Principal Architect - Apps & AI

AI First Enterprise Delivery Leadership

• Own and drive enterprise scale architecture and delivery execution across highly complex customer portfolios, ensuring alignment to business strategy, transformation goals, and long term technology roadmaps.

• Embed AI first and AI native principles across solution design, delivery models, and operating frameworks—driving intelligent automation, agentic workflows, and data driven execution at scale.

• Serve as the primary executive technical interface for CIO / CTO / CDO leadership, translating business strategy into scalable architecture, delivery plans, and transformation milestones.

• Lead strategic recovery and stabilization of high risk or mission critical programs, establishing executive credibility and clear, outcome driven remediation paths.

• Influence architectural direction beyond a single program—shaping account level, industry level, and GCID wide technical strategies.

Engineering Excellence

• Set and enforce engineering excellence standards across organizations, ensuring architecture integrity, quality, security, resilience, and performance at enterprise scale.

• Champion modern engineering practices including AI assisted development, DevSecOps, SRE, observability, and platform engineering.

• Drive creation and reuse of enterprise grade reference architectures, accelerators, patterns, and paved road platforms.

• Establish and govern architecture review cadences aligned with the Microsoft WellArchitected Framework, influencing decisions at executive and transformation program levels.

Innovation & Thought Leadership

• Act as a visible thought leader with customers and internal leadership—shaping future state architectures, modernization strategies, and AI adoption roadmaps.

• Track and evaluate emerging technologies, AI platforms, and engineering paradigms to inform strategic investments and differentiated offerings.

• Influence innovation across GCID by sharing best practices, defining reusable assets, and mentoring senior architects.

Client Engagement & Solutioning

• Operate as a trusted advisor to CEO / CIO / CTO stakeholders, guiding executive level conversations on digital transformation, AI adoption, cloud strategy, platform modernization, and operating model changes.

• Lead executive design sessions, architecture boards, and transformation roadmap reviews, providing clear tradeoff analysis across cost, risk, timetovalue, and strategic outcomes.

• Own technical leadership during presales, deal shaping, and complex pursuits, including estimates, risk profiling, executive narratives, and differentiated solution design.

• Build long term executive relationships that position GCID as a strategic transformation partner, not just a delivery vendor.

Team Leadership, Mentorship & Organizational Impact

• Provide seniormost technical leadership across multiple architect teams, fostering a strong culture of accountability, rigor, and innovation.

• Mentor and develop senior and principal architects, setting clear expectations for L64/L65 progression and impact.

• Influence talent strategy, capability development, and succession planning across Apps & AI engineering communities.

Quality, Security & Compliance

• Ensure enterprise grade security, governance, reliability, and compliance across all engagements.

• Drive adoption of secure by design, Responsible AI, and privacy first engineering practices aligned with customer regulatory and risk postures.

• Partner with customer security, risk, and compliance leadership to design architectures ready for regulated and highly scrutinized environments.

• 22+ years of experience in software engineering and enterprise architecture, with significant experience operating at CxO level technical leadership roles.

• Proven track record leading largescale transformation programs across cloud, data, AI, and modern application platforms.

• Strong executive communication, stakeholder influence, and decision making capability.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience; advanced certifications and industry recognition preferred.

Areas of Expertise

(All areas below assume enterprise scale ownership and executive level influence)

Full Stack Application Engineering

• End-to-end architecture leadership for modern, largescale application ecosystems

• Deep expertise in distributed systems, scalability, performance, and secure application design

AIDriven & AIEnabled Application Development

• Define and govern enterprise AI architectures using Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Services, and agentic systems

• Executive oversight of Responsible AI, governance, observability, and cost optimization strategies

CloudNative Architecture (Azure)

• Design and influence platform centric, PaaSfirst enterprise architectures

• Lead cost, resilience, security, and multiregion strategies aligned to business continuity goals

DevOps, Platform & Developer Productivity

• Shape enterprise DevOps, platform engineering, and developer productivity strategies

• Drive standardization of CI/CD, IaC, security automation, and pavedroad platforms

Solutioning, PreSales & Strategic Leadership

• Own technical strategy for large, complex, highvalue deals

• Translate executive business priorities into competitive, differentiated architectures

• Influence both customer and internal leadership on technical investment and risk decisions

Frontier Engineering & Customer Enablement Skills

• Lead earlystage innovation, pilots, and lighthouse programs with executive sponsorship

• Guide customers from whiteboard concepts to scaled production platforms

• Operate confidently in ambiguous, highpressure executive environments, balancing speed with governance

Personal Attributes

• Executive presence with the ability to influence CEO / CIO / CTO stakeholders

• Strong strategic thinking combined with deep technical credibility

• Outcome oriented mindset with a focus on measurable business impact

• Passion for technology, leadership, and continuous growth