Togetherwork

Role Overview

Togetherwork is seeking a Principal Architect, AI & Developer Productivity to spearhead the integration of AI across the software development lifecycle within our portfolio. This is a hands-on leadership role for an individual who has successfully shipped AI-augmented engineering tooling at scale and can demonstrate measurable improvements in developer throughput, software quality, and cycle time. You will define and operationalize the AI-assisted development stack, set standards, build the platform, and drive adoption across product teams, focusing on quantifiable outcomes against DORA metrics.

Location

Remote - US Eastern or Central Time Based Only

Note: This position requires current and future unrestricted authorization to work in the country where the role is based. Immigration sponsorship is not available.

Key Responsibilities

1. AI Augmented SDLC Strategy and Platform

• Define and operationalize the AI-assisted engineering platform (IDE assistants, agentic coding tools, code review automation, test generation, security scanning, documentation, release automation).
• Architect a model and vendor-agnostic abstraction layer to avoid vendor lock-in.
• Establish reference architectures and golden paths for AI-augmented workflows.

2. Standards, Guardrails, and Governance

• Establish acceptable use policies, IP protection, data exfiltration controls, and secret scanning for AI in the SDLC.
• Implement open-source license scanning for AI-generated code.
• Define audit trail and traceability standards.
• Partner with Security, Legal, Compliance, and Risk to embed regulatory requirements (SOC 2, PCI, PII, SOX, data residency) into the platform design.
• Support audit and risk assessment readiness.

3. CI/CD and Pipeline Modernization

• Embed AI-driven capabilities into CI/CD pipelines (automated PR review, test synthesis, vulnerability remediation, incident analysis).
• Establish quality gates for AI-generated code.

4. Developer Experience and Adoption

• Lead enablement for AI-assisted workflows (onboarding, paved roads, internal developer portal, training).
• Treat developer experience as a product with clear roadmaps and feedback loops.

5. Measurement and ROI

• Distinguish real productivity gains from inflated metrics.
• Report tool cost against measured outcomes, making data-driven decisions on tool adoption.
• Maintain an evaluation harness for benchmarking new tools.

6. Build vs Buy and Vendor Strategy

• Evaluate and select tooling (e.g., GitHub Copilot Enterprise, Cursor, Claude Code), negotiating enterprise terms.
• Make defensible build vs. buy decisions based on cost, security, and outcomes.
• Stay current on emerging tools and models, recommending platform evolution.

7. Portfolio and M&A Integration

• Integrate acquired engineering teams onto the standard AI-augmented SDLC platform.
• Evaluate and rationalize SDLC tooling from acquired companies.

8. Cost and Capacity Management

• Own the total cost of AI in the SDLC (licenses, tokens, infrastructure, developer time).
• Manage token spend at scale.
• Build cost models for new tool rollouts.

9. Collaboration and Mentorship

• Partner with engineering leaders, product, security, legal, and procurement.
• Mentor senior engineers and managers on AI-assisted development patterns.
• Communicate architecture decisions and platform outcomes to executive stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of expertise in defining end-to-end solution architecture, integration patterns, enterprise system architecture, developer experience, or engineering effectiveness roles.
• Demonstrated production deployment of AI-assisted development tooling across multiple engineering teams with measured outcomes.
• Deep experience with modern CI/CD platforms (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Jenkins, Buildkite, etc.).
• Hands-on experience with at least two of: GitHub Copilot Enterprise, Cursor, Claude Code, Kiro, or comparable AI coding tools at organizational scale.
• Strong applied LLM knowledge (prompt design, RAG patterns, evaluation harnesses, model selection, cost/latency optimization).
• Experience designing controls for IP protection, open-source license scanning, secret prevention, and data exfiltration in AI-assisted workflows.
• Strong systems engineering background (APIs, distributed systems, observability, cloud-native architecture; AWS preferred).
• Experience operating at portfolio scale across 10+ engineering teams with multiple technology stacks.
• Proven track record of influencing without authority and driving alignment across heterogeneous teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including technical documentation.

Core Competencies

• Builder, not philosopher; has shipped, measured, and iterated.
• Outcome-obsessed; prioritizes tools that deliver ROI.
• Pragmatic about risk (IP protection, security, compliance).
• Strong influencer across heterogeneous teams.
• Comfortable in ambiguity and avoids lock-in.
• Product-minded engineer, treating the internal developer platform as a product.
• Strategic and tactical; comfortable with executive briefings and code reviews.

Why You’ll Love Working Here

At Togetherwork, we help community-driven organizations grow and thrive. We are guided by values: Obsess over our customers, Own it. Together., and Move fast with purpose.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance options.
• 100% Employer-paid short/long-term disability.
• 100% employer-paid Basic Life and AD&D insurance.
• 401(k) retirement plan with a 100% company match up to 4%.
• Flexible paid personal/vacation time.
• 10 sick days annually.
• 10 company-paid holidays.
• 12 weeks paid parental leave.
• Pet Insurance.
• Medical Travel Benefits.
• Infertility Benefits.
• Teladoc.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Wellness Benefits & Engagement Platform.

Togetherwork is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to valuing diverse backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints.

Note: The use of AI tools during interviews is not permitted. Final hiring decisions are made by humans.