Principal Architect

Company

Cox Automotive - USA

Job Family Group

Engineering / Product Development

Job Profile

Principal Architect

Management Level

Director

Flexible Work Option

Hybrid - Ability to work remotely part of the week

Travel %

Yes, 5% of the time

Work Shift

Day

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary of $159,400.00 - $265,600.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

Job Description

The Cox Automotive architecture team seeks a Principal Solution Architect to lead technology efforts supporting the Manheim Marketplace domain. This senior role will drive modernization and AI initiatives across auction marketplace services.

Key Responsibilities

• Design solutions aligned with business needs in partnership with product and engineering teams.

• Facilitate design reviews and collaborative architecture discussions.

• Guide feature planning and serve as technical expert.

• Help develop architecture standards and enforce best practices.

• Oversee software development for non-functional requirements compliance.

• Advocate for technology investments and prioritize architectural work.

• Integrate AI capabilities into systems, ensuring alignment with business objectives.

• Identify and translate high-impact AI use cases into scalable solutions.

• Assess emerging AI technologies and coordinate with governance for ethical and regulatory adherence.

• Promote reusable patterns and frameworks to accelerate AI adoption.

• Bridge communication between business stakeholders and technical teams for practical AI solutions.

• Develop strategies for AI agent interaction, autonomous workflows, and orchestration.

• Mentor engineering teams in AI technologies.

• Lead proofs-of-concept and reference implementations.

• Contribute to internal documentation and training on AI fluency.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related discipline and 10 years' related experience. The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master's degree and 8 years'; a Ph.d. and 5 years' experience; or 22 years' experience in a related field.

• 10+ years’ software development at mid-to-large companies, or advanced degree with relevant experience.

• 5+ years of solution/technical architecture experience.

• Hands-on experience with AI technologies and concepts (Model selections, agent-based architecture, data pipeline, AI-assisted PDLC etc.).

• Experience designing cloud architectures (preferably AWS, also GCP/Azure).

• Applied enterprise patterns to distributed systems (RESTful APIs, microservices, events, micro-frontends etc.).

• Strong teamwork and communication skills.

• Must live or be willing to relocate to Atlanta, GA; ~15% travel.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven track record of modernizing legacy systems

• Skilled in technical writing and blog posts.

• Able to present at conferences and represent Cox Automotive externally.

• Technology mentoring and conflict management abilities.

• Automotive industry background or interest.

Drug Testing

To be employed in this role, you’ll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.

Benefits

The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company’s needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid welln