Pune, Maharashtra, India
Onsite
This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Chief Technical Architect, Engineering (IC Role) based in India.
We are seeking an accomplished technical architect to define the long-term technology direction of an enterprise-scale SaaS platform and its next generation of Agentic AI capabilities. In this senior individual contributor role, you will shape a multi-year architecture roadmap, establish engineering standards, and influence technical decisions across a broad engineering organization. You will lead architectural initiatives spanning cloud-native systems, distributed platforms, modern data infrastructure, and production-grade generative AI. Working closely with executive and product leadership, you will turn strategic priorities into scalable, secure, and cost-effective technical solutions. You will also mentor principal engineers, resolve complex architectural challenges, and foster alignment across teams without relying on direct managerial authority. This is an opportunity to make a significant technical impact while advancing intelligent manufacturing and supply chain technology.
Define and communicate a three-to-five-year technology strategy and architecture roadmap in collaboration with the CTO and product leadership.
Own the architecture of large-scale SaaS platforms, including multi-tenant and multi-region services, clear service boundaries, and shared platform capabilities.
Establish architectural principles and technical guardrails that optimize reliability, performance, security, scalability, and infrastructure costs.
Lead the architecture of generative AI and Agentic AI platforms, covering large language model (LLM) orchestration, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector search, evaluation pipelines, observability, and model governance.
Guide the evolution of data platforms and infrastructure, including streaming architectures, lakehouse solutions, analytics capabilities, and SQL/NoSQL systems.
Establish and facilitate architecture review forums, design standards, technical governance processes, and technical-debt prioritization initiatives.
Identify and resolve systemic technical risks, performance bottlenecks, architectural inconsistencies, and cross-team engineering conflicts.
Lead build-versus-buy assessments, technology evaluations, proofs of concept, and vendor decisions across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, AI tooling, and observability solutions.
Evaluate technology investments using total cost of ownership (TCO), unit economics, scalability, and long-term business value.
Translate ambiguous business and product ideas into clear technical designs that engineering teams can implement efficiently, balancing customer needs, technical feasibility, and organizational constraints.
Mentor principal engineers and emerging architects through architecture reviews, technical guidance, and knowledge sharing, strengthening the organization's technical leadership capabilities.
Partner with product executives, engineering leaders, QA, DevOps, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams to align priorities and drive architecture decisions.
Communicate complex technical concepts and trade-offs clearly to executive stakeholders, customers, partners, and engineering teams.
Establish measurable technical outcomes and continuously improve platform quality, delivery speed, resilience, and operational efficiency.
Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
15+ years of professional software engineering experience, including at least five years in an architect or principal-level role, such as Chief Architect, Distinguished Engineer, Senior Principal Engineer, Head of Architecture, or an equivalent position.
Significant experience working in a product-led organization, ideally within a SaaS business, with responsibility for architecture across multiple teams or platform areas.
Demonstrated ability to influence large engineering organizations, including experience shaping technical direction across 50 or more engineers.
Deep expertise in cloud-native architecture, distributed computing, microservices, event-driven systems, and modern data architectures.
Hands-on experience designing and delivering production-grade generative AI or Agentic AI systems, including LLM orchestration, RAG pipelines, vector databases, evaluation frameworks, and AI observability.
Strong software engineering fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, object-oriented programming, and modern development practices.
Working proficiency in one or more modern programming languages, such as Java, Python, Scala, Go, or Node.js, with recent experience participating in technical design and code reviews.
Proven ability to establish enterprise-level governance for software quality, performance, resilience, security, and data privacy.
A strong track record of measurable technical impact, demonstrated through outcomes such as improved uptime, reduced latency, lower infrastructure costs, increased scalability, or faster delivery.
Experience with platform consolidation, cloud migration, or transforming monolithic systems into scalable platform architectures is a strong advantage.
Excellent strategic judgment and problem-solving skills, with the ability to evaluate emerging technologies and make data-informed architectural decisions.
Strong influencing, communication, and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to build consensus across teams without direct reporting authority.
A proactive and adaptable mindset, with the ability to anticipate technical and organizational risks and identify opportunities for innovation.
Experience in ERP, supply chain, or manufacturing software is preferred. Patents, technical publications, conference presentations, or other external technical recognition are additional advantages.
Willingness to travel internationally when required.
Location requirement: This is an on-site opportunity in Pune, India, with three to four days per week in the office. Candidates must be willing to be based in Pune.
Competitive compensation: Salary packages are determined by experience, technical expertise, and the skills required for the role.
Strategic technical ownership: Shape the architecture and long-term technology direction of an enterprise SaaS platform and its Agentic AI roadmap.
Executive exposure: Work directly with senior leadership on major technology decisions and long-term platform strategy.
Career development: Access structured mentorship and training opportunities designed to support professional growth.
Collaborative culture: Join an environment that values knowledge sharing, teamwork, innovation, and contributions regardless of organizational level.
Health and well-being: Access programs designed to support employee well-being and a healthy work-life balance.
Growth opportunities: Contribute to a growing business undergoing technological expansion and transformation.
Meaningful technical impact: Influence architecture and engineering practices across multiple product areas without transitioning into a people-management role.
Inclusive workplace: Work in an environment that values diverse perspectives, equal opportunity, and professional development.
