Technical Architect, Principal

Remote - United States 

About the Role

We're a small, funded internal startup within Blackboard building a new AI-native product. This is not a feature team, and it's not an enhancement to an existing product — we're building something categorically new, with full access to institutional infrastructure, platform data, and a direct mandate from leadership to ship in 2026.

This team operates on a fundamentally different development model. We use Claude Code, Cursor, and AI-assisted tooling to generate the majority of our code. Our engineers are architects, reviewers, and product thinkers — people who direct AI coding agents effectively rather than writing every line by hand.

As Technical Lead, you set this culture. You will establish the norms, the workflows, and the standards for how AI-native development actually works at scale on a small team. The person we're looking for is excited by this model, not threatened by it.

You are the founding technical leader. You will design, architect, and build the core system — a stateful, multi-layer architecture spanning data ingestion, decision logic, and AI-powered delivery — and recruit a small senior team to build alongside you.

This is a builder role first. If you're looking to step into a seat where you primarily direct others, this isn't the right fit. We need someone who still loves building — and is exceptional at it. You will own the full technical vision and be accountable for it.

What You'll Build

Core Intelligence Architecture

• A multi-layer system where each layer is decoupled, auditable, and independently evolvable
• A persistent learner state model built to reason across complex, longitudinal user data
• A rules-based decision layer where logic is explicit and transparent — every recommendation can be explained

Data & Integration Layer

• Event-driven pipelines that translate real-time platform activity into structured, reliable signals
• APIs that connect the intelligence layer to the user-facing product
• LMS integration for real-time data ingestion, designed to scale across platforms over time

AI & Agent Architecture

• A multi-agent system backed by shared state — precision-bounded interventions, not open-ended AI responses
• Prompt engineering and guardrail systems that keep agent behavior auditable and aligned
• Observability infrastructure so every system decision can be monitored, debugged, and improved

Engineering Culture & Team

• Establish an AI-native development culture: AI tools as the default, human judgment as the filter
• Weekly ship cycles, high observability, and a bias toward iteration over speculation
• Hire and mentor a small senior team (2–3 Product Engineers) as the product scales from v1 to v2
• Stay on the bleeding edge of the AI ecosystem — Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Agent SDK, MCPs, and whatever comes next. Make the call on what we adopt, when, and why. That judgment sets the standard for the whole team.

The Right Person

You believe that intelligence should be deterministic where it can be, and generative where it should be. You're skeptical of LLMs as decision-makers but excited about them as expression engines. You've seen what happens when AI systems are unauditable — and you've built against that failure mode.

You're energized by constraints: small team, big surface area, real stakes. You move fast, accept imperfection in v1, and know that iteration is how great systems are built. You want the work to matter.

You think in systems, not screens. You hold strong opinions, loosely held — and you care more about impact than credit.

Required Skills and Experience

• At least 12 years of professional experience
• Proven track record shipping complex, stateful AI or data-driven systems in production — not just prototypes
• Fluency in LLM application development: orchestration, RAG pipelines, prompt engineering, guardrail design
• Experience designing multi-agent systems with shared state, async architectures, and observability infrastructure
• Strong architectural judgment — you understand why rules should decide and AI should assist, and you build accordingly
• Demonstrated ability to ship at startup velocity: high ownership, weekly cycles, bias toward action
• You work natively with AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code, or equivalent) — this is how you actually build, not a checkbox
• Experience recruiting and mentoring engineers
• Fluency in written and spoken English

Preferred Skills and Experience 

• Prior experience at an AI-native startup or as a technical co-founder
• Familiarity with LMS ecosystems: LTI 1.3, xAPI/SCORM, platform APIs
• Background in domains where explainability and institutional trust are non-negotiable (EdTech, health tech, fintech)

About Blackboard

Blackboard advances teaching excellence and unlocks the full potential of technology to deliver meaningful outcomes. We empower institutions to deepen connections between educators and learners, inspire engagement, and drive long-term academic success across the full learner journey.  For more information, please visit www.blackboard.com.  

The expected salary range for this position is $169,400 - $250,000. The range reflects base salary only and does not include additional compensation such as company bonus or benefits. Placement within the pay range will depend on a variety of factors, such as experience, skills, internal parity, and location.

This job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required. Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities at any time.    

Blackboard is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, gender, age, color, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, protected military/veteran status, or any other legally protected factor.

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