Principal Platform Architect - AI and Data Platforms

As a Principal Architect – AI & Data Platforms at Canadian Tire Corporation, you will play a pivotal leadership role within the Enterprise AI and Emerging Technology team, responsible for shaping and executing the organization's strategy across AI, Data Platforms, and Data Governance.

You will define and drive the end-to-end architecture vision, ensuring alignment between business strategy, enterprise architecture standards, and modern platform capabilities. This includes leading the design and implementation of scalable AI and data solutions, establishing governance and standards, and guiding large-scale transformation initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the AI and Data Platform architecture strategy and roadmap aligned with enterprise business priorities
• Establish future-state architecture vision across AI, data, analytics, and governance domains
• Design and evolve modern data platforms (Lakehouse architectures, data engineering pipelines, BI/reporting ecosystems)
• Architect scalable AI/ML systems leveraging cloud platforms such as Azure (preferred) or GCP
• Lead adoption of event-driven, streaming, and integration architectures across enterprise systems
• Evaluate emerging technologies and guide build vs. buy and innovation decisions
• Enforce AI, data, and architecture governance standards
• Lead architecture reviews and govern solution design through project lifecycle gates
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to translate requirements into architecture solutions
• Present architectural strategies and solutions to senior leadership and executive stakeholders
• Lead and mentor architecture team members and contribute to capability growth
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering practices, performance optimization, and solution quality

Requirements

• 5–10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, data platforms, or AI/ML solutions
• Agentic AI experience (Tool Usage, Agentic Orchestration Frameworks, LLMs, Testing and Evaluation, AgentOps)
• GenAI experience (LLMs, Monitoring, Testing and Evaluation, LLMOps, Observability, RAG)
• Data platforms and Lakehouse architectures (ADLS Gen2, Databricks, Synapse, ETL/ELT, Unity Catalog)
• MLOps technologies (ML, NLP)
• Cloud platforms (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP knowledge beneficial)
• Big data technologies (Spark, Hadoop)
• DevOps and CI/CD practices, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform)
• Containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (PhD considered an asset)

Benefits

• Competitive salaries and wages
• Store discounts
• Triangle Learning Academy for professional development
• Canadian Tire Profit Sharing
• Retirement and savings programs for eligible employees
• Enhanced flex benefits program including $5,000 per year in mental health benefits for eligible employees and their families

5–10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, data platforms, or AI/ML solutions; experience with Agentic AI, GenAI, Lakehouse architectures, MLOps, cloud platforms (Azure preferred), big data technologies, DevOps/CI/CD, containerization and orchestration