Principal Architect - AI

Overview

Costco IT is responsible for the technical future of Costco Wholesale, the third largest retailer in the world with wholesale operations in fourteen countries. Costco IT is a dynamic, fast-paced environment, working through exciting transformation efforts. We are building the next generation retail environment where you will be surrounded by dedicated and highly professional employees.

Costco’s Enterprise Architecture team propels our business by blueprinting an innovative, scalable, and secure architecture that serves our Warehouse members globally. The enterprise architect links the business mission, strategy, capabilities and processes to the IT strategy and fosters the changes needed to achieve alignment with efficient, sustainable, agile, and adaptable solutions.

The role requires exceptional executive presence to facilitate complex discussions, influence peers and stakeholders, and inspire change. You will guide installations, testing, service transitions, and oversee incident, change, release, problem, performance, and availability management to ensure operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Guide installations, testing, and service transitions.
• Identify and leverage technological innovations to drive business value.
• Engage with business units to drive adoption of cutting-edge solutions.
• Oversee incident, change, release, problem, performance, and availability management.
• Define and drive AI/ML strategy and architecture as a core member of the Enterprise Architecture team.
• Lead integration of AI/ML into business system transformation initiatives.
• Ensure AI-driven solutions align with organizational goals and technical standards.
• Champion ethical AI governance and regulatory compliance.
• Develop and promote reusable AI/ML architectural patterns and oversee governance (MLOps, data governance, bias mitigation, explainability).
• Collaborate with stakeholders to operationalize AI use cases and embed AI into end-to-end business processes.
• Lead reviews of AI-driven solution designs for scalability, interoperability, and compliance.
• Investigate emerging technologies and build business cases for adoption.
• Define data requirements for AI, advise on data-sharing strategies, and ensure data quality and security in AI contexts.
• Evaluate public cloud services and hybrid architectures for cost-effective deployment of intelligent systems.
• Mentor cross-functional teams on AI/ML adoption and foster collaboration between data scientists, engineers, and business units.

Qualifications

• Required Core Enterprise Architecture: 5+ years of architecture experience with business/capability modeling using EA frameworks (TOGAF/Zachman).
• 5+ years of experience documenting value streams, capabilities, processes, and data using model-based representations.
• Proven ability to define future architecture/technology roadmaps and align technology strategy with business goals.
• Strong communication skills to translate technical concepts for executives and technical teams.
• Demonstrates a passion for emerging technologies and collaboration within a large matrix organization.
• Leadership, negotiation, governance, and consensus-building skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication across levels; ability to work effectively in a dynamic agile environment.

• Specialized AI/ML Experience: 3+ years leading or architecting production-grade AI/ML solutions; hands-on with TensorFlow/PyTorch or similar.
• Experience designing MLOps pipelines (MLflow/Kubeflow) and implementing model lifecycle management/governance.
• Knowledge of responsible/ethical AI practices, bias detection, explainability, and regulatory compliance.
• Proficiency with public cloud AI services and distributed data platforms (data lakes/feature stores).
• Understanding of emerging AI/ML technologies (e.g., GenAI, Agentic AI) and their enterprise impact.

• Leadership & Collaboration: lead with stakeholders, drive consensus, mentor in AI/ML domains; direct people management is a plus.

• Recommended/Preferred: Bachelor’s or equivalent in CS/IS; 10+ years in Technology and Retail/Supply Chain; ERP/retail systems experience (IBM i and/or SAP); knowledge of SDLC methodologies (Classic and Agile); TOGAF certification; cloud/AI certification; DevOps and continuous improvement familiarity; industry AI publications.

Required Documents

• Cover Letter
• Resume

California applicants, please review the Costco Applicant Privacy Notice. Salary: Principal Architect - $160,000 - $250,000 plus bonus and RSU eligibility.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical/dental/vision, life and disability insurance, 401(k), stock purchase plan, and other employee benefits. Costco is an equal opportunity employer. If you need assistance due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please contact

If hired, you will be required to provide proof of authorization to work in the United States. Some positions may not sponsor work visas.