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Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI ’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description:
The Principal Enterprise Architect is a senior individual contributor responsible for shaping the enterprise systems and data landscape across business domains, with particular focus on regulated, multi-environment architecture and long-range technology rationalization. It defines how enterprise systems, data platforms, and domain technologies should work together across commercial and future government-hosted environments, in partnership with the cloud/infrastructure team and domain leaders.
This role is intended to establish the enterprise architecture practice within Enterprise Data & Architecture. It will lead efforts such as assessing domain technology stacks, defining target-state architecture and integration patterns, and guiding decisions about where systems, platforms, and sensitive data should reside based on business capability, regulatory constraints, and long-term maintainability.
What you'll do:
Define and evolve the target-state enterprise systems and data architecture across major business domains, including G&A, product, engineering, operations, and supply-chain-adjacent capabilities. dataforest+4
Lead the discovery and rationalization of function-level and shadow IT stacks, documenting current-state architectures, identifying overlap and risk, and proposing a phased roadmap toward a more coherent enterprise landscape.
Design and govern architecture patterns for regulated multi-environment operations, including commercial and future government-hosted systems, with clear principles for data zoning, system placement, and cross-environment interaction.
Partner with the Cloud & Infrastructure and Security & Compliance teams on the infrastructure and security implications of architectural decisions, while remaining focused on system, data, and integration architecture.
Define approved integration patterns between business systems, data platforms, and domain technologies, including API, event-driven, and batch data movement approaches where appropriate.
Guide decisions about where sensitive, controlled, or regulated data and workloads should live, and how enterprise systems should interact without violating policy or creating unsustainable architecture debt.
Provide architectural oversight and decision support for major cross-domain, strategic programs such as ERP implementation, data platform modernization, domain onboarding, and future product/engineering data initiatives.
Establish architecture review practices, reference architectures, and reusable standards so teams can move faster without solving the same structural problems repeatedly.
Coach software engineering teams on enterprise architecture principles, design standards, and system trade-offs through design reviews, architecture forums, and hands-on guidance that raises architectural maturity across the organization
Act as a strategic partner to the Sr. Director of Enterprise Data & Architecture, helping extend leadership coverage across domains and enabling a durable enterprise architecture practice.
Required qualifications:
15+ years of relevant experience in enterprise architecture, solution architecture, or senior architecture roles spanning multiple business domains and technology platforms.
Demonstrated experience shaping enterprise technology landscapes across applications, data platforms, and integration patterns, not just designing one platform in isolation.
Experience in regulated, security-sensitive, or government-adjacent environments with meaningful architectural constraints around sensitive data handling, segmentation, and compliance.
Experience working in hybrid or multi-environment architectures, such as commercial plus government-hosted, cloud plus on-prem, or otherwise segregated environments.
Strong understanding of enterprise integration patterns and the architectural trade-offs between APIs, eventing, batch movement, replication, and system coupling.
Ability to engage effectively with technical teams, business stakeholders, security/compliance, and infrastructure leaders.
Strong judgment, communication, and facilitation skills in ambiguous environments with incomplete information and competing priorities.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience with Oracle ERP, SAP, or another major enterprise platform in finance, supply chain, manufacturing, or product-adjacent environments.
Experience with modern cloud data platforms such as Databricks, Snowflake, or similar, sufficient to guide enterprise architecture decisions affecting data and analytics platforms.
Experience leading architecture rationalization or modernization efforts across decentralized organizations.
Experience in defense, aerospace, federal, or another environment with highly controlled data and systems.
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Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.