An employee stands on the trading floor at Uniper in Düsseldorf.

AI Principal Architect /​ Lead (f/​m/​d)

Calendarimmediately

ClockFull-time, Hybrid, Unlimited

GlobeDüsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen, Hanover, Landshut, Regensburg, Würzburg

AI Principal Architect / Lead (f/m/d)

Locations: Düsseldorf (NRW), Gelsenkirchen (NRW), Gelsenkirchen (NRW), Hanover (NDS), Landshut (BY), Regensburg (BY), Würzburg (BY)

Our Principal Architect / Lead Team is looking for YOU!

We are Uniper

At Uniper, we are pro-actively transforming the world of energy whilst at the same time ensuring security of energy supply. As an internationally operating company, we work in very diverse teams with the greatest possible working time flexibility for our employees. Our corporate culture is characterized by equal opportunities, mutual appreciation, and respect. With us, you will be able to develop new business models, work on technological solutions for a modern, sustainable, and future-oriented energy supply as well as pro-actively help to shape changes. Interested? Then we will look forward to meeting you!

Your responsibilities

  • Own and continuously enhance the AI platforms and solution architecture across the full stack (model lifecycle, agent orchestration, and application integration).
  • Establish and enforce architectural principles, standards, and reference architectures for AI and GenAI solutions.
  • Evaluate, select, and govern AI technologies, frameworks, platforms, and cloud services in alignment with Uniper’s enterprise strategy (IT, Cloud & AI).
  • Architect solutions for scalability, resilience, security, performance, and cost efficiency.
  • Provide technical leadership to AI engineering, platform, and architecture teams; serve as the escalation point for complex technical decisions.
  • Collaborate with product owners, security, data, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into robust, production-ready AI solutions.
  • Define and govern architectural decision records, documentation standards, and design review processes to ensure traceability and consistency.
  • Ensure architecture complies with security, privacy, and regulatory obligations, including risk assessments and control alignment in regulated environments.
  • Lead evaluation of strategic technology options & vendor offerings and provide recommendations to support informed investment decisions.
  • Oversee operational readiness, including observability, reliability engineering practices, and lifecycle support, to sustain production-grade platform operations.

Additional responsibilities (as applicable):

  • Serve as the AI architecture representative in governance boards and architecture forums, providing direction, guidance, and technical assurance.
  • Define and maintain the platform architecture roadmap and drive capability maturity in line with Uniper priorities.
  • Architecture reviews for strategic initiatives, ensuring adherence to standards and timely resolution of cross-team design decisions.
  • Contribute to the AI platform operating model, including service definitions, KPIs/SLAs, and integration with IT Service Management (ITSM) processes.
  • Establish and lead an architecture community of practice, including coaching, knowledge sharing, and development of reusable patterns and accelerators.

Your profile

  • You hold a degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related discipline.
  • You have proven experience in designing, deploying, and operating enterprise‑grade AI platforms that deliver measurable business value and meet stringent reliability and compliance requirements.
  • You bring extensive expertise in Microsoft Azure architecture, GenAIOps, MLOps, and AI platform engineering, and you are comfortable leading technical teams through complex, cross‑functional delivery initiatives.
  • You possess deep knowledge of security‑by‑design principles, compliance expectations, and governance frameworks applicable to regulated enterprise environments.
  • You bring a growth mindset with openness to new technologies and a willingness to continuously develop relevant skills and capabilities.
  • You combine strong architectural and technical leadership with excellent stakeholder management skills, enabling you to translate business objectives into executable technical strategies and platform roadmaps.
  • You have demonstrated capability in establishing and operating architecture governance, including design reviews, standards enforcement, and decision traceability, ensuring consistent delivery discipline across teams and projects.
  • You bring hands‑on experience in designing for operational excellence, including reliability, observability, performance optimization, and cost management of production services.
  • In addition, you have practical experience implementing responsible AI controls and risk management measures for production AI systems, such as model monitoring, evaluation, and human‑in‑the‑loop mechanisms where required.
  • Beyond these core qualifications, it would be considered an advantage if you have demonstrated experience with Generative AI, large language model (LLM) platforms, and agent‑based solution architectures.
  • Relevant certifications in cloud, AI/ML, security, or enterprise architecture (e.g., vendor or industry-recognized credentials) would further strengthen your profile.
  • Hands‑on experience with enterprise tooling and practices such as CI/CD for ML, model registries, automated testing, and deployment patterns would be highly beneficial.
  • Experience integrating AI platforms with enterprise data ecosystems and application landscapes, including API management and event‑driven integration, would also be an asset.
  • Exposure to responsible AI standards, model risk management, and audit‑ready controls within regulated environments would enhance your ability to ensure compliance and governance across production AI systems.
  • Demonstrated success in collaborating effectively with offshore partners and operating across time zones would round out your profile.
  • You communicate fluently in English at a business level, German proficiency is an advantage for collaboration and stakeholder engagement across Uniper’s international environment.
  • You demonstrate strategic, systems‑level thinking and a structured approach to complex problem‑solving.
  • You establish strong partnerships through effective leadership, collaboration, and stakeholder management.
  • You balance innovation with risk management, compliance requirements, and operational stability.

Job ID:

89540

Location:

Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen, Hanover, Landshut, Regensburg, Würzburg

Type of contract:

Unlimited

Working model:

Full-time, Hybrid, undefined

Start date:

immediately

Application deadline:

31/10/2026

Do you have any questions?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by e-mail and we will get back to you:

career@uniper.energy

Top Employer Germany 2026

What makes Uniper stand out as an employer

  • Training

    Further education

    With a mix of digital and analog learning formats and topic-specific communities, we promote your personal and profossional development and lifelong learning.

  • Award

    Coachings and Mentoring

    Experienced specialists and managers are happy to support you in strengthening your skills and advancing your career development.

  • Bubble

    Open feedback culture

    Performance discussions, 360-degree feedback and employee surveys will help you and the company move forward, strengthen our collaboration and give you room to contribute your ideas.

  • Health

    Health care

    Safety and well-being are our top priorities. That's why we offer you regular free preventive medical checkups as well as a variety of learning impulses on occupational safety, health and well-being, and support programs.

  • Ball

    Sport and Fitness

    With our online exercise courses, sponsorship of your participation costs in central sports events and a large sports community, we offer you a healthy working environment.

  • Canteen

    Healthy nutrition

    You can enjoy a wide range of healthy and balanced meals in our canteen. In addition, you can participate in nutrition programs.

  • Fonds

    Insurance and coverage

    We take care of you and offer you a wide range of coverage beyond the legal requirements with our company pension plan, accident insurance, company health insurance and continued salary payments in the event of illness.

  • Money

    Financial benefits

    We pay capital-forming benefits and offer you a wide range of financial benefits through our corporate benefits program

  • Smiley

    Work Life Balance

    We support you in balancing your private and professional life through flexible working time models, job sharing, sabbaticals and extensive offers in the area of child care and nursing.

  • Car

    Free parking spaces

    We provide you with free parking spaces.

  • Bicycle

    Job bike leasing

    We offer you the option of leasing a bicycle through deferred compensation with financial benefits.

The benefits may vary slightly depending on location and role. You can find a complete overview of the benefits here:Benefits

Get to know your future colleagues

Valentina

EVP Operational Excellence

At Uniper “treating everyone in a fair way”, and “making everyone feel included” are serious topics. This is why we regularly seek feedback from our employees, we listen to them, and we make changes so that we can get closer and closer to our vision of DEI.

Valentina - EVP Operational Excellence

Thomas

Head of ETRM department

I was excited to join Uniper as it a give me the opportunity to be part of a large, complex and dynamic Trading Organization. The company trades a lot of different commodities in many markets with all their uniqueness, which ultimately requires many different IT tools and solutions. I enjoy working with traders and all the supporting functions in such a challenging environment.

Thomas - Head of ETRM department

Navya

Lead Business Analyst

My passion is driven by the excitement of learning something new every day and a strong sense of pride supporting our Uniper business growth & Strategy. This is enhanced by the presence of a great team around me, whom I can always rely on for support.

Navya - Lead Business Analyst

Mithun

Lead - Strategic Endur Solutions

Each day excites me with new challenges by driving various Strategic IT initiatives for our CCO Trading Business and accelerating the energy transition by decarbonising our portfolio. My motto: Entrepreneurship is trait that you live each moment! At Uniper, I can constantly challenge status quo and shape the environment around me.

Mithun - Lead - Strategic Endur Solutions
About Uniper
Diversity
FlexWork
Job Sharing

Transforming energy security through expertise and commitment

Uniper is a European energy company with a global reach that makes a decisive contribution to security of supply and energy transformation.  We work in very diverse teams and offer our employees as much flexibility as is possible.

Equity, mutual appreciation and respect are the core of our corporate culture. At our company you will have the opportunity to shape new technologies, work on solutions for a modern and future-oriented energy supply and actively design change processes.

360_tour.webp

Düsseldorf

Virtual tour of our offices in Düsseldorf

With our virtual reality tour, you can experience Uniper from a completely new perspective. Our Düsseldorf offices can be viewed in detail without being on site. You can also get to know your colleagues and the working environment virtually. A highlight of the tour is built right into the beginning: a video from a bird's eye view impressively shows how attractive our location in the Medienhafen is.

Düsseldorf_Standort_1.webp

Düsseldorf

Uniper has been based at our headquarters in Düsseldorf's Media Harbour since 2019. Our central office consists of the two buildings Caprocorn and Float, which are connected by a walkway to form a single unit.

Düsseldorf_Standort_2.webp

Düsseldorf

Uniper has been based at our headquarters in Düsseldorf's Media Harbour since 2019. Our central office consists of the two buildings Caprocorn and Float, which are connected by a walkway to form a single unit.

Düsseldorf_Standort_3.webp

Düsseldorf

Uniper has been based at our headquarters in Düsseldorf's Media Harbour since 2019. Our central office consists of the two buildings Caprocorn and Float, which are connected by a walkway to form a single unit.

Düsseldorf_Büro_1.webp

Düsseldorf

On the office floors, the modern furnished meeting areas and lounges are located in the centre of each floor and our colleagues work separately from the passage areas, each with window fronts. All workstations have modern equipment and height-adjustable desks.

Düsseldorf_Büro_2.webp

Düsseldorf

On the office floors, the modern furnished meeting areas and lounges are located in the centre of each floor and our colleagues work separately from the passage areas, each with window fronts. All workstations have modern equipment and height-adjustable desks.

Düsseldorf_Büro_3.webp

Düsseldorf

On the office floors, the modern furnished meeting areas and lounges are located in the centre of each floor and our colleagues work separately from the passage areas, each with window fronts. All workstations have modern equipment and height-adjustable desks.

Düsseldorf_Café_1.webp

Düsseldorf

We offer many services at the location that positively support everyday working life. These include an IT walk-in centre, a fitness studio, an underground car park with free parking spaces for cars and an extra garage for bicycles, including showers. For a balanced diet, there is a canteen as well as a café and a deli with fruit and healthy snacks, which are also open to the public.

Düsseldorf_Café_2.webp

Düsseldorf

We offer many services at the location that positively support everyday working life. These include an IT walk-in centre, a fitness studio, an underground car park with free parking spaces for cars and an extra garage for bicycles, including showers. For a balanced diet, there is a canteen as well as a café and a deli with fruit and healthy snacks, which are also open to the public.

Düsseldorf_Café_3.webp

Düsseldorf

We offer many services at the location that positively support everyday working life. These include an IT walk-in centre, a fitness studio, an underground car park with free parking spaces for cars and an extra garage for bicycles, including showers. For a balanced diet, there is a canteen as well as a café and a deli with fruit and healthy snacks, which are also open to the public.

Application process

Step 1 - Online application

Step 1

Online application

Have you found a suitable job posting? Then you can apply online right here. The application process is very simple and only takes a few minutes. Once we have received your application successfully, you will receive confirmation by e-mail immediately afterwards.

Your questions. Our answers.

Do you have any questions?

Do you have any questions?

Our recruiting team will be happy to assist you via email. Please submit your application exclusively through our online portal – unfortunately, we cannot consider applications sent by email. As long as the position is listed on our careers page, we look forward to your interest and application!

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