Principal AI Architect
At a glance
Senior AI Engineering role at DIRECTV. Remote, United States · full-time.
In listing AI Architect salary
remoteroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Set enterprise direction for generative AI architecture, then guide teams through hands-on design decisions
- Build architectures for LLMs, retrieval systems, AI agents and vector stores, including how those components work together
- Define how MCP handles shared context, memory, tools and safeguards across AI workflows
- Design agent collaboration and orchestration so systems can divide work, coordinate and escalate decisions
- Review delivery designs and establish reusable patterns that support security, governance and reliable implementation
What you bring
- At least five years in enterprise or solution architecture; eight or more years is preferred
- A bachelor’s degree in a listed technical or science field, or equivalent experience
- Deep knowledge of generative AI and AI/ML architecture, including LLM systems, RAG, vector storage and orchestration
- Experience designing enterprise multi-agent systems, agent orchestration or context-based generative AI platforms
- You can design enterprise systems for security, scale and resilience
Who this fits
This is a senior individual-contributor role with no supervisory duties, suited to an architect who can set technical direction and work hands-on with delivery teams. It is remote within the United States, except Alaska. The role may require a background check because it involves routine access to proprietary customer data.
From the employer
The Principal AI Architect serves as a senior individual contributor responsible for defining, designing, and evolving enterprise-grade Generative AI and AI-driven architectures aligned with DIRECTV’s strategic business objectives. This role provides deep technical leadership and architectural authority across GenAI, AI/ML platforms, and enterprise systems, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, reusable, and future-ready.
The role partners closely with Application Architects, Data Architects, Platform Engineers, and Product teams to embed Generative AI capabilities into enterprise solutions while maintaining strong architectural governance. The architect defines advanced AI architectures including Model Context Protocol (MCP), multi-agent systems, and agent-to-agent orchestration frameworks to enable autonomous, scalable, and governable AI capabilities across the enterprise
Here’s what you’ll do:
- Serve as a technical authority for Generative AI and AI-driven architecture across the enterprise, providing hands-on architectural leadership as an individual contributor.
- Drive GenAI strategy and solution design, identifying, evaluating, and applying emerging technologies such as Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), AI agents, vector databases, prompt engineering frameworks, and model orchestration platforms.
- Architect and govern Model Context Protocol (MCP) implementations, defining how context, memory, tools, policies, and guardrails are structured, versioned, and securely shared across AI workflows.
- Design and lead multi-agent and agent-to-agent orchestration architectures, enabling autonomous task decomposition, collaboration, escalation, and decision-making across AI agents and enterprise systems.
- Define orchestration strategies coordinating LLMs, agents, tools, workflows, and downstream systems, balancing performance, cost, reliability, observability, and maintainability.
- Partner with business and product stakeholders to translate business problems into AI-driven solutions, articulate technology value propositions, and support business-case development with measurable outcomes.
- Lead architectural discovery and design workshops, aligning AI capabilities with DIRECTV’s strategic goals and guiding teams toward practical, scalable implementations.
- Establish reusable AI architecture patterns, reference architectures, and best practices that accelerate adoption while ensuring consistency, governance, and risk management.
- Ensure architectural flexibility and future-proofing through modular, abstracted designs that support evolving models, vendors, and regulatory requirements.
- Influence enterprise standards for AI architecture, modeling practices, design principles, security, data governance, and responsible AI usage.
- Provide architectural guidance to delivery teams, reviewing designs, validating implementation approaches, and ensuring adherence to enterprise and AI-specific standards
- Job Contribution: This role delivers expert-level individual technical leadership, shaping DIRECTV’s Generative AI and enterprise architecture strategy through deep hands-on expertise, architectural decision-making, and thought leadership. The Principal AI Architect is accountable for technical direction, architectural quality, and long-term sustainability of AI-enabled solutions across the enterprise.
What you’ll need to be successful:
- Education: Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Science, Electrical Engineering, or Math; or equivalent experience.
- Technical Career Pathway (TCP) role.
- 5 – 7 years required, 8+ years desired of experience in Enterprise and Solution Architecture roles.
- Deep expertise in Generative AI and AI/ML architectures, including LLM-based systems, RAG, vector stores, orchestration layers, and AI platform design.
- Proven experience designing multi-agent systems, agent orchestration frameworks, or context-driven GenAI platforms in enterprise environments.
- Demonstrated ability to design secure, scalable, and resilient enterprise architectures.
Preferred Skills:
- Experience applying Generative AI in enterprise-scale, production environments.
- Familiarity with Media and Telecom industry architectures and constraints.
- Experience developing or designing PCI-compliant application architecture.
- Hands-on architectural experience with Salesforce, MuleSoft, Genesys, and enterprise GenAI platforms or frameworks.
- Knowledge of AI governance, responsible AI practices, data privacy, and regulatory considerations.
Supervisory: No
May require a background check due to job duties requiring routine access to DIRECTV and DIRECTV customer’s proprietary data. Qualified applicants with arrest and conviction will be considered for employment in accordance with local ordinances and state law.
This is a remote position that can be located anywhere in the United States, with the exception of Alaska.
A career with us comes with big rewards:
DIRECTV's compensation structure is designed to be market-competitive and fully supports efforts to attract and retain employees. It is the company's policy to offer pay that is competitive with other employers in the local market. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location.
The Base Salary range displayed below reflects the minimum and maximum target salary for each of DIRECTV's 4 (four) US Labor Market Zones. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
DIRECTV WAGE ZONES: $134,363 - $244,036
Low (N1): $134,363 - $201,595
Mid (N2): $141,435 - $212,205
High (N3): $155,579 - $233,426
Top (N4): $162,650 - $244,036
Click HERE to review information on some of the largest Designated Market Areas (DMAs). Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
Please note that the salary ranges reflect base salary only and do not include bonus or benefits - when you consider all of these together, it represents a pretty impressive total compensation package.
Apply today!