Principal AI & DTC Architecture Leader (Remote)

Deckers Brands; Central City (CO); Remote; USD 155,000 - 209,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discounts

Wellbeing programs

Job summary

Deckers Brands is seeking a Principal Enterprise Architect, AI and DTC Technology to shape architecture powering Deckers’ consumer platforms and establish a governed AI foundation across the business. You will lead cross-brand and cross-region efforts to define a composable DTC architecture and a shared AI platform, balancing enterprise standards with innovation.

You will define enterprise-wide governance, roadmap, and target architecture for DTC, AI, data, and integration, guiding modernization

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent applicable industry experience.
• 8+ years of experience in enterprise or solution architecture within retail, fashion, or consumer goods, with deep expertise in DTC ecommerce, order management, customer data, and integration.
• ~3+ years hands-on experience architecting AI and machine learning solutions, including generative AI and large language model applications delivered into production.
• Proven track record implementing MACH and composable commerce architecture with microservices, API integration, cloud-native environments, and iPaaS platforms such as Boomi.
• Experience managing large-scale transformation projects, including commerce platform modernization and AI adoption programs.
• Experience evaluating AI and commerce vendors for capability fit, total cost of ownership, lock-in, security, and roadmap risk.
• Familiarity with the retail or fashion industry and understanding of the consumer journey from discovery to purchase, fulfillment, and service.
• Extensive knowledge of multi-cloud computing (AWS a must) with focus on scalability, security, and best practices.
• Strong understanding of AI/ML architecture, including LLMs, RAG, agents, vector databases, MLOps and LLMOps, guardrails, and responsible-AI practices.

Responsibilities

• Develop and articulate a clear, enterprise-wide architectural vision for DTC commerce and AI.
• Define and enforce architecture governance policies and standards across brands and regions.
• Create and maintain a multiyear DTC and AI architecture roadmap with milestones, dependencies, risks, and ownership.
• Own the target architecture for the DTC landscape across ecommerce, OMS, inventory, payments, CDP, loyalty, content, search and personalization.
• Champion MACH principles to enable flexible, composable commerce architecture.
• Drive modernization of legacy systems to cloud-based, API-driven architectures.
• Define the enterprise AI reference architecture and shared AI platform (model access, orchestration, vector stores, etc.).
• Establish responsible-AI controls including bias, safety, privacy, data residency, and regulatory compliance.
• Lead and mentor architects, engineers, and AI practitioners; foster innovation and best practices.
• Define and track KPIs for DTC architecture and AI initiatives for senior management.

Skills

AI architecture

Cloud architecture

Leadership

Strategic vision

Cross-functional collaboration

Data governance

Enterprise integration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IT/Engineering

Tools

AWS

Boomi

Oracle EBS/PLM/PIM

Job description

Deckers Brands is seeking a Principal Enterprise Architect, AI and DTC Technology to shape architecture powering Deckers’ consumer platforms and establish a governed AI foundation across the business. You will lead cross-brand and cross-region efforts to define a composable DTC architecture and a shared AI platform, balancing enterprise standards with innovation.

You will define enterprise-wide governance, roadmap, and target architecture for DTC, AI, data, and integration, guiding modernization