Sr. Staff AI Architect

Confluent

115d

About The Position

The Staff AI Architect will play a pivotal role within the Data team, providing technical leadership and solution design in partnership with the Data Science and Data Engineering teams. In this role, you will leverage your expertise in data technologies, combined with knowledge of Confluent Cloud, Flink, and other AI-powered automations to design scalable, event-driven systems that meet the complex needs of our growing organization.

Requirements

• A minimum of 8+ years in enterprise data, software architecture, or related fields, with 5+ years of hands-on experience in Kafka and event-driven systems.
• Proven track record of designing and implementing large-scale, cloud-native solutions leveraging Kafka, Flink, and AI-driven tools.
• Hands-on experience with feature stores, vector databases, or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for real-time AI.
• Experience optimizing large-scale, real-time systems for low latency, high throughput, and cost efficiency.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI to build and deliver compelling data solutions.
• Strong understanding of event-driven architecture, stream processing (Kafka Streams, Flink), and distributed systems.
• Proficiency in microservices architecture, RESTful APIs, and modern DevOps practices (CI/CD pipelines).
• Strong background in cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform).
• In-depth knowledge of SQL and NoSQL database technologies.
• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with TensorFlow, PyTorch, Hugging Face, or other ML libraries.

Nice To Haves

• Industry recognition as a thought leader in AI and real-time data processing.
• Hands-on experience deploying and managing AI/ML pipelines or integrating AI services (e.g., AWS SageMaker, GCP Vertex AI).
• Experience representing technical expertise in external forums such as conferences, webinars, or panels.
• A deep understanding of Kafka, Flink, AI/ML frameworks, and modern event-driven architectures.

Responsibilities

• Incorporate AI technologies, such as machine learning models, natural language processing, or predictive analytics, into automation and event-driven workflows & data solutions.
• Contribute to the design, integrations and management of AI/ML solutions across SaaS platforms, systems, and databases, leveraging Confluent, AI-powered tools, and microservices patterns.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to translate business needs into cohesive AI strategies and outcomes.
• Oversee and provide input on the design of microservices that align with modern cloud-native principles, enabling robust and reusable system components.
• Conduct technical design reviews, enforce best practices, and ensure the delivery of high-quality, secure, and maintainable solutions.
• Dedicate time to coach and mentor other team members.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees