AI Architect

Job Summary:
Seeking an AI Architect to lead retail AI initiatives—bridging tech and operations to deploy predictive, generative, and ML solutions that enhance customer experience, optimize supply chains, and drive revenue.

Job Description:

Omni-Channel Customer Experience & Personalization

• Develop and scale AI-driven personalization engines for our Omni-Channel platform and mobile app.

• Oversee the implementation of conversational AI to improve customer service and post-purchase support.

• Optimize in-store layouts, track customer behaviours, and enhance the brick-and-mortar shopping experience.

• Act as a subject matter expert and responsible for designing the architecture of technical solutions, developing and implementing new features and changes/enhancements, providing technical support and issues resolution.

• Perform customisation with an in-depth understanding of code structure, extension architecture, theming hierarchy, fallback components and cache implementation including APIs customization and integration (REST/SOAP).

AI Systems Architecture

• Lead the design and execution of end-to-end platforms and services that support advanced analytics use cases and enterprise AI capabilities.

• Align AI solutions with overall technology architecture and long-term business strategy.

• Provide strategic insights into the evolving AI landscape, including generative AI, LLMs, and machine learning frameworks.

Leadership & Strategy

• Strategize, lead and direct all activities related to AI Management - Project Management, Solution delivery, Management and Control, Suppliers, Vendors, Contractors, Internal IT Workforce Management.

• Evaluate, negotiate with, and manage third-party AI vendors and SaaS platforms specializing in retail technology.

Partnership

• Work as a partner with all Internal/External stakeholders, Vendor management.

• Initiate, evaluate & prioritize projects and process improvements along with business stakeholders.

• Ensure all deliverables are focused on quality & maximum ROI.

• Translate technical concepts into actionable insights for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Evaluate third-party technologies and manage vendor relationships to ensure solutions meet organizational standards and performance requirements.

Project & Risk Management

• Manage all projects and ensure the deliverables are ON TRACK and exceeds/meets stakeholder expectations.

• Ensure project management principles are strictly adhered in all areas including risk management, hands-on prototyping and proof-of-concept delivery for emerging technologies.

• Enable automation, intelligence, and efficiency across business systems including applied AI.

Governance and Security

• Ensure information security policies are implemented across all IT functions and strictly adhered.

• Conduct periodic assessment, identify gaps and ensure relevant resolution are in place.

• Ensure all AI initiatives comply with data privacy regulations regarding consumer data.

People & Resource Management

• Create a culture of performance and value in technology services.

• Establish sophisticated control mechanisms for optimum, efficient, rightful allocation & utilization of resources.

Change Management & Service Excellence

• Ensure solution delivered are properly tested and meet specifications and timeline from request to deployment.

Other Responsibilities

• Monitor the results and quality of the different software solutions and projects implemented in the organisation.

• Perform Contract and Procurement Management.

• Develop and review IT policy and implementation processes.

• Support Audit for compliance and development of risk management.

• Any ad-hoc tasks assigned.

Role Requirement:
A hands-on role with minimum 2 years of experience in similar position with broad functional expertise preferably in retail industry & technical expertise in AI/ML solution architecture and operations systems and all facets of IT management & technology trends not limited to:

• Plan & execute implementation of the agreed initiatives. This will require working with the team in terms of analyzing the requirements, studying the options available & working towards a standard solution, which meets the requirements in an effective & efficient manner.

• Negotiate between external vendors and suppliers to resolve often highly technical or contentious issues and conflicts to ensure that projects and work packages are delivered on time and within budget.

• Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Programming & System Analysis, Science (Computer Studies) or related discipline. Professional certification in Agile methodologies is a plus.

• Business Central, Tableau, Microsoft Fabric and Salesforce certification is an added advantage.

• Strong business understanding ability, strong technical learning and transfer ability, strong sense of responsibility, good communication and teamwork skills.

• Strong commercial acumen to tie AI metrics directly to retail KPIs (e.g. Conversion Rate.

• Excellent storytelling and communication skills to explain complex AI models.

• Minimum 2 years of experience leading technical/software engineering teams or managing complex tech projects.

• Minimum 2 years of hands-on experience developing AI/ML solutions, generative AI technologies and frameworks. with at least 2 years specifically within the retail, e-commerce, or FMCG sectors.

• Minimum 2 years of large-scale backend system development experience.

• Available to work period weekends and off-hours for on-site support requirements.

• Available for 24/7 call support.

Technical Skills:

• Profound knowledge in various scripting/programming languages, operating system & server administration, and mass system deployments including cloud platform and networking protocols.

• Proven experience designing and deploying machine learning systems with measurable business impact.

• Deep understanding of Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning, NLP, and Computer Vision as applied to retail (e.g., image search, sentiment analysis).

• Experience with Generative AI applications in retail, such as automated product description generation, virtual try-ons, or personalized email copy.

• Proficiency in Python or R, and experience with cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud).

• Deep knowledge of supervised and unsupervised learning models, neural networks, and statistical modelling techniques.

• Proficient in SQL and database schema design; experience with both relational and non-relational databases.

• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure or GCP), distributed computing, container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes), and ML Ops tools (ML flow, Kubeflow, Airflow).

• Familiarity with retail data structures, including POS (Point of Sale) data, ERP systems, and CRM systems.