Overview

The AI Solution Architect sets the blueprint for how AI systems fit together inside your organisation. They hold both the system view — services, data, agents, orchestration — and the business view — cost, strategy, risk, and build-versus-buy — at the same time. They make the decisions that are hard to reverse: the ones every team will work inside for years.

Radical architects are APAC-validated, so the judgement calls around centralise-versus-federate, vendor lock-in, and pattern selection are grounded in more than pattern matching. They have been tested on the reasoning that leads to a good architectural decision, not just the ability to draw a good diagram.

Best fits are organisations at an inflection point: scaling an AI system designed for a smaller problem, choosing between vendor solutions that will shape the next three years, or building the reference architecture product teams will inherit. Also a strong fit for companies that need architectural alignment between AI, data, and platform engineering.

01·What this role does

What this role does

01
Designs end-to-end architectures that integrate AI agents with data and product systems
02
Sets the reference patterns other teams can follow without reinventing the wheel
03
Balances scalability, security, cost, and speed of delivery
04
Advises leadership on build-vs-buy and vendor strategy
05
Mentors senior engineers across teams on practical AI system design

02·Skills & experience

Skills and experience we look for

Deep experience designing distributed, data-heavy systems in production

Working knowledge of current agent, RAG, and orchestration patterns

Fluent in cloud-native patterns on at least one major provider

Strong communication with both engineering teams and executive stakeholders

A pragmatic view on where AI genuinely adds value and where it does not

03·How you engage

Typical engagement types

Permanent

Senior hire owning the long-term AI architecture — the reference patterns, the vendor relationships, and the technical standards the whole engineering organisation works to.

Interim

Fixed-term engagement of two to four months to set a blueprint, make a critical architectural decision, or provide an independent perspective on a design already in motion.

Secondment

A Radical works embedded in your team under a shared engagement structure — senior architectural expertise applied to your specific context, without the commitment of a permanent hire.

04·Why Radical

The APAC difference

Every Radical clears the APAC assessment before the shortlist.

APAC is our framework for evaluating the human qualities that make great AI professionals: Adaptability, Personality, Awareness, Connection. You are hiring for judgement, not only for a CV. Read the full method and findings in our research paper.

The best AI professionals are not busy on LinkedIn Open To Work. They are already building. We know them, and we know how to reach them, because we spend time with them.

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