Principal Architect at Robots & Pencils
US - Remote Full-timeRemoteEngineeringPosted 8 days ago
Apply with PipelineAbout the Role
<p><span data-contrast="none">We’re looking for a Principal Architect to lead the design and delivery of complex, multi-domain systems spanning cloud, data, and AI. This role is ideal for a deeply experienced engineer who owns the hardest architectural challenges, sets technical direction, and serves as the senior technical voice on the engagements they support.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":240}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="none">In this role, you will operate as the senior technical authority on a cross-functional team, defining architecture across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and AI/ML workloads. You’ll partner closely with leadership and clients on technical strategy, mentor experienced engineers, and own high-stakes decisions that shape the long-term success of the systems you build.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":240}"> </span></p>
<p><strong><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 2">Why This Role Matters</span></span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"134245418":true,"134245529":true,"335559738":299,"335559739":299}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="none">At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate.</span> <br> <br><span data-contrast="none">Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on.</span><span data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p>
<p><strong><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 2">What </span><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 2">You’ll</span><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 2"> Do</span></span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"134245418":true,"134245529":true,"335559738":299,"335559739":299}"> </span></p>
<p><strong><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 3">Craft & Delivery</span></span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"134245418":true,"134245529":true,"335559738":281,"335559739":281}"> </span></p>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Define technical strategy and lead architectural design across cloud, data, and AI/ML systems for end-to-end engagements</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Architect scalable cloud-native solutions, including multi-cloud and hybrid strategies (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Design data architectures including warehouses, data lakes, and pipelines for batch and streaming workloads (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, Spark, Kafka)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Design AI/ML systems including model serving, MLOps pipelines, feature stores, and LLM-based applications (e.g., SageMaker, Vertex AI, MLflow, Hugging Face)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="5" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Define infrastructure as code, CI/CD, and DevOps standards across engagements (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation, GitHub Actions)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="6" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Drive performance, scalability, cost, and reliability optimization across deployed systems</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="7" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Ensure architecture meets security, governance, and compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="8" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Lead cloud migrations and platform modernization initiatives</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="9" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<p><strong><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 3">Collaboration & Communication</span></span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"134245418":true,"134245529":true,"335559738":281,"335559739":281}"> </span></p>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="10" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Partner with senior leadership and clients as the principal technical voice on strategy and direction</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="11" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to engineering and non-engineering stakeholders alike</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="12" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Engage closely with engineering, data, AI, and product teams to align architecture with broader business priorities</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="13" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Develop and maintain architecture documentation, standards, and guidelines</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<p><strong><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 3">Leadership & Influence</span></span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"134245418":true,"134245529":true,"335559738":281,"335559739":281}"> </span></p>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="14" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Define and champion architectural standards and best practices on the engagements you support</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="15" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Mentor experienced engineers and architects, helping them grow their technical judgment and impact</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="16" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Own the most difficult architectural and integration challenges, serving as the senior technical decision-maker</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="17" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend tools, frameworks, and patterns that improve architecture over time</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p>
<p><strong><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 2">What </span><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 2">You’ll</span><span data-ccp-parastyle="heading 2"> Bring</span></span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"134245418":true,"134245529":true,"335559738":299,"335559739":299}"> </span></p>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="18" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in technical leadership roles</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="19" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Deep expertise in cloud platforms and cloud-native architectures (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="20" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Strong background in microservices, serverless, containers, and event-driven systems (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker, Lambda, EventBridge)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="21" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Proficiency with infrastructure as code and CI/CD (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi, GitHub Actions)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="22" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Strong data architecture expertise across relational, NoSQL, and big data systems (e.g., PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Snowflake, BigQuery, Spark, Kafka)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="23" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Hands-on experience with data modeling, ETL/ELT pipelines, and orchestration (e.g., Airflow, Prefect, dbt)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="24" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Strong experience designing AI/ML systems for production, including LLMs, MLOps, and model serving (e.g., SageMaker, Vertex AI, MLflow, Hugging Face, PyTorch, TensorFlow)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="25" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Solid understanding of networking, security, identity, and access management in cloud environments</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="26" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Experience with governance, compliance, and observability frameworks</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="27" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Strong software engineering skills (Python, APIs, containerization)</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="28" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Track record of senior technical leadership and mentoring experienced engineers</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="29" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Strong stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to translate technical depth across audiences</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="30" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Demonstrable usage of AI-forward tools such as Claude and Cursor</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="8" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="31" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">Multi-cloud architecture experience, AI ethics or responsible AI experience, or enterprise architecture certifications (e.g., TOGAF, AWS/Azure/GCP) is a plus</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":0}"> </span></li>
</ul>
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