System Architect
Median Salary:
$110,000 - $170,000
About This Role
Design systems built to scale by weighing where AI genuinely improves performance, cost, and reliability.
What This Role Involves
As a System Architect working with AI-powered systems, you will design the technical foundation that lets applications scale reliably. You will decide where AI components fit into the architecture, weigh trade-offs in performance and cost, and set the technical standards other teams build on.
What You'll Do
- Design system architectures that incorporate AI components responsibly.
- Evaluate trade-offs between performance, cost, and complexity.
- Set technical standards for how teams integrate AI services.
- Review designs from engineering teams for scalability risks.
- Plan for failure modes specific to AI-driven components.
- Document architecture decisions for long-term maintainability.
- Advise leadership on technical feasibility of AI initiatives.
Why You will Love This Role
Shape the technical backbone that everything else runs on.
Solve big-picture problems instead of one ticket at a time.
Be the person teams turn to for hard technical calls.
Balance ambition with realistic engineering trade-offs.
Work across teams instead of a single codebase.
See your designs hold up as the system grows.
Essential Skills
Systems Design
Scalability Planning
Technical Governance