Senior AI Architect/Lead Engineer
ATI | Advanced Technology International
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
ATI | Advanced Technology International is seeking a Senior AI Architect/Lead Engineer to set the standards for AI capability stacks and deliver phased, credible solutions. This hands-on role requires prototyping, evaluating tooling, and presenting architectural decisions to leadership.
Based near Summerville, SC, you will work hybrid with occasional in-office and remote days, leading AI initiatives on Azure services, data architectures, and FedRAMP-compliant designs while mentoring delivery
Qualifications
- 7+ years in software engineering or architecture with AI focus.
- Proven track record delivering AI solutions in production.
- Experience leading small engineering teams.
- Strong communication to non-technical leadership.
- U.S. citizenship or permanent resident per policy.
Responsibilities
- Provide architectural direction for the AI capability stack on Microsoft Azure.
- Prototype and build AI solutions; evaluate tooling.
- Ensure compliance requirements including FedRAMP are identified early and designed in.
- Provide guidance on AI standards covering design, testing, documentation, and handoff practices.
- Mentor delivery teams and establish collaboration rhythms with the AI Transformation Lead.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
ATI has been named "Best Places to Work in SC" from 2017 - 2025.
This is a full-time opportunity with benefits
ATI provides Medical, Dental and Vision Plan options
Flexible Spending Accounts, including health and dependent care accounts
403B Retirement Savings plan with a very competitive company contribution
Personal time-off (pre-loaded & accrued) plus 12 paid holiday-days
Life Insurance paid by ATI
Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Coverage paid by ATI
Employee Assistance Program
Tuition Reimbursement Program
ATI's standard business hours are Monday-Friday, between 8 AM - 5 PM.
ATI builds and manages collaborations that conducts research and development of new technologies to solve our nation’s most pressing challenges. Our collaborations are custom-built teams of organizations from industry and academia that develop novel technologies for the federal government. Traditionally, these processes are complicated and burdensome. That’s where ATI comes in. We simplify and streamline processes to make it all work. When you work at ATI, you become a part of something larger than yourself. Our collective work – no matter what department or division you work in – ultimately enables the warfighter, saves lives, and diversifies the industrial base. At our core, ATI is a service organization. We are in service to others; it’s what we do, and it’s who we are.
The Senior AI Architect/Lead Engineer will serve as the organization's senior technical leader for AI, responsible for the AI capability stack, setting the standards that govern how AI solutions are built, and translating strategic priorities into a credible, phased delivery plan. This is a hands‑on role, as the AI Engineering lead, they will prototype and build solutions, evaluate tooling, and directly shape how AI is built and delivered. This person must be as comfortable presenting architecture decisions to non‑technical leadership as they are working alongside engineers.
This role works in close partnership with the AI Transformation Lead to facilitate a clear handoff, and an agreed collaboration cadence between the technical and adoption tracks.
**This position offers a hybrid schedule (in‑office & remote/work from home) or an onsite schedule and flexible hours. Candidates will need to reside near Summerville, SC to ensure work site flexibility.**
- Provide guidance on architectural direction for the AI capability stack on Microsoft Azure, including data flow patterns, integration approach, and selection of appropriate AI services in partnership with technical leadership
- Work with Technical Leadership to make and document build vs. buy decisions, including evaluation of existing vendor relationships and third‑party AI capabilities
- Ensure compliance requirements, including FedRAMP, are identified early and designed in, engaging internal and vendor resources where deeper expertise is needed
- Provide guidance on AI standards covering solution design, testing, documentation, and handoff practices
- Evaluate the AskSage and Copilot deployments and advise on the role within the broader AI stack
- Advise on data architecture patterns appropriate for AI workloads, including retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), document ingestion pipelines, and knowledge retrieval
- Build working prototypes of prioritized AI capabilities to validate feasibility and demonstrate technical direction
- Evaluate the current AI capabilities and recommend a plan to grow capabilities through training or augmentation
- Work with internal and external team members to determine the best delivery strategy
- Establish a working relationship with the AI Transformation Lead, including clear handoffs and an agreed collaboration rhythm
- Hands‑on experience building production LLM‑based applications, including prompt engineering, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), and document processing pipelines
- Experience with knowledge retrieval systems using vector search and semantic indexing
- Experience with intelligent document processing, including OCR, document classification, and structured data extraction from unstructured sources
- Practical understanding of when LLM‑based approaches are the right solution and when simpler methods are more appropriate and the ability to make that case clearly
- Hands‑on experience with Azure AI Services: Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search, Azure Document Intelligence, and Azure Cognitive Services
- Working knowledge of Azure data and compute infrastructure relevant to AI workloads: Azure Blob Storage, Azure Data Lake, Azure Functions, and Azure Container Apps
- Experience with Azure DevOps for solution delivery and Azure AI Studio for model management and deployment
- Demonstrated experience designing AI solutions for FedRAMP‑compliant or similarly regulated environments
- Ability to translate compliance requirements into concrete architecture decisions and communicate them clearly to non‑technical stakeholders
- Proficiency in Python for AI application development
- Experience designing APIs that expose AI capabilities to downstream applications
- Familiarity with C# or TypeScript in Azure/.NET environments is a plus
The following skills are valued and will strengthen a candidate's profile.
- Agentic workflow design, including multi‑step orchestration using frameworks such as LangChain, Semantic Kernel, or AutoGen
- LLMOps practices including prompt versioning, output observability, and evaluation frameworks
- Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform, Bicep)
- Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate, Copilot Studio) as a delivery layer for workflow automation
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) or equivalent standards for connecting AI models to organizational data and tools
- 7+ years of experience in software engineering, solutions architecture, or a related technical field, with at least 3 years focused on AI or machine learning systems
- Demonstrated track record of designing and delivering AI solutions in production — not just prototypes or proofs of concept
- Experience setting technical direction for small engineering teams, including standards, patterns, and review practices
- Hands‑on experience with Microsoft Azure, particularly Azure AI Services and Azure OpenAI
- Strong communication skills, able to translate complex technical decisions for non‑technical audiences and build confidence with leadership teams that are new to AI
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, software engineering, or a related field; advanced degree preferred but not required where equivalent experience is demonstrated
- Employee must be a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization, or a green card lawful U.S. permanent resident, or a political asylum in the U.S. Individual must meet the definition of “a U.S. person” upon hire due to the risk assessment of this position.
- This position is subject to a background check that includes a review of criminal records. In reviewing an applicant’s criminal history, the company will consider prior criminal convictions that have a relationship to the job duties and responsibilities of the position. The company considers the nature of the crime, the time that has elapsed since the crime and the job duties for the position at issue in making an individualized determination. Individuals may be excluded when the company determines, based on the above factors, that hiring, transferring or promoting the applicant would pose an unreasonable risk to the business, its employees or its customers and vendors.
- Experience in a government contracting, regulated services, or similarly compliance‑driven environment
- Familiarity with FedRAMP requirements and their architectural implications
- Prior experience evaluating and onboarding AI vendors or managing outsourced delivery relationships
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Regular physical activity to include walking, bending, stooping, reaching, standing and prolonged sitting.
Ability to speak, read, hear, and write, with or without reasonable accommodation.
Ability to use phone and computer systems, copier, fax, and other office equipment.
Must be able to occasionally move/lift up to 25 pounds with or without reasonable accommodation.
This position is located in an air‑conditioned, environmentally controlled atmosphere, and occasionally attend meetings in technology company environments.
Noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
ATI is an Equal Opportunity Employer of Minorities, Females, Protected Veterans, Individuals with Disabilities and all other protected classes.
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