Lead Business Engineer — Retail & AI Transformation

Intellibus; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Intellibus is seeking a Lead Business Engineer to join our team and help drive enterprise modernization for a major U.S. retailer.

You will combine business strategy with engineering execution, working directly with client leaders to simplify operations and deliver measurable outcomes. You will operate across merchandising, stores, supply chain, data, AI, and enterprise technology, leading architecture decisions, guiding engineers, and ensuring delivery of scalable platforms that create business

Qualifications

• 12–20+ years in software engineering, enterprise architecture, technology leadership, platform engineering, or related roles.
• Experience delivering complex enterprise applications or platforms.
• Experience within or serving major retail, grocery, consumer, or other large enterprise organizations.
• Strong technical leadership and direct experience guiding high‑performing engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead understanding of client business problems and translate them into engineered solutions.
• Architect scalable, secure, and economically efficient enterprise platforms.
• Drive AI, modernization, and integration initiatives across the client landscape.
• Prototype, build, and deliver with direct involvement of engineering teams through production delivery.
• Mentor engineers, raise architectural standards, and establish reusable patterns.

Skills

Enterprise architecture

Distributed systems

APIs

Data platforms

Cloud technologies

AI

Engineering leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Intellibus Consulting is a boutique AI and engineering firm that builds Intelligent Business Platforms for enterprises undergoing large-scale digital modernization. We believe we value engineers and engineering, and use technology to make life simple.

We are hands‑on builders, not slide‑only consultants. Our leadership works alongside clients and engineering teams to turn complex business and technology challenges into measurable outcomes.

We are leading modernization initiatives for a large U.S. brick‑and‑mortar retailer, spanning customer‑facing platforms, store operations, merchandising, supply chain and logistics, data, AI, and automation.

We are an Inc. 5000 company, creators of the AI Masterclass in collaboration with NYU, and recipients of the 2026 UK Government Innovation Award.

About Intellibus

Intellibus Consulting is a boutique AI and engineering firm that builds Intelligent Business Platforms for enterprises undergoing large-scale digital modernization. We believe we value engineers and engineering, and use technology to make life simple.

We are hands‑on builders, not slide‑only consultants. Our leadership works alongside clients and engineering teams to turn complex business and technology challenges into measurable outcomes.

We are leading modernization initiatives for a large U.S. brick‑and‑mortar retailer, spanning customer‑facing platforms, store operations, merchandising, supply chain and logistics, data, AI, and automation.

We are an Inc. 5000 company, creators of the AI Masterclass in collaboration with NYU, and recipients of the 2026 UK Government Innovation Award.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Lead Business Engineer to help lead one of Intellibus' most important enterprise transformation initiatives with a large U.S. retailer.

This is not a traditional business analyst, solution architect, engineering manager, or technology consulting role. You will connect business strategy with engineering execution, working directly with client business and technology leaders to understand operations, identify opportunities for simplification and modernization, and engineer solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes.

You will work across merchandising, stores, supply chain, customer experience, data, AI, and enterprise technology, combining business understanding, architectural thinking, and hands‑on engineering leadership.

The mandate: Understand the business. Challenge complexity. Engineer solutions. Deliver outcomes.

What We Are Looking For

We need someone who combines the commercial understanding of a business leader with the technical depth of an exceptional engineer. You may have worked as a Chief Architect, CTO, VP/Director of Engineering, Principal Engineer, senior technology transformation leader, or technology entrepreneur.

You understand that great engineering is measured not by how much technology we build, but by how much business value we create and unnecessary complexity we eliminate.

You Bring

• Strong understanding of enterprise business processes, operating models, financial drivers, and technology economics.
• Experience in retail, grocery, merchandising, store systems, supply chain, digital commerce, or adjacent enterprise environments.
• Deep expertise in software engineering, enterprise architecture, distributed systems, APIs, data platforms, cloud technologies, and AI.
• Ability to translate complex business challenges into simple, scalable, commercially viable engineering solutions.
• A track record of personally designing, building, or leading mission‑critical enterprise platforms and applications.
• Strong knowledge of legacy modernization, integration, data architecture, automation, and AI‑enabled transformation.
• Confidence engaging with CIOs, CTOs, business executives, enterprise architects, and engineering teams.
• Commercial judgment covering revenue impact, operating costs, software licensing, infrastructure, and total cost of ownership.
• Experience leading cross‑functional teams from problem discovery and solution design through production implementation.
• A first‑principles mindset that challenges assumptions, unnecessary processes, and technology dependencies.
• A builder's mentality — comfortable working with engineers, reviewing architecture, challenging designs, and remaining accountable for delivery.
  

What You Will Own

Business Understanding

Develop a deep understanding of the client's operations, operating processes, revenue drivers, cost structures, technology dependencies, and strategic priorities. Identify unnecessary complexity, operational friction, additional costs, and constraints on business growth.

Start with the business problem, not the technology solution.

Business Engineering

Translate business opportunities into engineered solutions. Simplify processes, eliminate redundant systems, reduce dependencies, and create new capabilities. Connect individual problems to the underlying enterprise architecture and address root causes rather than symptoms.

Use first‑principles thinking to determine what should be built, simplified, reused, or eliminated.

Architecture & Engineering

Lead the design of scalable, secure, resilient, and economically efficient enterprise platforms. Work alongside Intellibus engineers and client technology teams to establish technical direction and implementation approaches.

Apply deep engineering judgment across APIs, distributed systems, data, AI, cloud infrastructure, integration, and platform modernization. Ensure technical decisions deliver business outcomes.

Favor simplicity over unnecessary abstraction, prevention over remediation, and engineering fundamentals over technology proliferation.

AI & Enterprise Modernization

Identify where AI, automation, and modern engineering can transform business operations. Modernize legacy applications, simplify enterprise integration, reduce duplicated data, eliminate unnecessary licensed software, and create intelligent business capabilities.

Use AI where it creates genuine business advantage, connecting individual modernization efforts into a coherent, reusable enterprise platform strategy.

Prototype, Build & Deliver

Turn ideas into working software through rapid discovery, prototyping, and engineering validation before committing to major implementation programs.

Work directly with engineering teams to make critical design decisions, resolve technical challenges, and maintain quality. Remain engaged through production delivery, ensuring performance, resilience, security, maintainability, and operational simplicity.

We expect leaders who can build, not simply direct others to build.

Business Outcomes

Ensure engineering creates measurable business value. Establish success measures with stakeholders, including revenue impact, operational efficiency, cost reduction, productivity, reliability, and customer experience.

Quantify proposed solutions' economics, demonstrate realized value, and challenge investments that add complexity without corresponding business benefits.

One Intellibus

Bring together business leaders, architects, engineers, AI specialists, and delivery teams to solve enterprise problems collaboratively.

Mentor engineers, raise architectural standards, establish reusable patterns, and help our teams become an extension of the client's engineering organization.

Build the Future

Help establish and scale engineering capabilities supporting long-term enterprise transformation.

Contribute to a Jamaica‑based engineering and technology capability by mentoring engineers, establishing standards, and developing future technical leaders.

Build reusable solutions and intellectual property that can support the broader enterprise and other Intellibus relationships.

What Success Looks Like

Success is not measured by the number of projects delivered, engineers managed, or technologies introduced. We will know this role is working when:

• Business leaders trust us to solve their most difficult problems.
• Complex challenges become simple, elegant engineering solutions.
• Our platforms reduce technology complexity rather than add to it.
• Prototypes become production systems delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Our engineers grow stronger and our solutions become more reusable.
• The client increasingly views Intellibus as an essential engineering partner in its transformation.
  

Experience

• 12–20+ years in software engineering, enterprise architecture, technology leadership, platform engineering, or related roles.
• Significant experience designing and delivering complex enterprise applications or platforms.
• Experience within or serving major retail, grocery, consumer, financial services, or other large enterprise organizations.
• Deep understanding of modern software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, cloud, data engineering, and AI.
• Experience modernizing legacy systems and simplifying complex technology environments.
• Demonstrated ability to connect technology decisions with measurable business outcomes.
• Strong technical leadership and direct experience guiding high‑performing engineering teams.
• Experience working with senior business executives, technology leaders, and cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Strong analytical reasoning, problem‑solving, communication, and ownership skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, from initial discovery through production delivery.

Prior experience at a major retailer, technology company, hyperscaler, engineering‑focused consulting firm, or enterprise software organization is particularly relevant.

We value what you have personally engineered and the business outcomes you have created more than titles, certifications, or the number of people you have managed.

The Kind of Person Who Will Thrive Here

You are not looking for a role where someone hands you requirements and asks you to build a system. You want to understand why the system is needed in the first place.

You enjoy discussing revenue, margins, customers, and operational challenges with business executives, then working with engineers on architecture, algorithms, data models, and implementation decisions.

You move comfortably between business cases and system design, boardroom conversations and technical architecture reviews. You care about engineering quality, the people building solutions, and whether the work makes the client's business better.

You believe great engineering often means eliminating unnecessary complexity rather than adding technology to manage it.

When something is complicated, your instinct is to understand it deeply enough to make it simple.

That is how we think at Intellibus.