Solution Architect II (AI Enterprise Architecture)

Job description

**Our values start with our people, join a team that values you!**
Bring your talents to Ross, our leading off-price retail chain with over 2,200 stores, and a strong track record of success and growth.

Our focus has always been bringing our customers a constant stream of high-quality brands and on-trend merchandise at extraordinary savings.

All while providing a fun and exciting treasure hunt experience.
As part of our team, you will experience:
+ **Success.** Our winning team pursues excellence while learning and evolving
+ **Career growth.** We develop industry leading talent because Ross grows when our people grow
+ **Teamwork.** We work together to solve the hard problems and find the right solution
+ **Our commitment to Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, and our community.** We celebrate the backgrounds, identities, and ideas of those who work and shop with us because our differences make us stronger.

We strive to be a positive force in our community.
Our Corporate headquarters are in Dublin, CA, we have 3 buying offices in key markets in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston, and 8 distribution centers nationwide.

With 2023 revenues of $20.4 billion, we are a Fortune 500 company who is committed to providing an inclusive work environment with continuous learning opportunities and development for our teams.
**GENERAL PURPOSE:**
We are looking for a highly motivated and passionate AI Architect.

This role will require a skillset across a variety of AI technologies, with a strong emphasis on designing intelligent digital assistants and agent-based solutions using Microsoft Copilot, Azure OpenAI, and other Azure AI services.
This position is responsible for shaping scalable, secure, and compliant AI architectures that support a range of business scenarios-leveraging generative AI, computer vision, LLMOps, and other advanced AI capabilities.

The AI Architect collaborates with business leaders, engineering teams, data science, and security to translate business needs into AI-driven solutions that deliver tangible business outcomes and align with enterprise standards.
The architect should have expertise in using AI to increase productivity, efficiency, quality and reduce operational costs in Retail.

It's a highly visible role with a broad engagement within IT and business teams as well as externally with technology providers.

In this role, he/ she will be responsible for collaborating and driving architecture deliverables with other architects, external experts and consultants.

And the individual will often have to learn on their own and remain on the cusp of new technologies in AI.
The base salary range for this role is $129,100 - $220,600.

The base salary range is dependent on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, qualifications, relevant education, certifications, seniority, and location.

The range listed is just one component of the total compensation package for employees.

Other rewards vary by position and location.
**ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:**
• Responsible for defining and maintaining AI technology roadmap and plans.

Identify, communicate, and mitigate risks within the roadmap or implementation plans.

Participate in IT 5-year planning and annual budgeting process.
• Lead AI Solution Architecture for Digital Assistants and AI Agents.
o Create criteria for evaluating, comparing and selecting AI services.
o Architect scalable and secure digital assistant and AI agent solutions leveraging Microsoft Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, and Graph Connectors.
o Define architectural patterns for integrating enterprise data sources (e.g., file shares, SQL, APIs) to support retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and intelligent interactions.
• Ensure solutions meet performance, accuracy, and governance requirements.
• Develop and Govern Enterprise AI Patterns and Best Practices
o Create and maintain reusable architecture frameworks, reference implementations, and guardrails for AI use cases across the organization.
o Establish guidelines for responsible AI, including transparency, fairness, and privacy.
• Champion LLMOps practices to streamline lifecycle management of models and prompts.
• Take a leadership role in exploring and analyzing new applications and opportunities in AI in the marketplace, technology and infrastructure services.

Prepare ROI analysis and assist with creating budget proposals to initiate the acquisition of new AI services.
• Develop an AI governance framework in conjunction with the AI CoE and architecture review board that will enable the organization to consume AI services and reduce risks.
• Provide architecture and technology consultancy for portfolio planning.
o Partner with product managers, business analysts, engineers, and domain experts to identify high-impact AI opportunities and co-design solutions.
• Partner with other architects, security, engineering, legal, and compliance teams to ensure adherence to enterprise policies and regulatory standards.
• Support broader AI Initiatives across the enterprise
o Provide architecture leadership for AI use cases such as computer vision (e.g., customer experience in stores, store safety and compliance), forecasting models, personalization engines, and process automation.
• Design AI solutions that are cloud-native and aligned with modern data and event-driven architectures.
• Develop the internal AI Financial Mgmt and Ops practices collaborating with the CoE, Cloud Platform and IT Finance team.
• Mentor and Enable the Broader IT Team
o Support capability building across IT teams through architectural reviews, hands-on workshops, and training on AI tooling and practices.
• Act as an internal advisor and evangelist for AI transformation within the organization.
• Ensure completion of Architectural and project deliverables on time and under budget and that anticipated business outcomes are achieved.
• Provide architectural and technical input for definition, estimation and delivery of AI projects.
**COMPETENCIES:**
**People**
• Building Effective Teams (for managers of People and Projects)
• Developing Talent (for managers of people only, N/A for this role/level)
• Collaboration
**Self**
• Leading by Example
• Communicates Effectively
• Ensures Accountability and Execution
• Manages Conflict
**Business**
• Business Acumen
• Plans, Aligns and Prioritizes
• Organizational Agility
**With particular emphasis on the following specific position-related competencies:**
• Problem Solving
• Dealing with Ambiguity
**QUALIFICATIONS AND SPECIAL SKILLS REQUIRED:**
• Bachelor's degree in information systems, computer science, or a related technical discipline.

Master's degree is a plus.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in IT solution architecture, software engineering, or data/AI-related roles.
• At least 3 years of hands-on experience architecting and deploying AI/ML or intelligent automation solutions in a production environment.
• Proven experience delivering projects using Microsoft service offerings - Azure cloud services, Azure AI services (including Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, AI Search, and related tools), Copilot Studio, and integration with Microsoft 365 and Teams.
• Solid understanding of LLMOps, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prompt engineering, vector indexing, and orchestration of generative AI workflows.
• Experience with data integration, including ingestion from enterprise data sources (file shares, SQL, APIs) and Microsoft Graph connectors.
• Understanding of AI security, compliance, data privacy, and responsible AI practices.
• Strong analytical ability, judgment, and problem analysis techniques.
• Demonstrated ability to anticipate and handle complex issues, drive negotiations of solutions and to resolve conflicts.
• Demonstrated ability to execute basic financial analysis, such as ROI, and TCO.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to translate technical solutions into business language.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, data science, business, and compliance teams.
**Preferred Qualifications:**
• Microsoft certifications such as:
o Azure Solutions Architect Expert
o Azure AI Engineer Associate
• Power Platform Solution Architect Expert
• Computer vision architectures and tools (e.g., Azure AI Video Indexer).
• Experience building enterprise-grade digital assistants, chatbots, or copilots using low-code/no-code and pro-code platforms.
• Experience in retail technology environments, particularly in domains like store operations, merchandising, or supply chain.
• IT Strategy consulting experience is a plus.
**PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS/ADA:**
This position requires the ability to work in an office environment, including using a computer, attending meetings, working as part of a team, and the ability to communicate with team members and others.

Regular attendance also is a requirement of the position.
This role requires regular in-office presence, including attending in-person team interaction, meetings and collaboration, client support, mentoring, coaching, and/or feedback.

However, this role can perform duties effectively using a combination of in-office and remote work.#LI-Hybrid
**SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:**
None
**DISCLAIMER:**
This job description is a summary of the primary duties and responsibilities of the job and position.

It is not intended to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive listing of duties and responsibilities.

Contents are subject to change at management's discretion.
Ross is an equal employment opportunity employer.

We consider individuals for employment or promotion according to their skills, abilities and experience.

We believe that it is an essential part of the Company's overall commitment to attract, hire and develop a strong, talented and diverse workforce.

Ross is committed to complying with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, physical, mental or developmental disability, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), veteran status, military status, marital or registered domestic partnership status, medical condition (including cancer or genetic characteristics), genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, as well as any other category protected by federal, state or local laws.

Required Skill Profession

Other General