AI Solutions Architect, Director

Elliott Davis pairs forward-thinking tax, assurance and consulting services with industry-leading workplace culture. Our nine offices — located in the fastest growing cities in the US — are built on a foundation of inclusivity, collaboration, and collective growth. We work daily to provide exceptional service to our people, customers, and our communities. Audit and assurance services are provided by Elliott Davis, LLC (doing business in NC and D.C. as Elliott Davis, PLLC), a licensed CPA firm.

The AI Solutions Architect Director is the senior technical leader of Elliott Davis’s AI Strategy & Execution practice, part of the firm's overall Digital Practice. This is a hands-on, client-facing role responsible for taking client engagements from discovery through production delivery, designing AI-enabled workflows and agentic solutions that integrate with clients' existing technology stacks. 

The Director will set the standards, patterns, and reusable assets that define how Elliott Davis builds AI. They will architect solutions across the AI Value Path (Foundation, Capacity, Leverage, Advantage), guide technology decisions across Azure OpenAI, Copilot Studio, Power Automate, and adjacent platforms, and partner with other Elliott Davis practices to deliver integrated outcomes. 

This is a leadership role for the AI Strategy & Execution practice. Excellent technical judgment, executive communication, and the ability to lead teams through ambiguity are crucial for this role. 

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery workshops with client executives to translate business objectives, constraints, and success criteria into practical AI architectures and delivery roadmaps. 

• Own end-to-end solution design for AI-enabled workflows, agents, and copilots, including RAG patterns, orchestration, tool use, evaluation, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop design. 

• Deliver client engagements hands-on when required, writing code, building prototypes, and shipping production-grade solutions rather than only advising from a whiteboard. 

• Establish integration patterns with client enterprise systems (ERP, HCM, CRM, document management, identity, observability) so solutions are operable and supportable in production. 

• Set technical standards, reference architectures, and reusable accelerators that scale delivery quality across the practice. 

• Partner with growth leaders across the firm to shape and win new AI engagements, including scoping, estimating, proposal development, and executive presentations. 

• Collaborate with the Governance, Risk, and Compliance practice to embed responsible AI controls (NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, model risk management) into every solution. 

• Coordinate across multiple consulting service lines to deliver integrated solutions aligned to the AI Value Path. 

• Engage, mentor, and grow a team of ready-now technical leaders, including AI engineers, integrations engineers, and solution architects. 
• Maintain trusted-advisor relationships with existing clients to renew and expand services. 

• Attend and speak at client, partner, and industry events to build the practice's technical brand. 

• Perform other duties as assigned within the scope of the practice. 

Requirements

• Minimum of a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data Science, or 12+ years of experience in software engineering, applied AI/ML, or enterprise solution architecture. 

• Minimum 3+ years of hands-on experience designing and shipping production AI/ML or generative AI solutions in enterprise environments, not only proofs of concept. 

• Minimum 2+ years leading technical teams, setting standards, and mentoring engineers and architects. 

• Strong programming background, with fluency in Python and comfort integrating with client systems through APIs, events, and modern data platforms. 

• Demonstrated ability to design agent-based and workflow automation solutions using orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, or equivalent. 

• Deep working knowledge of at least one major cloud AI ecosystem (Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI), including MLOps or LLMOps practices for model lifecycle, monitoring, and deployment. 

• Experience designing RAG architectures, vector stores, and evaluation frameworks for accuracy, cost, latency, and safety tradeoffs. 

• Excellent communication and presentation skills to all levels within an organization, including board level. Able to build relationships with senior stakeholders. 

• Experience partnering with security, privacy, and risk teams to embed responsible AI controls, access controls, auditability, and data handling into solution designs. 

• Experience building new products, services, or repeatable offerings. 

• Ability to take full ownership of client deadlines and needs, including working necessary hours to meet client deadlines. 

• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a team environment. 

Preferred but not Required:

• Prior professional services or consulting experience, including forward-deployed or client-embedded engineering roles. 

• Experience with Microsoft Copilot Studio, Power Automate, and the broader Microsoft AI stack. 

• Experience in regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, or manufacturing. 

• Familiarity with financial close, R2R, or ERP-adjacent automation (Oracle FCCS, OneStream, Workday, NetSuite, or similar). 

• Relevant certifications (Azure AI Engineer, AWS Machine Learning, Google Professional ML Engineer, or equivalent). 
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering or related field.

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We believe that when our employees are able to thrive in all facets of life, their work and impact are that much greater.
That's right – all aspects of life, not just your life as an employee, because we understand that there's life beyond your job. Here are some of the ways our work works for your life, your growth, and your well-being: 
•    generous time away and paid firm holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s
•    flexible work schedules
•    16 weeks of paid maternity and adoption leave, 8 weeks of paid parental leave, 4 weeks of paid  and caregiver leave (once eligible) 
•    first-class health and wellness benefits, including wellness coaching and mental health counseling
•    one-on-one professional coaching
•    Leadership and career development programs
•    access to Beyond:  a one-of-a kind program with experiences that help you expand your life, personally and professionally

NOTICE TO 3RD PARTY RECRUITERS
Notice to Recruiters and Agencies regarding unsolicited resumes or candidate submissions without prior express written approval. Resumes submitted or candidates referred to any employee of Elliott Davis by any external recruiter or recruitment agency by any means (including but not limited to via Internet, e-mail, fax, U.S. mail, and/or verbal communications) without a properly executed written contract for a specified position by an authorized member of the Talent Acquisition team become the property of Elliott Davis. Elliott Davis will not be responsible for, or owe any fees associated with, referrals of those candidates and/or for submission of any information, including resumes, associated with individuals.
 

ADA REQUIREMENTS
The physical and cognitive/mental requirements and the work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical Requirements
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is:
•    Regularly required to remain in a stationary position; use hands repetitively to operate standard office equipment; and to talk or hear, both in person and by telephone
•    Required to have specific vision abilities which include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus

Cognitive/Mental Requirements
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:
•    Use written and oral communication skills. 
•    Read and interpret data, information, and documents. 
•    Observe and interpret situations. 
•    Work under deadlines with frequent interruptions; and
•    Interact with internal and external customers and others in the course of work.