AI Architect - Hawthorn East

We’ve been trusted to serve Aussie communities since 1914 and grown to become a top 30-listed on the ASX with over 115,000 team members and a portfolio of iconic brands. At Coles Group, you’ll not only get to make a difference to millions of Aussie lives—you’ll also get to see your impact.

About The Team

As the way we shop continues to evolve, our Data and Artificial Intelligence Team keeps us at the cutting edge. Driven by our innovative, inclusive, and forward-thinking culture, we’re constantly looking at ways to reinvent the shopping experience for our customers and build the next generation of digital retailing. 

The Data and Artificial Intelligence within the broader Coles Technology Team focuses on building data collection and analytics capabilities to uncover customer, product, and operational insights. Providing data driven support to our users and enabling Coles to be a data driven organisation.

About The Role

For this exciting position within our Data and Artificial Intelligence team, we are seeking an experienced AI Architect to define and communicate a target-state architecture for an enterprise-wide agentic AI platform that supports scalable, modular agent-based solutions.

You will be involved in designing shared generative AI capabilities including orchestration layers, model management, memory/knowledge components, and multi-modal capabilities. Last but not the least, collaborate with data engineering and platform teams to ensure alignment with architecture blueprints and successful delivery of foundational platform capabilities.

Working closely with the Senior Manager – Data & AI – Architecture and Data Governance, your main responsibilities will include the following but not be limited to the below: 

Technical Stewardship and Solution Strategy

• Provide technical leadership on build vs buy vs partner decisions for agentic AI frameworks, tools, and platforms, including evaluating products and open-source options to ensure alignment with strategic architecture and operational requirements.
• Support architectural decisions on agent orchestration models, including centralised versus decentralised approaches, enabling scalable and maintainable agent deployments across business units.
• Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to define integration patterns and interoperability standards that enable structured, protocol-driven interactions between autonomous agents and their surrounding data and tools, ensuring extensibility and robustness across diverse use cases.

Cross-Domain Adoption Strategy

• Partner with Data Product Management and business stakeholders to define a roadmap for cross-domain adoption, including sequencing and scaling of agentic AI initiatives.
• Establish and lead an architecture governance model to ensure consistency, scalability, and reuse of agentic AI capabilities across teams and platforms.
• Embed responsible AI governance and ethical guardrails into all phases of adoption, from early pilots to enterprise-wide deployment.

Stakeholder Alignment & Communication

• Act as a bridge between technical teams and executive leadership, translating complex AI architecture into clear, strategic business value.
• Support the development of business cases, ROI analysis, and investment proposals for agentic AI capabilities and platform enhancements.
• Contribute to architectural forums and working groups, helping align agentic AI decisions with broader enterprise architecture and business goals.

Responsible AI and AI Risk Management

• Embed responsible AI principles into the foundational architecture of the agentic AI platform, ensuring they are reflected in patterns, capabilities, and governance mechanisms.
• Influence enterprise architecture to ensure AI safety, fairness, and transparency are consistently applied across AI solutions—whether built in-house, procured, or partner-integrated.
• Champion AI governance standards that address risks such as bias, explainability, and security, guiding their adoption across diverse AI implementations, not limited to data-led models.

Experience Required

• Proven track record in defining and launching enterprise-scale AI platforms, with outcomes beyond pilots or POCs.
• Led cross-domain adoption of AI solutions across business areas such as customer service, operations, fraud, and networks.
• Delivered robust AI architectures using a blend of cloud-native, commercial, and open-source tools and frameworks.
• Presented AI strategies and architectural decisions to business and technology leadership, influencing enterprise direction.
• Embedded AI governance and ethical frameworks into operational environments with complex data and regulatory needs.

Commercial Skills And Formal Qualifications

• Tertiary qualifications in Information Management, Data Science, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Deep expertise in AI technologies, frameworks, and architectural patterns, with an eye on emerging paradigms such as agentic and generative AI.
• Skilled in engaging stakeholders across disciplines to align diverse teams to shared architectural visions and standards.
• Clear and confident communicator, adept at tailoring technical content for executive, business, and engineering audiences.
• Strategically minded with strong execution focus, able to turn vision into real-world solutions and business value.
• Familiar with modern enterprise AI and data architectures, including model governance, platform scalability, and cross-domain interoperability.

What’S In It For You?

• Flexible working options: We know that work is only one part of your life, so we actively encourage a positive work-life balance and provide hybrid working options to help you achieve it.
• Office perks: Take advantage of our gym facility and fitness classes, free parking, BBQ area, mini-Coles supermarket, fooderie hub where you can sample new products before they hit the shelves, school holiday program and so much more when you come in.
• Discounts: Eligible team members receive 5% discount all year round on your Supermarket and Liquor online and in-store purchases. We also offer additional periods of double discount (10%) at various times throughout the year. As well as hotdeals exclusive to team members that translate into additional savings.
• Reward through recognition: Give and receive recognition, linked to our Coles values, through our digital recognition platform ‘mythanks’. You can accumulate points to redeem in the online shop for exciting gifts and electronic gift cards from an extensive range of retailers.
• Opportunities for learning and development: No matter where you start within our diverse business, you’ll have experiences, exposure, and education to satisfy you. Discover and explore a variety of career development programs and job-specific training.
• Paid parental leave: We understand how important your life outside work is and offer permanent team members paid parental leave to support you in balancing work and family.
• Investment in your future: Our annual team member share plan offer allows eligible team members to make regular pre-tax salary sacrifice deductions to purchase Coles Group shares.

About The Recruitment Process

We’re continuing to build a gender equitable team, and a culture that is just as diverse, inclusive and welcoming as the communities we serve. We are committed to creating a workplace that is safe and respectful for our team. We encourage applications from people of all ages, cultures (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples), abilities, sexual orientation and gender identities.

We’re happy to adjust our recruitment process to support candidates with disability. For further information and additional contact details visit the ‘Our Recruitment Process’ section of our careers site or email inclusionrecruitment@coles.com.au

Job ID: 166064

Employment Type: Full time