Principal Software Architect – AI & Cloud
Diversified Services Network, Inc. (DSN) is seeking a full-time Principal Software Architect – AI & Cloud to join our team in their choice of our Chicago, IL or Peoria, IL office locations. We offer full a hybrid work model, requiring 2 days of onsite work per week, benefits, PTO, 401k, and more! If you're looking to grow your career within an extremely reputable, stable Fortune 100 company - let's talk!
Position Overview
This role designs and orchestrates multi-agent workflows and stateful AI systems, integrates foundation models into secure production environments, and architects AI-native data models that pair relational and vector databases for retrieval-augmented generation. Beyond hands-on architecture, the role provides technical leadership across engineering teams — mentoring engineers, establishing governance and standards for secure, cloud-native development, and driving the responsible adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Architecture & AI Integration
• Design and orchestrate multi-agent workflows and stateful AI systems using modern frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, or CrewAI.
• Integrate foundation models (e.g., Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini) via secure API gateways, managing token limits, costs, and rate-limiting.
• Architect data models optimized for AI-native structures, integrating relational databases with vector databases for semantic search and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Implement robust white-box testing and continuous evaluation metrics to monitor AI outputs for factual correctness, hallucinations, and safety compliance.
• Champion secure, reliable, and scalable software solutions through architectural leadership, risk management, and continuous improvement of engineering practices.
Technical Leadership & Workflow Optimization
• Mentor and scale an engineering team, establishing engineering standards, best practices, and architectural governance for secure coding, continuous integration, and cloud-native deployment.
• Drive AI-assisted engineering velocity by integrating next-gen development tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf) into the team's daily Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Establish governance policies and coach developers on the responsible use of AI, focusing on input data sensitivity, license compliance, and security guardrails.
• Evaluate existing systems, services, APIs, and data models to identify opportunities for modernization, scalability, and performance improvements.
Influence Across Teams & Developer Experience
• Facilitate technical leadership forums with Product Owners, Technical Leads, Architects, and Engineering Managers.
• Drive conversations around architecture, engineering health, technical debt, AI adoption, and continuous improvement.
• Foster collaborative decision-making through architecture reviews, RFCs, and technical discussions.
• Promote self-service engineering capabilities and platform enablement.
• Drive automation initiatives that improve productivity and software quality.
Team Interaction & Work Environment
• Significant, ongoing interaction with the Scrum team, including all ceremonies (Daily Standups, Sprint Planning, Grooming, Retro, Demo) and PR reviews.
• Regular engagement with other teams as needed.
• Strong collaboration is required across the role.
Candidate Requirements
Education & Experience
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, plus 10+ years of professional software engineering experience OR
• Master's degree plus 8+ years of experience, including 2+ years in a technical leadership role.
Core Software Engineering
• Backend Systems: Deep proficiency in backend environments, microservices architectures, and API design using Java.
• Cloud & DevOps: Extensive experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and public cloud infrastructure such as AWS.
AI & LLM Infrastructure
• Orchestration & Tooling: Hands-on experience with production-level AI agents, prompt engineering, and advanced Agentic PDLC patterns.
• Vector Databases: Practical knowledge of vector technologies such as Pinecone, Milvus, Chroma, or pgvector.
• AI Tool Fluency: Demonstrated mastery of AI coding assistants and a firm understanding of Model Context Protocol (MCP) to mediate agent connections with external databases.
Additional Qualifications
• Proven experience designing and delivering large-scale distributed systems.
• Strong expertise in software architecture, APIs, microservices, cloud-native applications, and modern engineering practices.
• Experience influencing multiple engineering teams and leading organization-wide technical initiatives.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and drive technical excellence.
• Experience with Generative AI, AI agents, LLM-powered applications, or intelligent automation platforms.
• Knowledge of security architecture, application security, and cloud security best practices.
• Experience establishing technical governance and engineering standards across multiple teams.
Soft Skills
• Ability to work under pressure and within time constraints.
• Passion for technology and an eagerness to contribute to a team-oriented environment.
• Ability to lead architectural designs and work across teams to develop solutions.