AI Architect

About Us:

ClearRoute is an engineering consultancy bridging Quality Engineering, Cloud Platforms and Developer Experience. We help enterprises reliably bring high-impact digital products to market faster, cheaper, and safer, working with technology leaders facing complex business challenges.

We take as much pride in our people, culture and work-life balance as we do in making better software. We’re not just making better software. We’re making the making of software better. Collaborative, entrepreneurial and dedicated to problem solving, we bring the step change our customer need to sustain innovation. Our values challenge us to do the best we can for ClearRoute, our customers and most importantly our team. This is an opportunity for you to build the organisation from the ground up, use your voice to drive change and help transform organisations and problem domains.

Role:
The AI Architect will be working as part of a workstream focused on the underlying Azure platform foundations that the other AI / agentic workstreams build on. The team will stand up and harden shared Azure platform capabilities — identity, networking, CI/CD, observability, and environment management — so delivery teams can ship quickly and safely.

• Own the target architecture for an enterprise AI platform already in production: Azure-hosted model gateway (APIM / AI Foundry), a custom orchestration harness, MCP servers and sub-agents, and the path to production for agents built by the wider programme.

• Set the architectural direction for one governed route to models that the in-house assistant, Microsoft 365 tooling and potential third-party clients can all use.

• Design integration patterns for enterprise systems of record (HR and service management first) and for the client's data platform, with data classification and UK/EU data residency built in.

• Act as the technical authority for the client's emerging AI Centre of Excellence: reusable patterns, reference architectures and guardrails that business-area teams can adopt.
  

Key Responsibilities:

• Produce and maintain the platform architecture, decision records and roadmap, aligned to a user beta in November and a wider enterprise rollout in early 2027.

• Define the path-to-production standard for agents: environments, evaluation gates, observability, cost controls and release process.

• Design the agent gateway and integration architecture for the first enterprise system (HR) and subsequent systems.

• Set security, identity (Entra), data classification and residency controls in partnership with the client's architecture and security functions.

• Review solution designs from product, labs and forward-deployed engineering teams; unblock delivery and keep them on the platform patterns.

• Python and agent frameworks understanding (Semantic Kernel, LangGraph, Foundry Agent Service)

• Advise senior client stakeholders (up to CIO level) on platform choices and trade-offs, including build-vs-buy.

• Hand over architecture and patterns to the permanent in-house team as it forms.
  

Required Experience:

• Azure is mandatory: hands-on architecture experience with Azure AI Foundry / Azure OpenAI, API Management as a model gateway, Azure AI Search, Entra ID and core landing-zone services.

• Proven track record architecting enterprise GenAI and agentic systems in production, not just prototypes: RAG, tool use, multi-agent orchestration, Model Context Protocol (MCP).

• Enterprise integration architecture: APIs, event-driven patterns, identity propagation, integration with SaaS systems of record.

• Strong grasp of AI governance and controls in a regulated environment: data classification, residency, auditability, evaluation and monitoring.

• Able to operate as the senior technical voice on a programme: write clear architecture decisions, present to exec stakeholders, challenge constructively.

• Available to start within three weeks; UK-based, with occasional travel to client sites.
  

Desirable Experience:

• Energy or utilities sector, or other critical national infrastructure / regulated public-sector environment.

• Workday or ServiceNow integration.

• LLM evaluation and observability tooling (Azure Monitor / App Insights for LLM workloads, Langfuse, Arize).

• Secure AI deployment patterns: private endpoints, customer-managed keys, UK South / EU hosting.

• Azure Solutions Architect Expert or Azure AI Engineer certification.

• Consultancy / client-facing delivery, ideally having inherited a live platform mid-flight.
  

Working at ClearRoute
We have grown from six founders to 180+ people across five countries in three years, and what sets us apart isn't the pace, it's how we grow.

• Real flexibility, in practice. We trust you to perform at your best and still have a life outside of work, with genuine hybrid working, a home office budget, an open feedback culture where your voice shapes decisions, and time off when life needs it (birthday included).

• When ClearRoute wins, you win. We offer profit share so success is shared, meaningful recognition for great work, and benefits that look after you and your family, including private healthcare, competitive salary benchmarking, and a confidential employee assistance program covering counselling, mental health support, and financial wellbeing.

• A community you'll genuinely want to be part of. Interest based communities like running and book clubs, Women in Tech group, monthly socials, and cross regional events bring people together across the company. An inclusive, collaborative culture where you don't need to conform to succeed, where people support one another and feel comfortable being themselves.

• Where meaningful work meets real growth. You will tackle complex, real world problems at the forefront of platform engineering, AI, security, and scalable systems. Your growth is supported by learning budgets, Udemy access, a clear career framework, internal mobility, and thought leadership opportunities that take your impact beyond ClearRoute.

At ClearRoute, we believe diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes, and inclusion creates the conditions for everyone to thrive. We are proud to have built a family friendly working environment and have many employees who have caring responsibilities alongside work. We welcome applications from people who require flexibility and will be happy to discuss needs on an individual basis.

We are committed to fostering a culture where all team members feel respected, supported, and empowered to do their best work. We celebrate individuality and our differences and understand that some differences may mean that you require changes made to the interview process. We are happy to cater to your needs to make the interview accessible, if this is something you require please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]