Solutions Architect, AI & Automation Director

Circana

1d • Remote

About The Position

As Solutions Architect, AI & Automation, you sit between the business problem and the technical solution — and you are responsible for making sure that gap is closed accurately before anyone starts building.
This is not a hands-off architecture role. You are in the details. You are running discovery sessions with operations teams, reviewing AI-generated process maps, writing specifications that developers can act on without a follow-up conversation, and flagging complexity before it becomes a mid-sprint crisis. You own the scoping work for a defined portfolio of micro-automation projects, and you are accountable for the quality of what goes into the build pipeline.
You will work under the guidance of the Sr Director AI/Automation, who owns program-wide technical standards and handles the most novel or complex decisions. Your domain is the middle of the pipeline: the structured, high-throughput scoping and specification work that keeps delivery moving. Within your portfolio, you have genuine technical authority. You are not a drafter for someone else’s judgement.
Over time (and this program creates an unusually fast development environment) the expectation is that you grow into the senior profile. The automation breadth means you will encounter process types, integration patterns, and AI implementation challenges that many architects take years to accumulate.

Requirements

• 3–6 years of experience in solutions architecture, software development, or technical consulting with genuine delivery accountability — not just advisory work
• Hands-on experience with at least one production automation or AI-enabled workflow — you were in the room when something went wrong and you helped fix it
• Solid working knowledge of the AI tool landscape: LLMs, prompt engineering, RPA platforms, low-code automation, and where each genuinely adds value versus where it is oversold
• The ability to produce a process specification that a developer can act on without follow-up — complete, structured, and honest about what is unknown
• Strong written communication: your specifications, your risk flags, and your escalation notes need to be clear enough that busy people act on them correctly
• Intellectual honesty about uncertainty. The mid-level profile we are looking for knows what they know, knows what they don’t know, and is completely clear about which is which in their specifications. Candidates who project more certainty than they have (whose specs have no unknowns, whose complexity ratings are always ‘medium’) create more rework than candidates who are explicit about the gaps. We will probe for this in the interview.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in a data services, analytics operations, CPG, or market research environment — understanding how Circana’s kind of work flows gives you a significant head start
• Experience contributing to a standards or patterns library — you have documented reusable approaches, not just delivered individual projects
• Exposure to agile or sprint-based delivery: you understand how specifications are consumed by development teams and what makes them fast versus slow
• Basic data skills: SQL, Python scripting, or BI tooling at a level where you can validate data flow assumptions independently
• Any direct experience with AI model governance, prompt design, or LLM evaluation in an enterprise context

Responsibilities

• Own the scoping and technical specification for a defined portfolio of micro-automation projects — from initial intake through to a buildable, reviewed specification
• Facilitate structured process discovery sessions with operations SMEs.
• Identify integration dependencies, data flow requirements, and exception handling complexity before they surface as surprises in delivery
• Apply the program’s WSJF prioritization methodology to score incoming automation candidates; flag submissions that are under-specified or unlikely to meet the micro-automation threshold
• Make project-level technical calls independently; escalate program-level or novel architecture questions to the Senior Architect with a structured question and a recommended approach
• Contribute to the technical standards library — documenting patterns, integration templates, and anti-patterns as you encounter them across your project portfolio
• Participate in program-level architecture reviews; bring project-level observations that inform standards decisions
• Support AI governance compliance for projects in your portfolio: model approval, prompt design review, data privacy assessment
• Act as the technical point of contact for delivery pods working on projects you have scoped — available for clarifying questions during the build phase
• Support the onboarding and development of the automation developers where applicable, reviewing their specifications and offering structured feedback
• Contribute to program reporting: flag technical risk, track specification quality metrics, and surface patterns that affect pipeline health

Benefits

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed