Data / AI Architect

This is an exempt, onsite position in New York, NY for a 6-month engagement (with potential for extension), starting approximately September 14, 2026. W2 hourly rate: $50–$60/hr.

About the role

We are seeking a Data & AI Architect who will support our NYC client. This hands-on architecture role will partner with business and operational stakeholders to turn ambiguous data and AI needs into approved, production-ready solutions. The architect will define secure, scalable enterprise architectures across data, AI, cloud, and database platforms while guiding delivery teams through implementation.

Responsibilities

• Engage stakeholders across MTA departments to identify, clarify, and shape emerging data and AI use cases into well-scoped opportunities.
• Translate business needs into clear, actionable requirements and solution specifications for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Present proposed architectures, trade-offs, and business value to stakeholders and governance bodies and drive requirements through formal approval.
• Architect end-to-end data and AI solutions spanning ingestion, storage, transformation, modeling, serving, and consumption layers.
• Design and implement solutions using agentic development and AI-assisted tooling while maintaining quality, security, and maintainability.
• Define reference architectures, patterns, and standards for data and AI across multi-cloud and multi-database environments.
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise requirements for security, privacy, data governance, cost efficiency, and regulatory compliance.
• Collaborate with engineering, data science, platform, and product teams to move approved solutions from design into production.
• Mentor engineers and analysts and promote strong enterprise data, AI, and architecture practices across the organization.

Requirements

• 8+ years of overall experience in data engineering, data architecture, software engineering, or a closely related field.
• 6+ years experience in an architecture-focused role.
• Hands-on design and delivery experience across at least two major cloud providers, such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Experience across relational, NoSQL, analytical/warehouse, and vector or graph database technologies.
• Practical experience with multiple AI/ML and generative AI frameworks, models, and platforms, including LLMs, ML pipelines, RAG, and model orchestration.
• Strong requirements-gathering and stakeholder-facing experience, including the ability to clarify ambiguous needs and produce actionable specifications.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences and secure stakeholder buy-in.
• Hands-on experience delivering solutions with agentic development tooling and AI-assisted development workflows.
• Demonstrated experience taking solutions from concept and approval through production implementation.

Desired Qualifications

• Recent primary experience with the Microsoft Azure stack, including Azure data services, Microsoft Fabric or Synapse, Azure OpenAI, and Azure Machine Learning.
• Hands-on development experience with Microsoft Copilot tooling, such as GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio, or Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Experience working in large, complex, public-sector, transit, or infrastructure organizations.
• Relevant cloud or data architecture certifications.
• Familiarity with enterprise data governance, MLOps, and responsible AI practices.