Senior Staff Architect

Lytx, Inc.•San Diego, CA

1d•$207,000 - $261,000

About The Position

At Lytx, our vision is simple: a world where every journey ends with a safe return. Powering that vision takes more than great technology — it takes 311 billion miles of driving data, industry-leading MV+AI, and a platform built to protect people at scale. We need an architect who thinks at that level — and who is energized by building the systems that make that mission real for millions of drivers every day. As our Sr. Staff Architect for Enterprise Architecture, you'll shape how an entire organization builds. You'll connect our cloud infrastructure, applications, and security posture into something greater than the sum of its parts — and you'll do it with an AI-first mindset that runs through everything you design, decide, and teach. You won't be working in isolation. You'll be deeply embedded with engineering, product, and leadership teams, helping everyone build in the same direction. You'll turn complexity into clarity, move teams from misalignment to momentum, and invest genuinely in the engineers around you. If you get energized by connecting dots across domains, turning hard problems into durable decisions, and leaving teams better than you found them — this is the role for you.

Requirements

12+ years in software or infrastructure engineering, with 4+ years designing enterprise-scale systems across multiple domains.
An AI-first mindset — you've moved beyond curiosity about AI and actively apply it: in how you design systems, how you evaluate tools, how you accelerate your own work, and how you coach others to do the same. You understand the architectural implications of LLMs, ML pipelines, and AI-powered tooling, and you have real opinions about how to integrate them responsibly.
Mastery of AWS — you've built and operated production systems at scale across compute, networking, identity, and integration. You know how to get the most out of the platform and when to push back on it.
Deep networking expertise — multi-account architectures, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, zero-trust network design. You've solved hard problems here and can explain your reasoning clearly.
Integration fluency — you've designed systems where services communicate reliably at scale, and you know the failure modes intimately.
Security depth — IAM, RBAC, encryption, compliance frameworks, and emerging AI governance considerations. Security isn't a checklist to you; it's a design philosophy.
Executive presence — you can walk into a room with senior leadership, explain a complex architectural tradeoff, and walk out with alignment. You make the complex feel accessible without dumbing it down.
Coding ability in one or more backend languages — enough to prototype, lead by example, and earn the respect of the teams you guide.
A mission-driven, collaborative spirit — you care deeply about what we're building and how it impacts the people who depend on it. You share credit, build others up, and make the teams around you better.
A track record of meaningful mentorship — through design reviews, pairing, structured feedback, and a genuine investment in others' growth.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience architecting AI/ML platforms or integrating LLM-based capabilities into production systems.
A history of driving FinOps culture and cloud cost discipline.
Experience building internal developer platforms that accelerate entire engineering organizations.
Familiarity with regulated industries where governance, compliance, and AI ethics are table stakes.

Responsibilities

Set the architectural north star — own and evolve an enterprise blueprint spanning application integration, cloud infrastructure, security, and governance. Make it the foundation every team builds from, with AI capabilities embedded as a first-class concern — not an afterthought.
Champion an AI-first culture — drive the adoption of AI-assisted development, AI-powered operations, and intelligent system design across domains. Help teams understand not just how to use AI tools, but when and why — and establish the architectural patterns that make AI integration safe, scalable, and purposeful.
Unify the organization — create the forums, standards, and feedback loops that keep cross-domain teams aligned. Reduce duplication, resolve conflicts early, and make shared patterns the path of least resistance.
Architect for scale and resilience — design cloud-native AWS solutions that grow with the business without accumulating the kind of debt that slows everyone down later. Apply AI-driven approaches to observability, cost optimization, and reliability where they deliver real leverage.
Define how we connect — establish integration patterns that let our services communicate cleanly, reliably, and securely — from REST APIs to event-driven architectures — with AI-augmented tooling where it accelerates delivery.
Make security non-negotiable — champion zero-trust principles and governance-by-design so that security is part of our DNA, including thoughtful AI governance guardrails that keep us compliant and trustworthy as we adopt new capabilities.
Bridge vision and execution — translate ambitious business goals into architecture roadmaps that are technically sound, organizationally achievable, and positioned to take advantage of where AI is taking our industry.
Author decisions that endure — write ADRs that don't just document choices, but build shared understanding and accelerate future decision-making. Use AI tooling to augment your own output where it helps, and model that behavior for the organization.
Grow the next generation of architects — invest in mentoring senior engineers with the same rigor you bring to your technical work. Help them develop an AI-first instinct alongside strong architectural fundamentals. The people you develop are part of your legacy.