Principal AI Architect – Governance

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California.

📋 Description

• Drive the advancement of Vuori's enterprise AI architecture.

• Create reference architectures, engineering standards, and integration methodologies.

• Oversee technical assessments of AI platforms, foundational models, cloud services, and tools.

• Provide recommendations regarding build-versus-buy-versus-partner strategies.

• Enhance engineers' architectural skills through design reviews, collaborative work, documentation, and reusable models.

• Formulate and implement Vuori's AI governance framework, which includes model risk management, data privacy, bias detection, audit trails, and adherence to regulations.

• Set AI engineering benchmarks, security protocols, testing and evaluation methods, and responsible AI policies.

• Collaborate with Legal, Compliance, Security, and Data teams on regulations, data management, and ethical practices.

• Execute monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement strategies for AI systems in production.

• Align AI architecture and governance with the organization's priorities and investment strategies.

• Advise executive sponsors, engineering leaders, and external partners or auditors regarding AI architecture and associated risks.

• Work together with AI product, engineering, and data teams to incorporate architectural and governance requirements from the outset.

• Guide engineers and technical leads through architectural advice and design evaluations.

• Monitor and report on platform reliability, adherence to governance, security posture, and business impact.

• Evaluate emerging AI technologies, best practices, and industry benchmarks.

• Enhance standards, refine governance processes, and eliminate obstacles for teams creating AI responsibly.

⛳️ Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field; an advanced degree is preferred.

• Over 12 years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or technology architecture.

• Extensive experience in managing enterprise AI or data platform architecture at scale.

• Proven track record in designing and overseeing AI systems in production, including LLMs, agentic systems, ML pipelines, and model serving infrastructures.

• Profound knowledge of enterprise AI governance, risk management, security, and compliance frameworks.

• Experience in defining technical standards, making architectural decisions, and promoting adoption across large, cross-functional engineering teams through influence rather than direct authority.

• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures on Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.

• Knowledge of modern AI infrastructure patterns such as RAG, vector databases, and orchestration frameworks.

• Practical experience in building and deploying with frontier AI lab models, platforms, and/or frameworks, including those from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or Meta.

• Outstanding communication skills suitable for engaging with engineering, business, and executive audiences.

• Strong executive presence with the ability to foster alignment, constructively challenge assumptions, and influence decisions within a matrixed organization.

• Preferred: Familiarity with enterprise AI governance platforms, model risk management frameworks, or AI regulatory standards like the EU AI Act or NIST AI RMF.

• Preferred: Knowledge of MLOps, model lifecycle management, AI observability, and responsible AI tools.

• Preferred: Experience with Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft Copilot Studio, or Google Gemini Enterprise.

• Preferred: A background in retail, direct-to-consumer, e-commerce, or a comparable consumer operating environment.

• Preferred: Proven ability to establish and expand practical architecture standards and governance capabilities in rapidly growing organizations.

• Preferred: Active participation in the broader AI and technology community through publications, presentations, or open-source contributions.

🏝️ Benefits

• Health Insurance

• Savings and Retirement Plan

• Employee Assistance Program

• Generous Vuori Discount & Industry Perks

• Paid Time Off

• Wellness & Fitness benefits

• Bonus eligible