Platform Architect - AI

CK Circle K Stores Inc. is recruiting for a Platform Architect specializing in AI to design and implement AI-driven solutions. The company operates in Poland, with a support office in Warszawa BC. The role involves working on projects such as visual similarity search for store display compliance in a retail context.

• 5+ years experience in software architecture with 2-3 years focused on AI/ML systems
• Strong understanding of machine learning fundamentals, deep learning, and modern NLP/LLM architectures
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP and their AI/ML services
• Experience with MLOps tools like MLflow, Kubeflow, SageMaker and CI/CD for ML pipelines
• Proficiency in Python and familiarity with ML frameworks including PyTorch, TensorFlow, and Hugging Face
• Experience with vector databases, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, and agentic AI frameworks
• Strong grasp of data architecture, APIs, and system integration patterns
• Excellent communication skills to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Experience leading or mentoring technical teams

Additional project-specific requirements:

• Hands-on experience with production computer vision pipelines including object detection, embedding models, vector/hybrid search
• Familiarity with DETR/YOLO-family models, Roboflow or comparable data management/training tools, and vector databases like Pinecone
• Ability to evaluate cost trade-offs between self-hosted GPU and managed/SaaS inference
• Understanding of open-source model licensing constraints (AGPL, Apache, MIT) and business implications
• Experience designing multi-signal retrieval and ranking systems
• Working knowledge of AWS ML/GPU services such as SageMaker, EC2 GPU, Bedrock
• Capability to make architectural decisions balancing technical excellence, cost, and time

Nice to have:

• Prior experience in retail related to product recognition, planograms, or store display compliance

• Design end-to-end architecture for AI/ML systems from proof of concept to production
• Select appropriate technologies, frameworks, and models
• Oversee integration of AI solutions with existing systems and data infrastructure
• Evaluate build vs. buy decisions for AI capabilities including cost modeling and vendor lock-in risk
• Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, cost-efficient, and compliant with regulations such as GDPR and EU AI Act
• Guide MLOps/LLMOps practices including retraining triggers, drift monitoring, versioning, and rollback
• Mentor AI Engineers on AI architecture patterns and emerging best practices
• Stay current with AI landscape including foundation models, vector databases, agentic frameworks, RAG, and fine-tuning
• Create and maintain technical documentation, architecture diagrams, and decision records
• Act as technical liaison to AI Security for design decisions, access control, encryption, and safeguards against attacks

Project-specific requirements (visual similarity search):

• Design and maintain pipeline architecture involving product detection, parallel analysis (visual embedding, OCR, category classification), hybrid query to vector database, and matching against planogram
• Decide on specific models and components (e.g. RF-DETR, DINOv2) considering accuracy, cost, licensing, and delivery time
• Design category-specific query strategies
• Make hosting and cost decisions between self-hosted GPU infrastructure (AWS) and managed services (Roboflow, Pinecone)
• Define API contracts between AI pipeline and system including handling low-confidence matches
• Set measurable quality thresholds jointly with Product Owner
• Verify license compliance of components such as YOLO-family models
• Provide architectural oversight of AI/ML Engineers' work
• Plan improvement loop for feedback of approved image crops into index
• Engage AI Security team early for reviewing data flows, encryption, access control, data retention policies, and compliance with GDPR

Candidates will not be judged on grounds such as race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age. An Internal Notification and Follow-up Actions Procedure regarding whistleblower reporting applies at Circle K Business Centre Poland sp. z o.o.