Position SummaryThe Principal AI Architect is the senior individual contributor accountable for AI architecture across Aetna Technology. This role sets the technical direction for how AI capabilities are built, served, orchestrated, and governed - including the multi-model platform and spanning generative and agentic workloads. The Principal AI Architect defines the AI reference architectures and paved road that teams build on, sets the pattern for agentic systems, and serves as Aetna Technology's deepest technical authority on AI - driving outcomes through design authority and influence rather than direct reports.
Key Responsibilities:AI Platform and Reference Design- Own the Aetna Technology AI reference architectures - model serving, multi-model orchestration, retrieval, and evaluation - across AWS-primary and multicloud infrastructure.
- Define the agentic architecture: agent orchestration as the enforced contract, domain agents scoped by journey and business context, and a reusable skills layer where reusability actually lives.
- Set the integration default - API-first, with MCP adopted by exception - and the criteria that govern that exception.
- Design and maintain the paved road for AI development - golden patterns for building, serving, and evaluating models and agents so teams ship without re-solving solved problems.
Responsible AI, Safety, and Guardrails- Embed guardrails, evaluation, and safety controls into the paved road so responsible-AI practice is inherited by default, not bolted on per team.
- Define the model evaluation and benchmarking discipline - how models are compared, selected, and re-tested as the landscape shifts.
- Establish controls for regulated and sensitive data in AI workloads (including PHI) - access, grounding, and blast-radius reduction across agents and models.
Value, ROI, and Measurement- Define the instrumentation that ties AI investment to measurable outcomes - the ledger, labor-redeployment signals, and usage telemetry - surfaced in concrete dollar terms.
- Partner with platform and finance teams on cost-aware AI architecture so unit economics are a first-class design constraint.
Standards, Governance, and Enablement- Author the AI standards enforced as automated gates and paved-road defaults, not as a review queue.
- Contribute to architecture governance - reference architectures, technology radar input across a fast-moving model landscape, and design reviews - in partnership with Enterprise Architecture.
- Evaluate emerging models, frameworks, and agentic tooling and make directional recommendations on adoption.
Technical Influence- Translate AI architecture trade-offs into clear, decision-oriented narratives for senior technology leaders and peer architects.
- Coach and raise the bar for Solution Architects and senior engineers through design reviews and system-level reasoning - without direct reporting relationships.
- Act as a credible technical partner to strategic AI vendors and internal platform teams.
Required Qualifications- 12+ years in technology, with deep, hands-on experience in AI/ML platform and solution architecture at Aetna Technology scale.
- Expert-level command of model serving, multi-model orchestration, retrieval, and evaluation on cloud platforms (AWS primary; GCP/Azure familiarity preferred).
- Demonstrated ownership of AI reference architectures and paved-road / golden-path patterns for model and agent development.
- Hands-on experience designing agentic systems - orchestration, tool/skill layers, and the integration patterns (API, MCP) behind them.
- Strong grounding in responsible AI, model evaluation, and guardrail design.
- Track record of driving technical outcomes through influence and design authority as an individual contributor.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience in healthcare, health insurance, or similarly regulated industries.
- Familiarity with FinOps and cost-aware AI architecture, able to tie design decisions to dollar impact.
- Experience instrumenting AI ROI and adoption metrics for executive audiences.
- Experience with infrastructure-as-code and automated policy/guardrail enforcement.
Competencies- Technical Depth - Aetna Technology's deepest AI authority; credible with Principal Engineers and able to go deep on any layer of the AI stack.
- Systems Thinking - Sees the whole system; anticipates second-order effects across safety, cost, and downstream consumption.
- Decisiveness - Makes directional calls with incomplete information and adjusts as context evolves.
- Influence Without Authority - Drives alignment and raises engineering standards across boundaries with no direct reports.
- Pragmatism - Ships standards as gates and paved road, not as queues; balances rigor against delivery speed.
Education- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field or equivalent experience.
Pay RangeThe typical pay range for this role is:
$144,200.00 - $288,400.00
This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography and other relevant factors. This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above. This position also includes an award target in the company's equity award program.
Great benefits for great peopleWe take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families.
This full-time position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of colleagues and their families. The benefits for this position include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, wellness programs, and other resources, based on eligibility.
Additional details about available benefits are provided during the application process and on Benefits Moments.
We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on: 12/31/2026
