Principal Engineer- AI Platform Architect

Verizon•Irving, TX

23h•$120,500 - $231,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As the Principal Architect for Verizon’s Enterprise AI Platform, this principal-level individual contributor provides technical leadership for a five-layer architecture serving global business units. The role ensures architectural coherence across platform components, including Gateway routing, Registry role-based access control (RBAC), the AI development lifecycle (ADLC), guardrails, and end-to-end token visibility for FinOps. The architect authors Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), leads Architecture Review Board (ARB) submissions, and conducts build-versus-buy evaluations supported by multi-year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models. Success requires technical influence, design excellence, strategic vision, and the ability to build consensus across the organization. The role directs the Model Foundation, Agent Factory, Agent Runtime, Experience, and Control Plane layers by defining boundaries, interface contracts, and interaction patterns. It establishes architectural standards for APIs, enterprise security, and observability; reviews components and advises business units on aligning agent architectures with the platform. The architect develops technical strategy and procurement evaluations, creates three-year TCO models, and formulates multi-cloud strategies that balance central platform services with decentralized needs. The position also designs enterprise security and governance frameworks covering identity, authentication, execution safety, and audit; engineers Responsible AI guardrail architectures; and supports compliance with emerging international regulations. The architect works with executive leaders and external cloud partners on capacity planning and integration, and contributes reference architectures to the enterprise library. The role requires expertise in scalable distributed platforms, AI/ML and LLM architecture, technical interface contracts, and financial modeling. The architect must be able to present and substantiate recommendations, navigate rapidly evolving AI technologies, and influence technical direction across engineering and executive stakeholders.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.
Six or more years of relevant experience, demonstrated through work and/or military experience or specialized training.
Experience in software or platform architecture, including designing AI/ML systems.
Experience as a system-level architect, with proven Architecture Decision Records and reference architectures.
Experience with agentic development and design patterns, including LangGraph and Google ADK.
Experience with distributed systems, including service mesh, API gateways, event-driven patterns, multi-tenancy, and data isolation.
Experience with Kubernetes at enterprise scale.
Experience with LLM architecture, including transformers, attention, KV-cache, context windows, token economics, and routing patterns.
Experience in multi-cloud environments, specifically GCP and AWS.
Experience with API platform design, including OpenAI-compatible interfaces, SDK design, and developer experience.
Experience presenting architecture recommendations to VP/SVP-level leadership.
Demonstrated focus on technical interface contracts and TCO modeling, with the ability to support build-versus-buy recommendations using robust three-year financial models.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or an MBA.
Experience architecting agentic AI systems, including agent runtimes, multi-agent orchestration, and memory systems.
Experience with security architecture, including zero-trust (SPIFFE/SPIRE), mTLS, OPA, Vault, and regulated environments such as CPNI and PCI-DSS.
Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) and A2A (Agent-to-Agent) protocol design.
Experience designing RAG architectures, including vector databases, hybrid search, and re-ranking.
Experience with MLOps/LLMOps at scale, including model registry and RLHF/RLAIF.
Experience with FinOps at scale, including unit economics for AI workloads.
Telecom or regulated enterprise architecture background.
Experience architecting OpenTelemetry-based observability platforms.
Published architecture writing or open-source AI/ML contributions.
AWS Solutions Architect Professional or GCP Professional Cloud Architect certification.

Responsibilities

Direct the five-layer architecture stack: Model Foundation, Agent Factory, Agent Runtime, Experience, and Control Plane.
Define formal layer boundaries, interface contracts, and interaction patterns to ensure platform scalability.
Establish and govern architectural standards for API conventions, enterprise security patterns, and observability requirements.
Lead component reviews and provide consultative oversight of Business Unit agent architectures to ensure platform alignment.
Conduct build-versus-buy analyses for platform components and develop comprehensive three-year TCO models.
Formulate multi-cloud strategies balancing central platform services with decentralized requirements.
Design multi-stage enterprise security flows covering identity, authentication, execution safety, and audit.
Engineer Responsible AI guardrail architectures and support compliance with emerging international regulations.
Collaborate with executive leadership and external cloud partners on capacity planning and integration.
Author Architecture Decision Records, lead Architecture Review Board submissions, and contribute reference architectures to the enterprise library.
Present architecture recommendations and drive technical consensus across organizational stakeholders.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision coverage
Short- and long-term disability insurance
Basic and supplemental life insurance
AD&D insurance
Identity theft protection
Pet insurance
Group home and auto insurance
Matched 401(k) savings plan
Up to 8 company-paid holidays per year
Up to 6 personal days per year
Paid parental leave
Adoption assistance
Tuition assistance
Other incentives
Up to 15 days of vacation per year for newly hired employees, increasing with additional service
Potential premium pay, including overtime, shift differential, holiday pay, and allowances