We are looking for Senior AI Architect - Forward Deployed Engineer Lead - Remote / Telecommute for our client in Mahwah, NJ
Job Title: Senior AI Architect - Forward Deployed Engineer Lead - Remote / Telecommute
Job Location: Mahwah, NJ
Job Type: Contract
Pay Range: $70.00hr - $75.00hr
Job Overview:
The AI CoE Pod Lead is a hands-on builder who designs, ships, and runs Claude skills, plugins, and agent apps for the organization s internal business teams, while acting as the technical lead for the Pod s Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs). Roughly 50-60% of the role involves building and deploying; the remainder focuses on technical guidance, design review, and stakeholder alignment.
Must Have Skills:
- Claude (skills, plugins, MCP servers/connectors), LLM-based applications.
Key Responsibilities:
Build and ship (hands-on):
- Design, write, and iterate Claude skills (SKILL.md instructions, scripts, templates, reference assets) that encode business team workflows and produce reliable, repeatable outputs.
- Package skills, commands, sub-agents, hooks, and MCP connectors into plugins that internal teams can install and use with minimal setup.
- Build agent apps on the Claude API and Agent SDK where a workflow needs orchestration, state, scheduling, or integration beyond a skill.
- Build and maintain MCP servers and connectors to systems (CRM, ticketing, document stores, data platforms) with least-privilege access.
- Write evaluation suites for each skill and agent (golden datasets, regression tests, output-quality rubrics) and use them to gate releases.
- Own the release path for skills and plugins: version control, code review, CI/CD, environment promotion, and rollback.
- Manage distribution and access through the organization s plugin catalog and admin controls, ensuring the right teams obtain the right capabilities.
- Set up monitoring for usage, adoption, quality, latency, and token cost; act on drift and failures.
- Lead the technical side of workstream transitions: take over code and context from incumbent teams, close technical debt and environment gaps, and prepare cutover plans.
- Act as technical lead for the Pod s FDEs: set standards for skill design, prompt and context engineering, testing, and documentation.
- Run design and code reviews; unblock FDEs on complex problems through pairing and reference implementations.
- Maintain a shared library of reusable skill patterns, templates, and connectors to accelerate new builds.
- Decide when a need is best met by a skill, a plugin, an agent app, or a conventional integration, and document the reasoning.
- Work with business owners to translate workflows into clear requirements, success metrics, and PRDs.
- Run discovery and demos; drive UAT with business users and fold feedback into fast iterations.
- Train business teams on using and contributing to skills; build internal champions.
- Prepare the technical evidence for each acceptance criterion: architecture docs and ADRs, UAT results, InfoSec reviews, deployment readiness checklists.
- Partner with InfoSec on data classification, access controls, PII handling, and prompt-injection defenses for skills, connectors, and agents.
- Track and report cost, usage, and value delivered per workstream.
Required Qualifications:
- 10+ years in software engineering, with 2+ years building and shipping LLM-based applications to production.
- Hands-on experience building with Claude: skills, plugins, MCP servers/connectors, the Claude API, and tool use; or equivalent depth on a comparable LLM platform with a clear ramp to Claude.
- Strong Python and/or TypeScript skills; proficient with REST APIs, JSON schemas, authentication (OAuth, service accounts), and scripting.
- Working knowledge of agent patterns: tool calling, sub-agents, context management, retrieval, memory, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints.
- Experience designing LLM evaluations and regression testing for non-deterministic outputs.
- Practical DevOps experience: Git workflows, CI/CD, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform), secrets management, logging, and monitoring.
- 2+ years as a tech lead or player-coach guiding engineers through design reviews and code reviews.
- Proven ability to work directly with non-technical business users, translate workflows into requirements, and execute UAT.
- Sound grasp of AI security and data governance: PII handling, access control, prompt injection, and data-exfiltration risks.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with the Claude Agent SDK, Claude Code, plugin catalogs, and enterprise admin controls.
- Track record of taking over in-flight AI systems from another team and stabilizing them for production.
- Background in domains: EHS, ESG, operational risk, product stewardship, or supply chain risk.
- Experience with enterprise systems commonly connected to agents: Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Snowflake, or Databricks.
- Experience building reusable internal platforms or developer tooling adopted by multiple teams.
- Familiarity with AI governance frameworks (NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001) and SOC 2 controls.
- Experience in a global delivery model with partner or offshore engineering teams.
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Benefits
Our Benefits Include:
- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
- Disability Insurance (Short-Term and Long-Term)
- Life and AD&D Insurance
- Paid Sick Leave (where required by applicable state or local law)
- Supplemental Insurance Plans
- Identity Theft Protection
- Pet Insurance
- Employee Wellness Programs
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Career Growth and Professional Development Opportunities
Disclaimer: Benefits eligibility, accrual rates, and usage limits may vary based on employment status, length of service, and work location. Paid Sick Leave is provided in strict accordance with applicable state and municipal mandates. Cynet Systems Inc. reserves the right to modify, amend, or terminate any benefit plans at any time in accordance with applicable laws.
About Cynet Systems
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in the Washington, DC metro area, Cynet Systems Inc. is a leading technology staffing and workforce solutions company serving Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and enterprise organizations across the United States and Canada. We deliver agile, scalable talent solutions across IT, engineering, life sciences, clinical, and professional staffing, powered by a high-performing recruitment engine operating across North America and Asia.
As a nationally and locally certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Cynet Systems is committed to helping organizations build high-performing teams while empowering professionals to grow rewarding careers. Our organization is certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 Type II standards, reflecting our commitment to quality, security, operational excellence, and customer success.
