Principal AI Solutions Architect

Nature and Scope of Job USDM Life Sciences is seeking a hands-on Principal AI Solutions Architect to serve as the firm's senior internal AI authority and as a deployable Azure AI Architect and Subject Matter Expert on client engagements. The role spans AI architecture, build, governance, and enablement across both internal initiatives and regulated life sciences client programs. The successful candidate will define USDM's AI architecture, deliver AI/ML and generative AI solutions to production, serve as the senior Azure AI Architect on Azure AI Foundry-based client work, and act as the go-to expert for AI strategy, controls, and capability building across the firm. Primary Responsibilities AI Architecture and Solution Delivery Define USDM's AI solution architecture, reference patterns, and technical standards, and translate business problems into AI solution designs and delivery roadmaps. Build, test, and deploy machine learning and generative AI solutions to production, including prompt workflows, retrieval-augmented generation pipelines, agent-based automations, and model selection and tuning. Establish MLOps standards for model versioning, deployment, monitoring, drift detection, and lifecycle management. Client Engagement Delivery — Azure AI Architect / SME Serve as senior Azure AI Architect and SME on active client engagements as deployed. Author multi-site Azure architecture documentation for Azure AI Foundry-based solutions at global scale (5 or more regional sites), including Azure Blob Storage data architecture and Azure Active Directory RBAC design. Design GDPR, PIPA, and other regional data residency controls within Azure. Lead prompt engineering and LLM response optimization on production client deployments. AI Risk, Governance, and Enablement Define and implement responsible AI practices, guardrails, and control points across USDM and client AI initiatives, partnering with legal, compliance, quality, and cybersecurity. Assess AI risks across privacy, security, bias, hallucination, explainability, and regulatory exposure (including EU AI Act considerations). Serve as the internal AI SME for USDM, developing playbooks, training, and reusable components for technical and business users. Additional Responsibilities Contribute to internal knowledge sharing, reusable assets, and documentation of patterns and learnings from client engagements. Support pre-sales and proposal development activities as needed, including technical scoping and solution design input. Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior consultants and engineers. Maintain active certifications and stay current with relevant cloud, AI, and life sciences technologies and standards. Participate in recruiting and interviewing of technical candidates as requested. Represent USDM in industry events, partner forums, and thought leadership opportunities as appropriate. Education & Certifications Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field; equivalent professional experience considered. Microsoft Azure certification strongly preferred (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure AI Engineer Associate). Qualifications 7+ years across AI/ML engineering, data engineering, or solution architecture, with proven hands-on delivery of AI/ML or GenAI solutions to production. Production Azure AI Foundry deployment experience at scale (not demos), including hands-on prompt engineering and LLM response optimization in production environments. Multi-site, multi-tenant Azure architecture experience at global scale (5 or more sites), including Azure Blob Storage data architecture and Azure Active Directory RBAC, user provisioning, and role design. GDPR, PIPA, and other multi-region data residency design experience, with familiarity with the EU AI Act and its implications for AI system design, risk classification, and governance. Strong understanding of AI risk, security, governance, and controls in enterprise settings. Strong stakeholder communication, facilitation, and training skills, with the ability to translate business needs into working technical solutions. Life sciences, pharmaceutical, GxP, or other regulated industry experience preferred, including 21 CFR Part 11 technical applicability knowledge. Microsoft Professional Services background, large global systems integrator Azure practice background, or Azure AI Foundry experience applied to quality management use cases (e.g., document assist, deviation, KPIs) preferred. Familiarity with Okta and other enterprise SSO integration patterns a plus. Working Conditions The working conditions described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential responsibilities and functions of the job and are not meant to be all inclusive. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential responsibilities and functions of the job. Unless reasonable accommodations can be made, while performing this job the staff member shall: Prolonged periods of sitting or standing at a desk and working on a computer in an environmentally controlled home office environment. Operate other office productivity machinery, such as a calculator, scanner, or printer. Frequently communicate with stakeholders via telephone, email, or instant message. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations. Travel to client site for onsite work as needed. Equal Opportunity Statement USDM Life Sciences is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Disclaimer This job description is intended to describe the general nature and the level of the work being performed by the people assigned to this position. It is not intended to include every job duty and responsibility specific to the position. USDM Life Sciences reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet business and organizational needs as necessary. Show more Show less