Principal Solutions Architect

Paramount • New York, NY

4d

About The Position

The Principal Solutions Architect is the leading tech expert tasked with improving large media platforms. Their job includes designing new systems, bettering metadata workflows, and upgrading production using AI technology. This role owns the reference architecture for MAM/PAM ecosystems, media supply chains, metadata governance, and next-generation intelligent services. including RAG, vector search, and ML-based enrichment.

The ideal candidate combines deep media engineering expertise, hands-on software development ability, and modern architectural management. They operate as a strategic thinker and a tactical problem solver, supporting mission-critical production environments and guiding teams through technical transformation.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years' experience in designing, establishing, and managing large media platforms. Responsibilities include working with MAM/PAM systems and overseeing all stages of media handling: from ingest to production, storage, and retrieval.
• 7+ years architecting cloud and hybrid environments (AWS, GCP, Azure, or OCI) with focus on media workloads, storage tiering, and workflow orchestration.
• 7+ years hands-on software engineering with solid proficiency in Python, modern API development, automation, and CI/CD practices.
• 5+ years of experience in developing systems to organize media. Responsibilities: standardize data, enhance data quality, improve search abilities, and oversee data from start to end.
• Must have 3 years of experience adding AI and ML technologies such as object detection, speech-to-text, and scene/event detection to professional systems for video, audio, and text analysis.
• 3+ years designing and deploying systems leveraging vector search, embeddings, or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns.

Nice To Haves

• Must be well-versed in commercial media asset management (MAM) and production asset management (PAM) systems, like Avid MediaCentral/Interplay and Mimir. Must be aware with how their data is organized, how to work with their APIs, and be aware of any restrictions they might have.
• Strong knowledge of media formats, codecs, wrappers, and signals: MXF, MOV, MP4, ProRes, AVC/HEVC, HDR, SDI, SRT, NDI, RTP, etc.
• Proficient with workflow and transcoding systems such as Telestream Vantage or MediaConvert. Can identify and fix issues and enhance system efficiency.
• Hands-on experience integrating video understanding, semantic search, and speech recognition platforms (cloud AI, Twelve Labs, or custom ML).
• Practical experience building or operating RAG architectures using vector databases, embeddings, and LLMs for search, automation, or knowledge retrieval.
• Strong automation background (Python, Bash, PowerShell, JSON/YAML) with focus on reducing operational load.
• Experience with setting up containers (such as Docker) and managing them in actual work environments, along with container orchestration systems (like Kubernetes).
• Solid insight of networking, identity, DNS, firewalls, storage systems, hybrid connectivity, and enterprise infrastructure.
• Working knowledge of Windows/Linux, Active Directory, and SQL databases commonly used in media systems.
• Experience with supporting remote or virtual production environments, like with Leostream, Teradici, or NICE DCV.).
• Familiarity with disciplined change management in live production using tools like ServiceNow, Jira, Asana.
• Demonstrated ability to create clear and useful documents. These are for different readers, such as engineers, operators, and top management. Types of documents include architecture diagrams, decision records, API documentation, and runbooks.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design of key systems, including Media Asset Management (MAM), Production Asset Management (PAM), metadata management, workflow coordination, and AI-supported production processes. These systems oversee the whole media lifecycle from ingest to production, archiving, and distribution.
• Design and evolve media architectures, including decoupling legacy platforms, introducing modern APIs, and enabling parallel migrations to cloud-native services.
• Define enterprise metadata models and enrichment strategies, including integration of AI-generated metadata (e.g., Twelve Labs or equivalent).
• Architect and deliver AI-driven services such as automated metadata enrichment, semantic search, content discovery, and intelligent support/ops agents using RAG.
• Design developer-friendly platform services, SDKs, and automation frameworks that enable safe, consistent workflow extension by internal engineering teams.
• Lead vendor evaluations, POCs, and platform pilots, progressing them to production-ready implementations with measurable success criteria.
• Establish and maintain architecture, code, and documentation standards. Work to improve the quality and consistency of engineering across all teams and with external partners.
• Serve as the final technical escalation point for complex failures involving MAM, workflows, storage platforms, or AI services.
• Partner closely with operations and production support teams to ensure architecture is observable, supportable, and resilient.
• Drive improvements in reliability, automation, workflow monitoring, and incident response across media systems.
• Mentor engineers, raising overall engineering maturity through guidance in design, architecture, and system thinking.

Benefits

• Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages.
• Generous paid time off.
• An exciting and fulfilling opportunity to be part of one of Paramount’s most dynamic teams.
• Opportunities for both on-site and virtual engagement events.
• Unique opportunities to make meaningful connections and build a vibrant community, both inside and outside the workplace.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees