RQ11251 - IT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Architect/Designer - Senior

Responsibilities:

• Works on / develops Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy for the organization including creating the conceptual, logical and physical architectures relevant for designing and developing an AI solution
  
• Undertakes the architecture, design, implementation and evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Conversational AI solutions based on client business requirements, enterprise architecture standards, security policies, accessibility requirements, best practices and cost models, in support of Ontario Public Service (OPS) contact centre modernization initiatives.
  

General Skills:

• Proven technical leadership and strategic architecture capabilities.
  
• Exceptional analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
  
• Strong understanding of AI risk management, AI safety, prompt engineering and guardrail design.
  
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, facilitation and relationship management skills.
  
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex AI concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  
• Excellent verbal, written and presentation skills.
  
• Strong negotiation, consensus-building and conflict-resolution skills.
  
• Proven ability to work effectively in large, complex organizations with multiple stakeholders.
  
• Strong organizational, planning and prioritization skills.
  
• Commitment to innovation, continuous improvement and service excellence.
  

Experience and Skill Set Requirements:

Must Haves:

• 10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, solution design and software delivery.
  
• 4+ years of experience designing and implementing enterprise Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions.
  
• 4+ years of experience designing conversational AI, intelligent virtual assistants, voicebots, chatbots or conversational IVR solutions.
  
• Experience designing and implementing AI-enabled contact centre solutions. (Conversation design with AI)
  
• Experience integrating AI solutions with contact centre technologies such as Amazon Connect, Genesys Cloud, NICE CXone, Cisco Contact Center or equivalent platforms.
  
• Experience with AI platforms and services such as Amazon Connect Customer AI Agent, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Services, Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Lex, Google Vertex AI or similar technologies.
  
• Demonstrated experience leading conversational AI, AI Agent and customer experience transformation initiatives.
  
• Experience modernizing IVR, customer self-service and digital engagement platforms.
  

Skill Set Requirements:

Technical Skills:

AI Architecture & Design:

• 10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, solution design and software delivery.
  
• 4+ years of experience designing and implementing enterprise Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions.
  
• Demonstrated experience developing enterprise AI architecture strategies, standards, reference architectures and implementation roadmaps.
  
• Experience designing and implementing solutions utilizing Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Intelligent Agents and Agentic AI frameworks.
  
• Experience designing knowledge-grounded AI solutions utilizing Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, semantic search and enterprise knowledge repositories.
  
• Experience establishing AI governance frameworks, model lifecycle management processes, monitoring and operational controls.
  
• Experience evaluating and selecting AI platforms, tools and vendor solutions.
  
• Strong understanding of Responsible AI principles including transparency, fairness, explainability, privacy and risk management.
  
• Experience designing enterprise architecture solutions that balance business outcomes, customer experience, operational requirements and technical constraints.
  

Conversational AI, Prompt Engineering & Conversation Design:

• 4+ years of experience designing conversational AI, intelligent virtual assistants, voicebots, chatbots or conversational IVR solutions.
  
• Experience creating conversational journeys, customer experiences, dialog flows and conversation architectures.
  
• Experience developing intent models, utterances, entity structures and conversational taxonomies.
  
• Experience designing prompts, system instructions and orchestration logic for Generative AI and AI Agent solutions.
  
• Experience establishing prompt engineering frameworks, standards and best practices.
  
• Experience designing and implementing AI guardrails including safety controls, content moderation, response validation, grounding strategies and hallucination mitigation techniques.
  
• Experience designing call containment, routing, escalation and human handoff strategies.
  
• Experience implementing human-in-the-loop design patterns for AI-assisted service delivery.
  
• Experience evaluating AI agent behaviour, prompt effectiveness and response quality using testing and monitoring frameworks.
  
• Experience leveraging analytics, customer feedback and operational metrics to continuously improve conversational experiences.
  
• Experience designing multilingual, accessible and citizen-centric conversational solutions.
  

Contact Centre & Integration:

• Experience designing and implementing AI-enabled contact centre solutions.
  
• Experience integrating AI solutions with contact centre technologies such as Amazon Connect, Genesys Cloud, NICE CXone, Cisco Contact Center or equivalent platforms.
  
• Experience integrating CRM, case management, identity management, workflow and knowledge management systems.
  
• Experience designing API-based integrations, microservices and event-driven architectures.
  
• Experience with speech-to-text, text-to-speech, speech analytics and sentiment analysis technologies.
  
• Knowledge of customer service operations, contact centre performance metrics, digital self-service and citizen engagement models.
  

Cloud & Technology Platforms:

• Experience with AWS, Azure or equivalent cloud platforms.
  
• Experience with AI platforms and services such as Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Services, Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Lex, Google Vertex AI or similar technologies.
  
• Experience with Python, JavaScript, Java or related technologies.
  
• Experience with DevOps, CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code.
  
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes and cloud-native architectures.
  
• Experience implementing highly available, scalable and secure enterprise solutions.
  
• Experience developing technical architecture documentation, design specifications and implementation plans.
  

Core Skills and Experience:

7+ years of experience with:

• Developing enterprise architecture deliverables, technical designs, solution blueprints and implementation specifications.
  
• Leading enterprise architecture, solution architecture and detailed design activities.
  
• Gathering and analyzing business, operational and customer experience requirements.
  
• Translating business objectives into scalable technology solutions and service designs.
  
• Facilitating workshops and design sessions with business stakeholders, operational teams and technical resources.
  
• Conducting technology assessments, architecture reviews and proof-of-concept initiatives.
  
• Providing architecture leadership throughout the project delivery lifecycle.
  
• Developing technology roadmaps, modernization strategies and target-state architectures.
  
• Applying enterprise architecture, privacy, accessibility and cybersecurity standards.
  
• Managing technology risks, architectural dependencies and technical debt.
  
• Providing recommendations for AI adoption, service transformation, business process improvement and operational efficiencies.
  

AI, Conversational AI and Contact Centre Domain Experience:

• Demonstrated experience leading conversational AI, AI Agent and customer experience transformation initiatives.
  
• Experience modernizing IVR, customer self-service and digital engagement platforms.
  
• Experience designing and implementing AI-powered citizen service solutions.
  
• Experience developing enterprise conversational AI standards, design frameworks and governance models.
  
• Experience balancing customer experience, operational efficiency, risk management and program objectives.
  
• Experience implementing AI-driven virtual assistants and voice-enabled self-service solutions in large and complex environments.
  
• Experience with speech analytics, customer journey analytics, sentiment analysis and customer engagement optimization technologies.
  
• Experience defining AI safety controls, risk mitigation strategies and governance practices for citizen-facing AI services.
  

Public Sector Experience:

• Knowledge of OPS Enterprise Architecture standards, governance processes and architecture review practices.
  
• Experience developing technical documentation and architecture deliverables that comply with Public Sector standards and methodologies.
  
• Experience working within government or other large, highly regulated environments.
  
• Experience adopting and adhering to Public Sector Unified I&IT Project Methodology, Enterprise Architecture and gating processes.
  
• Experience supporting large-scale public sector transformation initiatives and multi-stakeholder programs.