Chief AI Architect
Vanguard · Financial Services / Asset Management · 10000+ employees · 📍 Malvern, PA
Vanguard's Advice & Wealth Management division needs a senior AI Architect to own the end-to-end AI architecture roadmap—spanning traditional ML and GenAI—translating technology into business outcomes at scale for one of the world's largest asset managers.
Key Responsibilities
- Define and execute the AI architecture roadmap for Advice & Wealth Management
- Establish reusable architecture patterns for traditional ML and GenAI including RAG, orchestration, and evaluation frameworks
- Influence enterprise responsible AI governance, observability, and risk management standards
- Partner with data architecture to ensure AI-ready data foundations (quality, governance, lineage)
- Advise senior leadership on AI strategy, investment priorities, and sequencing
- Research emerging AI technologies and translate findings into actionable investment proposals
- Guide teams on build vs. buy vs. partner decisions for AI platforms and capabilities
- Mentor and coach architects and senior engineers in AI design practices
Requirements
- Deep expertise in both traditional ML and generative AI architectures
- Proven track record moving AI solutions from concept to production at scale
- Experience designing secure, observable, and scalable AI systems
- Strong understanding of model lifecycle management (training, deployment, monitoring, retraining)
- Experience establishing responsible AI governance and controls
- Ability to influence senior stakeholders across business and technology functions
Signals
- ⚠ No salary or compensation range posted
- ⚠ Role scope spans entire Advice & Wealth Management portfolio—potentially very broad mandate with unclear authority boundaries
- ⚠ Second posting of this role within a short window may indicate difficulty closing the search or prior hire attrition
- ✓ Vanguard is one of the world's largest asset managers—significant budget and scale for AI investment
- ✓ Clearly articulated success metrics and measurable outcomes defined in posting
- ✓ Role has explicit mandate to influence enterprise-level AI standards and guardrails—real organizational authority
- ✓ Strong focus on GenAI and agent-based architecture (RAG, orchestration, evaluation) signals active, forward-looking AI program
- ✓ Emphasis on partnership with business, product, and engineering suggests cross-functional organizational support
Company History
This is at minimum the second posting for a Chief AI Architect role at Vanguard within a short window (prior posting dated 2026-05-30 focused on enterprise AI strategy)—this iteration is scoped specifically to Advice & Wealth Management, suggesting either the enterprise role was filled and this is a division-level expansion, or the search has been refined and reposted. Executives should probe whether this is a net-new divisional seat or a repost of an unfilled role.