AI/ML Architect

Job Title-

AI/ML Architect

About the Function-

Our Digital and Technology (D&T) team are innovators, delivering ground-breaking solutions that will help shape the future of our iconic brands. Technology touches every part of our business, from the sourcing of sustainable ingredients to marketing and development of our online platforms. We utilise data insights to build competitive advantage, supporting our people to deliver value faster.

Our D&T team includes some of the most dedicated digital professionals in the industry. Every day, we come together to push boundaries and innovate, shaping the digital solutions of tomorrow. Whatever your passion, we’ll help you become the best you can be, creating career-defining work and delivering breakthrough thinking.

About the role-

As a Machine Learning / Generative AI Architect, you will operate at the intersection of strategy, architecture, engineering, and leadership to define and deliver the organization’s AI vision. You will be responsible for shaping enterprise-wide ML and GenAI strategy while also leading the design and implementation of scalable, production-grade systems.

This role combines hands-on technical expertise with strategic influence, ensuring that AI and ML initiatives are consistently delivered with clear business value, measurable impact, and strong governance.

Role Responsibilities-

Define and drive the enterprise ML and GenAI strategy, including roadmaps, frameworks, and adoption models.

Align AI initiatives with business priorities, value creation opportunities, and measurable outcomes in collaboration with senior leadership.

Establish frameworks to measure ROI, business impact, and value realization of AI/ML initiatives, ensuring investments are outcome-driven.

Drive the creation of an AI/ML Center of Excellence (CoE) to standardize standard processes, accelerate adoption, and enable capability building across the organization.

Evaluate emerging technologies (LLMs, vector databases, orchestration frameworks) and provide thought leadership on their adoption.

Architecture & Design

Lead the design of end-to-end ML and GenAI architectures, from experimentation to enterprise-scale deployment.

Develop scalable frameworks and reusable patterns for ML lifecycle management (data prep, training, fine-tuning, deployment, monitoring).

Define and implement architecture standards, guidelines, and design principles across teams.

Guide architectural decisions to ensure systems are robust, secure, scalable, and future-proof.

Engineering & Delivery

Oversee the development of production-grade ML systems and MLOps frameworks across cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Lead the implementation of DevOps and MLOps as enterprise platform capabilities, enabling economies of scale, standardization, and governance across AI/ML initiatives.

Partner with data science, engineering, and product teams to deliver high-impact AI solutions from MVP to scale.

Ensure AI/ML solutions are designed and delivered with a strong focus on business value, adoption, and measurable outcomes.

Drive improvements in platform engineering and infrastructure to accelerate experimentation and deployment.

Ensure strong software engineering practices (modularity, testing, maintainability) across ML solutions.

Governance & Compliance

Establish and operationalize AI governance frameworks to ensure responsible, ethical, and transparent use of AI/ML across the organization.

Define and enforce policies for data privacy, security, and model risk management, ensuring protection of sensitive data and systems.

Ensure AI/ML solutions align with international regulations (e.g., GDPR and other regional data protection laws) and relevant industry standards.

Embed governance controls and auditability into ML/GenAI systems, including model monitoring, explainability, and traceability.

Collaborate with legal, risk, and compliance teams to align AI initiatives with enterprise risk management frameworks.

Promote responsible AI practices, including fairness, bias mitigation, and ethical use of Generative AI technologies.

Collaboration & Communication

Partner closely with business leaders, product managers, and domain teams to identify high-value AI use cases and ensure alignment with business strategy.

Collaborate effectively with multi-functional stakeholders across regions and cultures, driving alignment in a global operating model.

Translate complex technical concepts into clear, business-relevant narratives, enabling informed decision-making by non-technical stakeholders.

Act as a bridge between technical teams and executive leadership, ensuring transparency on progress, risks, and value realization.

Partner with FinOps teams to ensure cost-effective use of cloud and AI resources, establishing budgetary controls, cost optimization strategies, and value tracking.

Work closely with procurement and legal teams to evaluate, select, and negotiate with technology vendors, ensuring commercial, technical, and compliance alignment.

Facilitate collaboration across central and distributed teams, enabling consistent adoption of platforms, standards, and procedures.

Leadership & Enablement

Act as a technical leader and mentor, guiding teams on ML engineering, architecture, and standard processes.

Influence and elevate organizational AI maturity and capability building.

Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and value-driven delivery with strong governance.

Operate effectively within a multi-domain, multi-functional business environment, working as part of a central data/AI team to enable distributed teams.

Experience / skills required –

10+ years of Proven experience as an ML/AI Architect, Technical Leader, or Senior Strategist in enterprise environments.

Strong track record of delivering end-to-end ML/AI solutions in production with measurable business impact.

Experience translating business strategy into technical architectures, roadmaps, and value-driven outcomes.

Experience working within a central data/AI function supporting multiple business domains or functions.

Deep knowledge of Machine Learning and Generative AI, including:

Large Language Models (LLMs)

Vector databases

Feature stores

Fine-tuning and deployment frameworks (e.g., Hugging Face, LangChain, OpenAI)

Expertise in MLOps, DevOps, and ML lifecycle management at scale.

Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Proficiency in Python (preferred) or Scala with solid software engineering practices.

Demonstrated ability to define AI strategy and influence senior stakeholders.

Experience establishing and leading AI/ML Centres of Excellence or similar capability-building functions.

Experience designing and implementing ROI measurement frameworks and KPIs for AI/ML initiatives.

Strong multi-functional leadership and stakeholder management skills.

Excellent communication, storytelling, and documentation skills.

Experience implementing AI governance, data privacy, and security frameworks in enterprise settings.

Strong understanding of international laws and compliance requirements related to AI and data (e.g., GDPR).

Experience embedding responsible AI, auditability, and risk controls into ML systems.

Ability to work with legal, compliance, and risk teams to operationalize governance at scale.

Nice to Have

Experience with Databricks or relevant certifications.

Background in platform engineering or internal AI enablement teams.

Experience in regulated or complex enterprise environments.

Prior involvement in defining AI operating models, standards, and playbooks.

Impact

In this role, you will:

Ensure AI/ML initiatives are consistently tied to business value, ROI, and responsible governance.

Build enterprise capabilities (platforms, CoE, governance frameworks) that deliver scale, control, and compliance.

Enable the organization to scale AI effectively across multiple domains, regions, and functions.

Bridge the gap between strategic vision, technical execution, regulatory requirements, and business outcomes.

Flexible Working Statement-

Flexibility is key to our success. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you so that you’re

supported to manage your wellbeing and balance your priorities from day one.

Diversity statement-

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where

everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this.

We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you’ll be welcomed and

celebrated for who you are just by being you. You’ll be part of and help build and champion an

inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual

orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, mindsets, and more.

Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products

companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next

level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers

around the world.

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you.

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please ensure that you capture this information when you

submit your application.