Job Description: Technical Architect

Location: Hyderabad / Pune – Hybrid

Department: Retail

Experience: ~15 years overall, including 6–8 years in an Architect-level role

We're looking for an Architect to define and govern the technology strategy that connects business goals to IT execution within our Retail domain. You'll own the big picture — how applications, data, infrastructure, security, and AI capabilities fit together across the organization — while guiding teams toward consistent, scalable, and future-proof solutions, including how AI and GenAI are woven into the retail technology roadmap.

• Define and maintain the Technical architecture vision, principles, and roadmap aligned with retail business strategy.

• Own architecture across domains: business, application, data, technology/infrastructure, and security (TOGAF-style layers).

• Evaluate and select technology platforms, frameworks, and tools; maintain the technology reference stack.

• Lead architecture reviews and governance boards; ensure solution designs align with Org standards and avoid duplication/tech debt.

• Partner with business stakeholders (CxOs, product owners) to translate retail business capabilities (eCommerce, POS, supply chain, order management, inventory) into technology roadmaps.

• Guide cloud strategy and migration (AWS/Azure/GCP), including hybrid and multi-cloud considerations.

• Define integration patterns (APIs, event-driven, messaging) across retail systems and third-party platforms (payment gateways, logistics, POS, CRM).

• Assess build vs. buy decisions and lead vendor/technology evaluations.

• Drive modernization of legacy retail systems and define migration strategies with minimal business disruption.

• Establish architecture documentation standards (reference architectures, ADRs, capability maps).

• Mentor solution architects, tech leads, and senior engineers; act as a technical escalation point.

• Ensure architecture decisions account for scalability, security, compliance, cost, and operational resilience — particularly around peak retail events (e.g., sales seasons, high-traffic periods).

• Stay current on emerging technologies and assess their applicability to the retail business.

• Define the Org AI/GenAI strategy — identifying high-value use cases across the retail value chain (personalization, demand forecasting, conversational commerce, supply chain optimization, fraud detection).

• Establish reference architectures for integrating AI/ML and GenAI capabilities (LLMs, RAG pipelines, recommendation engines) into existing retail platforms and data ecosystems.

• Partner with data science and analytics teams to ensure AI initiatives are built on governed, scalable data architecture.

• Define responsible AI guardrails — data privacy, model governance and compliance — as part of the Org architecture standards.

• Evaluate AI platform and vendor choices (cloud-native AI services, LLM providers, MLOps tooling) as part of build-vs-buy decisions.

• Bachelor's/Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

• ~15 years in software/IT with 6–8 years in an architecture role.

• Proven experience designing architectures for large-scale, distributed, multi-system environments, ideally within Retail.

• Strong knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and cloud-native architecture patterns.

• Experience with microservices, APIs, event-driven architecture, and integration platforms.

• Familiarity with architecture frameworks (TOGAF, Zachman, or similar).

• Strong understanding of data architecture, security architecture, and DevOps/CI-CD practices.

• Experience driving legacy modernization and cloud migration initiatives.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills — able to present to both engineers and executives.

• Working knowledge of AI/ML concepts and how they integrate into architecture — model serving, data pipelines for ML, and AI-driven application patterns.

• TOGAF or relevant cloud architect certification (AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert).

• Prior experience in Retail — eCommerce platforms, POS systems, inventory/order management, or supply chain technology.

• Background in domain-driven design (DDD) and integration patterns.

• Hands-on exposure to GenAI/LLM-based solutions (e.g., copilots, chatbots, RAG-based search) deployed in a production setting.

• Familiarity with MLOps practices and AI governance/data governance frameworks.

• Experience with AI-driven retail use cases such as personalization engines, demand forecasting, or conversational commerce.

• Certifications in AI/ML on cloud platforms (e.g., AWS Certified Machine Learning, Azure AI Engineer) are a plus.