• Drive the architectural vision for our platform, including the evolution of event-driven patterns, service boundaries, performance expectations, and long-term scalability. • Lead AI strategy within engineering, including the adoption of AI-accelerated developer tooling, code generation, automated testing, and pipeline automation to improve delivery speed and quality. • Own greenfield architectural decisions, including technology selection, service design, and infrastructure strategy, establishing the foundation the team will build on for years. • Provide leadership across application, network, and infrastructure security, including secure coding practices, OWASP considerations, and integration of DAST, SCA, and SAST tooling. • Work with product to refine MVP scope, introduce instrumentation where appropriate, and measure feature usage and return on investment. • Drive team SDLC processes, including feature management, testing practices, pull request quality, CI/CD pipelines, security posture, performance benchmarks, usability, and developer experience tooling enhanced with AI. • Lead and support the recruiting process for engineers, including helping build an evaluation process that incorporates AI readiness and modern engineering practices. • Foster a culture of knowledge sharing, collaboration, and continuous improvement.