AI Engineer to
Architect Track

AI Architects design systems that multiple teams implement. Daily work: creating technical designs and specifications, reviewing others' architectures, evaluating technologies and vendors, setting technical standards, advising on build vs buy decisions, and representing technical perspective to leadership. You spend time in design reviews, writing documentation, and having cross-team discussions. Your deliverables are designs, standards, and technical direction—not code.

Senior Engineers own projects within a team. Architects own technical direction across teams or systems. Senior Engineers write code; Architects mostly write documentation and designs. Senior Engineers make decisions within their project; Architects make decisions that affect multiple projects. The scope is the key difference: Architects think in systems and organization-wide patterns. Some companies use 'Staff Engineer' for this role with a coding component; 'Architect' typically means less hands-on.

Technical: deep expertise in AI systems, MLOps, cloud infrastructure, data architecture. Breadth matters—you need to understand how everything connects. Design: creating clear specifications, making trade-off decisions, documenting rationale. Communication: presenting to executives, writing technical docs, building consensus. Organizational: understanding business priorities, navigating politics, influencing without authority. Judgment: knowing when to standardize vs allow flexibility, when to build vs buy.

Solutions Architect: $150K-$220K (more customer-facing). AI/ML Architect: $180K-$280K (IC technical design). Principal/Chief Architect: $250K-$400K+ (organizational scope). Comparison: Architect compensation is similar to Staff Engineer at most companies. The title matters less than scope—some 'Senior Engineers' have architect-level responsibilities. Architecture roles are often available earlier at smaller companies or consultancies.

Choose Architect if: you love technical design, want to stay deep in technology, prefer influencing through expertise over authority, don't want to manage people's careers. Choose Manager if: you want to develop people, are comfortable with ambiguity and politics, get satisfaction from team success over technical elegance, want to influence through organization. Some people do both (Engineering Manager with technical leadership), but most specialize. Both paths can reach executive levels.

While still engineering: volunteer for system design work, write architecture docs, participate in cross-team technical discussions, lead technical reviews. Build reputation for thoughtful design decisions. Create architecture decision records (ADRs) even when not required. Ask to shadow architects in your organization. Apply broad curiosity—understand systems outside your immediate area. When ready: look for Architect titles or Staff Engineer roles with architectural scope. Internal transitions work best.

Minimum realistic: 6-8 years as an engineer, with at least 2-3 years at Senior level or above. Sweet spot: 8-12 years with experience leading technical direction on significant projects. Architecture requires judgment that comes from seeing things go wrong—you need years of production experience. But don't wait too long—start taking on architectural work earlier to develop the skills.

Building technical depth: 4-6 years to develop expertise worth architecting. Expanding scope: 2-3 years deliberately working beyond your team. Developing design skills: ongoing, but 1-2 years of focused practice. Getting Architect title: varies by company—some never have the title, others promote from within. The transition is gradual—you're already doing architecture work before the title change. Most Architects get the title around 8-12 years into their career.

You become a member of the AI Native Engineer community, and you stay and keep going. Career transitions take different amounts of time for everyone, and I'm not going to abandon you if things take longer. You get ongoing support through good times and bad.

Online courses give you content. 1:1 coaching gives you a personalized roadmap, direct feedback on your work, career strategy, interview prep, and accountability. You get answers to your specific questions and guidance tailored to your unique situation instead of generic advice meant for everyone.

Investment details are discussed during the 30-minute strategy call, where we'll assess your goals and create a custom plan. The program is designed to pay for itself quickly through your increased salary. Most AI engineers see a 20-50% pay increase.

Absolutely. Most of my clients work full-time and make steady progress. We'll schedule calls at times that work for you and create a realistic plan that fits your schedule. Consistency matters more than intensity.