Principal Data Architect

The Principal AI Architect is a senior technical leadership role responsible for defining and governing enterprise-wide AI, GenAI, and MLOps architecture. This role sets the long-term vision, reference architectures, and reusable patterns for scalable, secure, and responsible AI adoption across the organization. This role combines strong hands-on engineering with strategic innovation to design, prototype, and deliver intelligent, data-driven solutions that power analytics, machine learning, and next-generation AI applications.

Duties & Responsibilities:
Business Strategy - Drives data management architectural vision and strategy to support business needs. Designs and integrates key systems that change overall corporate data strategy and direction. Facilitates the development and evolution of architecture and enterprise governance processes.
Consultation - Provides technical direction for the Bank's annual investment in all data technology areas, including data infrastructure, architecture, management, integration, quality, reporting, and analytics. Offers guidance to application development teams within the department.
Collaboration - Communicates a clear vision for management and senior technical staff to ensure maximum leverage of both purchased and developed technology. Collaborates effectively to solve complex technical problems and create data strategies. Serves as a member of the Enterprise Architecture Review Board.
Technical Expertise - Maintains strong current knowledge of key advances, data technology, industry trends, and systems development techniques. Utilizes expertise to partner on the design of enterprise data solutions, planning technology migrations, vendor or product selection, and solution integration. Engage key data technology vendors to learn industry best practices and future trends.

Qualifications:

Bachelor's Degree and 10 years of experience in Application Development, Systems Engineering, or Information Technology management OR High School Diploma or GED and 14 years of experience in Application Development, Systems Engineering, or Information Technology management

Preferred Qualifications:* 10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, data platforms, or distributed systems.
* Deep expertise in AI/ML architecture, including GenAI and LLM-based systems.
* Strong experience designing MLOps platforms and enterprise AI foundations.
* Proven experience architecting solutions on AWS.
* Experience with Snowflake Cortex AI, Snowflake Native AI capabilities
* Strong understanding of cloud security, networking, and governance.
* Proficiency in Python, SQL, and modern data frameworks (e.g., Databricks, Airflow, Snowflake, Vertex AI).

* Relevant AWS certifications in cloud architecture, AI/ML, generative AI, or related domains.
* Experience with agentic AI design patterns, including tool-use orchestration, autonomous workflow agents, or AI copilots.
* Proficiency in API design, microservices, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
* Demonstrated ability to rapidly prototype new AI concepts and transition successful PoCs into production-grade systems.

If hired in NC, the base pay for this position is generally between $160,000 and $240,000. Actual starting base pay will be determined based on skills, experience, location, and other non-discriminatory factors permitted by law. For some roles, total compensation may also include variable incentives, bonuses, benefits, and/or other awards as outlined in the offer of employment.

Benefits are an integral part of total rewards and First Citizens Bank is committed to providing a competitive, thoughtfully designed and quality benefits program to meet the needs of our associates. More information can be found at https://jobs.firstcitizens.com/benefits.