Vice President, AI Solutions Architect

Vice President, AI Solutions Architect

Location: New York, NY OR Chicago, IL (Hybrid, in-office collaboration expected)

Department: Technology

Reports to: Technology Leadership

About the Company

Our client is a leading, highly regarded alternative investment firm specializing in private credit. With a global footprint and a reputation for long-term partnerships, the firm continues to invest heavily in technology as a strategic driver of efficiency, risk management, and growth. The firm places a strong emphasis on professional development, collaboration, and a culture built on diverse perspectives.

About the Team

The Technology organization designs and delivers modern solutions that create efficiency, mitigate risk, and support revenue growth across the business. The group spans application development, data integration and analytics, enterprise data governance, infrastructure and operations, project and vendor management, and a mature cybersecurity program. Technology partners closely with firm leadership and business unit heads to align technology investments with business priorities.

The Opportunity

The firm is seeking a Vice President, AI Solutions Architect to serve as one of its leading experts in the practical application of artificial intelligence. Working closely with business leaders and an AI transformation team, this person will identify and shape high-impact AI opportunities, challenge traditional operating assumptions, and translate future-state processes into scalable, AI-centered solution architectures.

This role blends strategy and hands-on architecture. You will develop solution options and tradeoffs, select fit-for-purpose patterns, validate critical assumptions through targeted prototypes, and guide engineering teams from design through production. Along the way, you will help build the reusable patterns, standards, and capabilities that accelerate AI adoption across the firm while keeping solutions secure, reliable, and aligned with long-term goals.

Key Responsibilities

Partner with business stakeholders and the AI transformation team to understand needs, desired outcomes, process constraints, and user requirements for prioritized AI opportunities

Lead discovery and solution design sessions, challenge assumptions, evaluate alternatives, and build consensus on recommended approaches

Translate business outcomes and future-state processes into scalable AI solution designs, target-state workflows, and implementation-ready architectures

Evaluate the existing technology landscape to determine the right approach, whether that means leveraging enterprise capabilities, extending platforms, building custom AI solutions, or recommending non-AI alternatives

Design secure, scalable AI and agentic architectures that combine AI with deterministic workflows and controls, including the appropriate models, data, grounding, integrations, permissions, human oversight, observability, and evaluation

Assess business fit, data readiness, feasibility, risk, operational viability, and cost to deliver clear recommendations

Build or guide targeted prototypes and technical experiments to validate novel or higher-risk concepts

Define architecture specifications, technical requirements, interfaces, and decision records, and provide architectural guidance through implementation and release

Identify gaps in enterprise platforms and recommend new services, integrations, controls, or patterns, while developing reusable reference architectures, standards, accelerators, and evaluation methods

Define and apply evaluation criteria for AI quality, groundedness, safety, reliability, performance, and cost

Stay current on generative AI, agentic systems, models, and platforms, and translate relevant advances into practical guidance

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data Science, or a related field; advanced degree a plus

10+ years of experience in solution architecture, software engineering, AI/ML engineering, enterprise application design, or technology consulting, including guiding complex solutions from discovery through production

Deep expertise in applied generative AI architecture: LLMs, agentic patterns, RAG, context engineering, knowledge grounding, orchestration, tool design, and human-in-the-loop controls

Strong knowledge of modern AI integration patterns and standards, including Model Context Protocol (MCP), and experience combining probabilistic AI with deterministic software and workflow components

Deep knowledge of the Microsoft AI and data ecosystem, including Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Power Platform, and Fabric, with sound judgment on when to configure, extend, or build

Strong understanding of enterprise data, integration, cloud, and application architecture, including APIs, enterprise search, structured and unstructured data, identity and access management, security, privacy, responsible AI, observability, and cost management

Experience defining and applying AI evaluation methods across quality, safety, reliability, performance, and cost

Hands-on ability to build prototypes and collaborate with engineering teams; proficiency in Python or another modern language strongly preferred

Experience applying process design methods to rethink workflows, decisions, and human-machine interaction around AI

Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts in business terms and lead across business, engineering, data, security, and risk teams

Curious and pragmatic, comfortable in an evolving environment, and able to separate durable architecture principles from short-lived trends

Financial services experience is a plus

Why This Role

A visible, high-impact seat shaping how a leading investment firm adopts AI across the business

Blend of strategic influence and hands-on technical work

Opportunity to define the standards, patterns, and reference architectures others will build on

Collaborative, in-office culture with strong investment in professional growth