Sr Architect I

Team Summary:

Staples Digital Solutions partners across the enterprise to shape and deliver scalable technology that strengthens customer, sales, and service capabilities. The team works closely with business leaders, product teams, engineers, architects, vendors, and external partners to modernize platforms, improve customer experiences, and advance strategic business priorities through secure, resilient, and innovative solutions.

Role Summary:

The Sr. Architect leads architecture and technical evolution within the customer service domain, guiding the contact center’s transition from a traditional, agent-led service model to an AI-first operating model. The architect designs solutions that combine conversational AI, intelligent business process automation, and human expertise to address customer needs across email, voice, and digital channels.

This is a hands-on architecture role responsible for translating business goals into practical designs, validating technology choices, and guiding implementation from discovery through production. The architect will ensure that modernization improves customer experience, equips employees, and delivers measurable business value.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead the architecture and technical design supporting the contact center modernization journey to an AI-first operating model.
• Drive the delivery of solutions that advance our AI-first operating model, increase agent productivity, and deliver an elevated customer experience.
• Develop target-state architectures, reference models, standards, and reusable design patterns.
• Define application, integration, API, cloud, and data architecture strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Evaluate technology solutions and recommend approaches based on scalability, reliability, security, performance, and cost.
• Design and govern enterprise integrations, APIs, event-driven architectures, and service-oriented solutions.
• Assess emerging technologies, generative AI capabilities, automation opportunities, and modernization strategies.
• Lead architecture reviews, proofs of concept, strategic technology assessments, design workshops, and governance forums.
• Mentor architects and engineers while promoting architecture best practices, knowledge sharing, and technical excellence.

What you bring to the table:

• Strong strategic thinking and the ability to connect technology decisions to business outcomes.
• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to address complex challenges.
• Ability to influence and lead across matrixed organizations without direct authority.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to build trusted partnerships across the organization.
• A continuous-learning mindset with a passion for innovation, technology trends, and improvement.

What’s needed - Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 7+ years of software engineering experience, including designing solution architectures and providing technical leadership throughout solution development and delivery.
• Expertise in designing and building enterprise applications using Java (Spring Boot, Spring Cloud) and front-end technologies such as Angular, JavaScript, and TypeScript. This includes applying reactive UI patterns and using state management and component libraries.
• Extensive experience designing, securing, and governing REST, GraphQL, and event-driven APIs using Kafka, Solace, or similar technologies. This experience includes API gateway management, OpenAPI/AsyncAPI contracts, OAuth2/OIDC, and API versioning strategies.
• Proven ability to define target-state architectures for multi-application suites using microservices, domain-driven design, and cloud-native design patterns.
• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, GCP, AWS), container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), and CI/CD pipelines.
• Working knowledge of customer data platforms, relational and NoSQL data stores, data streaming, and unified platforms for data, analytics, and AI (Databricks).
• Working knowledge of observability tools such as Splunk, Dynatrace, or similar solutions.
• Experience integrating large language models (e.g., Azure OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini) into enterprise applications through APIs and SDKs.
• Ability to design scalable AI-enabled architectures including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases, and embeddings, prompt orchestration, model routing, caching and fallback patterns.
• Experience designing AI agents and copilots that safely invoke enterprise APIs and tools through mechanisms such as function calling and Model Context Protocol. Designs incorporate clear guardrails, human-in-the-loop controls, and auditability.
• Experience designing architectures that integrate customer service application suites, including contact center/CCaaS platforms with omnichannel capabilities across chat, voice/IVR, and email. Integration experience spanning CRM, case management, knowledge management, and order management systems.
• Ability to apply AI knowledge to develop customer service capabilities in the following areas:
• Self-service: Virtual agents, chatbots, and conversational IVR.
• Agent support: Agent assist, next-best-action recommendations, and case / contact summarization.
• Interaction analysis: Intent detection and routing, and sentiment analysis.
• Knowledge of evaluation frameworks for model accuracy, groundedness, latency, and quality.
• Proficiency using AI coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code) to accelerate development, code review, test generation, documentation, and legacy code modernization, while maintaining quality and security standards.

What’s needed - Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in a technology- or business-related field.
• 10+ years of architecture, engineering, or enterprise technology experience.
• Cloud / AI Certifications: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Professional Machine Learning Engineer, or AWS Certified Machine Learning / Solutions Architect.
• Development Certifications: Oracle Certified Professional Java Developer, Spring Professional, or equivalent.
• Experience with delivering AI- or ML-enabled features into production, ideally within customer service or retail environments.
• Experience supporting customer service, customer experience, CRM, contact center, or digital engagement platforms.

We Offer: 

• Inclusive culture with associate-led Business Resource Groups  
• Flexible PTO (22 days) and Holiday Schedule (7 observed paid holidays)  
• Online and Retail Discounts, Company Match 401(k), Physical and Mental Health Wellness programs, and more! https://careers.staples.com/Staples-Life/Benefits

The salary range represents the expected compensation for this role at the time of posting. The specific base pay may be influenced by a variety of factors to include the candidate's experience, skill set, education, geography, business considerations, and internal equity.  In addition to base pay, this role may be eligible for bonuses, or other forms of variable compensation.  

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