Principal Solutions Architect - AI & Immersive Extended Reality

Job Purpose At Emirates, we believe in connecting the world, to and through, our global hub in Dubai and in constantly innovating to ensure our customers ‘Fly Better’. Emirates Group IT thrives on the dynamic nature of technology. Being pioneers in aviation innovation, we're always at the forefront, pushing boundaries. We're on the lookout for exceptional IT professionals to fortify our position as leaders in the industry. Embark on a journey with the world’s largest international airline and become a vital part of our cutting-edge information and technology team as Principal Solutions Architect – AI & IXR. Join the Architecture team and propel global aviation technology into the future! As architects, we bridge ambitious business goals with purposeful technological solutions, working closely with business units to inspire and implement fit-for-purpose solutions. Our team handles projects ranging from incremental improvements to strategic overhauls across diverse global operations. We utilize modern technology stacks such as ReactJS, NodeJS, Java Microservices, Self-Service Integrations, and Open APIs, all underpinned by best practices in DevSecOps, Cloud, and modern engineering. If you're passionate about transforming technology, we invite you to apply and to make a significant impact on the future of aviation at Emirates Group. As a Principal Solutions Architect – AI & IXR, you will lead the enterprise strategy, architecture, and governance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent eXtended Reality (IXR) platforms. You will be responsible for shaping and delivering secure, scalable, and multi-cloud solutions across AI gateways, foundation models, LLMs, RAG architectures, autonomous agents, AR/VR/XR experiences, Digital Twins, and immersive technologies. The role establishes enterprise standards, reference architectures, governance frameworks, and technology roadmaps to accelerate innovation while ensuring compliance, security, privacy, and operational excellence. Working closely with business, engineering, security, data, and AI governance stakeholders, you will drive AI-enabled and immersive digital transformation initiatives, provide architectural leadership across strategic programmes, and build strong partnerships with technology providers such as AWS and Microsoft to maximize business value and platform adoption. If you are passionate about shaping the future through AI and immersive technologies, driving innovation at scale, and delivering transformative business outcomes, we invite you to apply and contribute to the success of Emirates Group. In The Role, You Will • Lead the definition and governance of new corporate and portfolio IT standards, guidelines and practices by analysing and understanding potential impact of competing technologies, assessing their strategic significance, defining their strategic role and scope, roadmap, relationship to existing standards, and periodically reviewing our entire IT estate in the context of those standards. • Scout market and track technology advancements and new business innovations, determine how they relate to our IT strategy, existing standards, platforms and patterns, and lead the work to amend existing assets or create new assets to reflect changes in the technology landscape. Showcase business value by executing Proof of Concepts by engaging relevant IT teams. • Lead the solution architecture development for new initiatives, vendor solution acquisitions, and enhancement of existing systems, taking full responsibility for the quality of the architecture, including integration architecture by aligning to agile architecture development practices. Drive architecture decisions and be accountable for their implications in regard to solution costs, delivery schedules, application complexity, technical debt and overall solution performance. • Provide expert advice and lead solution design reviews to projects on technical and architectural standards, guiding them on the need to raise exception requests, develop new or amended standards, and on the appropriate use of architectural standards and patterns. • Provide architecture and technology leadership to development teams by playing the lead architect/driver role in Teams of Teams or Agile/ Release Trains. In addition, be accountable for the overall architecture, solution discoveries, and strategic incubations by coordinating with peer architects and engineering teams • Manage, direct, inspire and coach the work and capability of Solutions Architect and Senior Engineering resources as required, and engage in, and lead, a much wider virtual team of senior managers, technical and subject matter experts and business managers. • Own, manage and maintain the architecture roadmap and runways of complex/large projects, technical products, environments and/or platforms. Act as a product owner and be accountable for proactively identifying, prioritizing, and overseeing the development of technical enablers, technical debts, quality improvements, and application modernization activities. Qualification To be considered for the role you must meet the below requirements: • Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline (12+3 or equivalent). • Minimum of 8 years experience in IT architecture and 3 years in AI and IXR • AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification preferred; equivalent Azure or GCP certifications are advantageous. • Proven experience designing and governing solutions on Azure and AWS using cloud-native architectures, APIs, microservices, and container platforms. • Strong expertise in Generative AI, Agentic AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), RAG, vector databases, prompt engineering, AI orchestration frameworks, MLOps, and AI governance. • Experience with AR, VR, XR, Digital Twins, Spatial Computing, and enterprise IXR platforms • Knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks, architecture modelling, Agile delivery, and technology governance. • Comprehensive understanding of one or more technologies such as Java, ERP, Cloud, open source frameworks, low code platforms, Big data, BI, data warehouses, observability, automation, network and infrastructure, mobile & frontend technologies, AI/ML, container management platforms, database, integration, digital workplace, DevOps., IoT, Blockchain, web 3.0, contact centre, service management platforms, messaging, cyber security etc. • Knowledge in architecture patterns such as microservices, event -driven architecture, cloud native applications and well architected framework for cloud and on-premises deployments. Knowledge in major systems architecture is needed to ensure that a robust and scalable solution is developed • Understanding of agile software development methodologies such as SCRUM and Scaled Agile, and industry standard software modelling techniques such as ArchiMate, C4 and UML • Technical leadership in leading a group of technical architects and senior developers. Ability to influence delivery plans based on architecture and skills constraints. • Demonstrated leadership, stakeholder engagement, communication, and strategic planning capabilities, with the ability to influence enterprise technology decisions. Leadership Competencies • Strategic Thinking • Architectural Leadership • Innovation and Continuous Improvement • Stakeholder Management • Collaboratio

Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline (12+3 or equivalent). Minimum of 8 years experience in IT architecture and 3 years in AI and IXR. AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification preferred; equivalent Azure or GCP certifications are advantageous.

Lead the definition and governance of new corporate and portfolio IT standards, guidelines and practices by analysing and understanding potential impact of competing technologies, assessing their strategic significance, defining their strategic role and scope, roadmap, relationship to existing standards, and periodically reviewing our entire IT estate in the context of those standards. Scout market and track technology advancements and new business innovations, determine how they relate to our IT strategy, existing standards, platforms and patterns, and lead the work to amend existing assets or create new assets to reflect changes in the technology landscape. Showcase business value by executing Proof of Concepts by engaging relevant IT teams. Lead the solution architecture development for new initiatives, vendor solution acquisitions, and enhancement of existing systems, taking full responsibility for the quality of the architecture, including integration architecture by aligning to agile architecture development practices. Drive architecture decisions and be accountable for their implications in regard to solution costs, delivery schedules, application complexity, technical debt and overall solution performance. Provide expert advice and lead solution design reviews to projects on technical and architectural standards, guiding them on the need to raise exception requests, develop new or amended standards, and on the appropriate use of architectural standards and patterns. Provide architecture and technology leadership to development teams by playing the lead architect/driver role in Teams of Teams or Agile/ Release Trains. In addition, be accountable for the overall architecture, solution discoveries, and strategic incubations by coordinating with peer architects and engineering teams. Manage, direct, inspire and coach the work and capability of Solutions Architect and Senior Engineering resources as required, and engage in, and lead, a much wider virtual team of senior managers, technical and subject matter experts and business managers. Own, manage and maintain the architecture roadmap and runways of complex/large projects, technical products, environments and/or platforms. Act as a product owner and be accountable for proactively identifying, prioritizing, and overseeing the development of technical enablers, technical debts, quality improvements, and application modernization activities.