HCLTech AI & Cloud Native Labs - Leader, AI Architecture - London, UK

HCLTech is a next-generation global technology company that helps enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age. Our technology products and services are built on four decades of innovation, with a world-renowned management philosophy, a strong culture of invention and risk-taking, and a relentless focus on customer relationships. HCLTech also takes pride in its many diversity, social responsibility, sustainability, and education initiatives. Through its worldwide network of R&D facilities and co-innovation labs, global delivery capabilities, and over 197,000+ ‘Ideapreneurs’ across 52 countries, HCLTech delivers holistic services across industry verticals to leading enterprises, including 250 of the Fortune 500 and 650 of the Global 2000.

The following information aims to provide potential candidates with a better understanding of the requirements for this role.

HCLTech AI & Cloud Native Labsis the global Centre of Excellence guiding the application of advanced technologies and leading the way for clients and HCLTech employees worldwide. Working from Labs locations across US, UK and India, we engage with the world’s largest enterprises providing strategic advice, accelerated engineering, and industry thought leadership.

Description & Requirements

Position Summary

This is a highly visible role that requires a perfect combination of deep technical credibility, strategic acumen and demonstrable leadership competency.

You will be the ultimate Trusted Advisor, capable of engaging business and technology leaders within the world’s largest enterprises, and guiding their strategic AI-enabled journey.

The Lead, AI Architecture, is responsible for leading the Labs’ Architectural services within the region. You will need to provide hands-on technical leadership, whilst managing a small team of senior AI architects and consultants.

Operating in a fast-moving, highly innovative environment, collaborating with senior Sales and Technical leaders. You will have business responsibility for the provision of innovation-led Labs services. focusing on the design and implementation of advanced AI solutions enabling genuine transformational outcomes.

This hands-on leadership role demands deep understanding of AI and related technologies, running in Edge, on-prem and Public Cloud environments. Acting at the forefront of our industry you will be fully conversant with Generative AI, and its impact at both the individual employee and strategic organisational level.

The ideal candidate will be an established thought-leader in the AI domain, with solid architectural and engineering credentials that you maintain at the highest level. Working ahead of industry trends, deeply passionate about AI-enabled business transformation and demonstrating a strong innovation-led posture. As a thought leader, you will interact frequently with CxO level clients, industry leaders, provide expert opinions, and contribute to HCL’s strategic vision.

Key Responsibilities

Technical & Engineering Leadership

Act as ultimate Design Authority for sophisticated AI solutions and related technology architecture.

Lead high-level architectural discussions with clients, providing expert guidance on best practices for AI implementations across AI PC, Edge, Data Centre and Public Cloud environments.

Ensure solutions align with modern best practices across the full spectrum of platforms and environments. Deep understanding across GPU/NPU, Cognitive Infrastructure, Application and Copilot/agent domains.

Contribute to HCLTech thought leadership in the AI & Cloud domains with a deep understanding of open-source (e.g., Kubernetes, OPEA) and partner technologies.

Collaborate on joint technical projects with global partners, including Google, Microsoft, AWS, NVIDIA, IBM, Red Hat, Intel, and Dell.

Service Delivery & Innovation

Design innovative AI solutions from ideation to MVP, rapidly enabling genuine business value.

Optimize AI and cloud architectures to meet client requirements, balancing efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness.

Assess and review existing complex solutions and recommend architectural improvements to transform applications with latest AI technologies.

Drive the adoption of cutting-edge GenAI technologies spearheading initiatives that push the boundaries of AI capability across the full spectrum of environments.

Thought Leadership and Client Engagement

Provide expert architectural and strategy guidance to clients on incorporating Generative AI into their business and technology landscape.

Conduct workshops, briefings, and strategic dialogues to educate clients on AI benefits and applications, establishing strong, trust-based relationships.

Act as a trusted advisor, contributing to technical projects with a strong focus on technical excellence and on-time delivery.

Author whitepapers, blogs, and speak at industry events, maintaining a visible presence as a thought leader in AI and associated technologies.

Collaboration and Customer Engagement

Engage with multiple customers simultaneously, building high-impact consultative relationships.

Work closely with internal teams and global partners to ensure seamless collaboration and knowledge sharing across projects.

Maintain hands-on technical credibility, staying ahead of industry trends and mentoring others in the organization.

Management and Leadership

Demonstrable track record building and managing small Architectural or Engineering teams.

Support career growth and professional development of the team.

Enrich and enable world-class technical excellence across the team; supported by a culture of collaboration, respect, diversity, inclusion and deep trustful relationships.

Mandatory Skills & Experience

Management & leadership:

Demonstrable track record building and leading Architectural or Engineering teams.

Proven ability to combine strategic business and commercial skills, performing at the highest-level in senior client relationships.

Experience:

10+ years architecture design

10+ years software engineering.

5+ years in a senior Team Leader or similar management position.

Significant client-facing engagement within a GSI, system integrator, professional services or technology organization.

Technologies:

Professional-level expertise in Public Cloud environments (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).

Demonstrable coding proficiency with Python, Java or Go languages.

AI Expertise:

Advanced machine learning algorithms, GenAI models (e.g., GPT, BERT, DALL-E, GEMINI), NLP techniques.

Working familiarity with Copilot solutions, in both software engineering and office productivity domains.

Business Expertise:

Extensive track record performing a lead technical role in a sales, business-development or other commercial environment.

Negotiating and consultative skills; experience leading the complete engagement lifecycle.

Communication:Experienced public speaker, with an ability to connect with senior business leaders.

Project Methodologies:Agile and Scrum project management.

Desired Skills & Experience

Knowledge of GenAI operations (LLMOps), experience Governing AI models in production environments.

Proficiency in data engineering for AI, including data preprocessing, feature engineering, and pipeline creation.

Expertise in AI model fine-tuning and evaluation, with a focus on improving performance for specialized tasks.

Copilot design, engineering and extensions.

Knowledgeable about Responsible AI, including governance and ethics. Bias mitigation, with experience in implementing strategies to ensure fair and unbiased AI solutions.

Deep Learning Frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch)

Innovation and Emerging Technology Trends

Strategic AI Vision and Road mapping

Enthusiastic about working in a fast-paced environment using the latest technologies, and passionate about HCL’s dynamic and high-energy Lab culture.

Verifiable Certification

• Recognized Professional certification from Google, Microsoft or AWS in an AI and/or Cloudrelated domain.

Soft Skills and Behavioural Competencies

Exemplary communication and leadership skills, capable of inspiring teams and making strategic decisions that align with business goals. Demonstrates a strong customer orientation, innovative problem-solving abilities, and effective cross-cultural collaboration. Expert at driving organizational change and fostering a culture of innovation.

Location:

·Any where in UK (Preferred London) or must be willing to travel on need basis.