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New York, New York, United States
Onsite
Not Available
*no h1b, OPT, visa sponsorship will be provided or accepted*
We're building AI that is changing the world. The workforce of the future is going to be multi-dimensional, multi-faceted, conductors of both people and artificial intelligence. We're looking for someone who can do that.
Shelf is the OS for agentic AI: a platform that models your policies, workflows, and operational logic into an AI Data Model so that AI agents don’t just respond, they reason. The result? AI that understands how your business actually runs and delivers precise, compliant, auditable outcomes at scale.
Brands like Amazon, Nespresso, HelloFresh, and KeyBank use Shelf to power their AI agents that automate workflows, improve efficiency, and turn long processes into automated work. We’re partnered with Microsoft, Salesforce, OpenAI, Snowflake, and Databricks — and recognized by Gartner (Cool Vendor) and IDC (Innovator) for our approach.
The AI Solution Architect is Shelf's solution design authority in customer-facing engagements, translating complex enterprise data and GenAI challenges into concrete, deployable architectures. This role combines deep expertise in AI systems, enterprise architecture, and data modeling with the ability to engage senior technical stakeholders and design end-to-end solutions that prove measurable value and scale into production.
You'll engage early in the sales cycle, leading pre-sales technical conversations on architecture, security, and deployment strategy with senior prospect and customer stakeholders. Operating at a high level, you'll run technical discovery, design the target solution, and guide proof-of-value pilots that demonstrate Shelf's value on a prospect's real data, working directly alongside Engineering throughout. Beyond the initial win, you'll define the reference architecture that guides production rollout and expansion.
Reporting to the Field CTO, you'll partner with Account Executives throughout the sales cycle, with primary responsibility during technical evaluation and pilots. You'll collaborate with Customer Success through deal closing, onboarding, and initial enablement, and contribute to our land-and-expand growth strategy by architecting solutions that grow within existing accounts. Your insights from the field will feed directly into product direction through structured feedback to our CTO and Product leadership.
The ideal candidate brings 8-12+ years combining deep technical depth in data and AI platforms with customer-facing solution design. You're equally comfortable whiteboarding a target architecture with a CTO and getting into the detail of a pilot alongside Engineering. You communicate credibly at a senior level while maintaining the technical depth to go deep when it counts. Experience with knowledge graphs, ontologies, or semantic technologies is strongly preferred, though exceptional data modeling and architecture expertise can substitute.
Qualifications
New York City. This is an in-office role based in our NYC office, with travel as needed for high-stakes customer engagements.
Quality - We're united by our focus on world‑class Quality. Quality in all things – starting with everything that leaves your desk. Everything you touch – every email, report, campaign, and piece of code – should be outstanding. Your work product should blow people away. Having people look at what you've done and say, "Wow." That's the standard here. Remember that how you do anything is how you do everything. Focus on craftsmanship—your ability to make things better.
Momentum - for us means that you should know that the things you're responsible for are moving forward. When you look around and see something that's stalled, get it moving again. We pride ourselves on "ball movement." When your boss or team leaves you with something, they should return to see measurable progress. Small, continuous movement is our recipe for success. Constantly look for how to make the work around you move forward. We want you to initiate solutions, ideas, and progress. Don't wait for it to come to you—reach out and create movement. All the time.
Accountability - We expect every team member to feel that they are accountable for more than anyone might normally expect. Each of us should feel real responsibility for things even at the edge of our control. We consistently share and align on expectations, give each other open and respectful feedback, and use those two drivers to ensure that every agreement we make with one another is clear and complete.
Hard Work - We're here to do something difficult together. We care intensely about the mission and we expect that from our teammates. That care means that we work hard here. Hard work comes with long hours, extra effort…and real opportunity at Shelf. Your passion for creating and sustaining output is a part of our DNA. Support each other, cheer each other on, drive the mission forward. Great teams sustain intense effort together to win.
Learning Agility - We're innovating in one of the fastest‑moving spaces in history at a time of accelerating global change. That's incredibly exciting and requires each of us to commit fully to learning each and every day so that we can be the best at what we do. None of us know everything. All of us can learn anything. Staying open and constantly curious is a key success driver at Shelf. It also requires humility. We prize people who are consistently humble and open to making mistakes and growing from them. Recognize also that learning itself is a skill…we need you to be really good at it. Keep dialing in your own understanding about how you learn best and push yourself to keep growing.
Adapt and Thrive - Overcoming challenges lives deep in our DNA. We have a proud history of understanding and living the reality that obstacles are our opportunities…they're the key to our success. Change is a constant in our business and fighting change is counterproductive. We need you to be good at being uncomfortable and understand that discomfort is the key to growth. Cultivate your own ability to adapt and know that struggling well is something you'll share with every team you're on at Shelf. Our company stories are about thriving through real difficulty…together.
Win Together - We win or lose as a team. Always. Everything you do here is connected to the rest of the organization. Part of our shared team environment demands full honesty…real candor and directness with one another. We expect you to constantly be thinking about how to support your teammates and the company, always acting in service to our shared mission and what's best for the organization as a whole.