, secure AI