Artificial Intelligence 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.