Contract AI Systems Architect Duration: 3-6 monthsIR35 Status: Outside IR35Location: Fully Remote WorkingWe are partnering with an ambitious start-up venture building a next-generation AI-powered decision intelligence platform for cybersecurity leaders. They are seeking an experienced contract AI Systems Architect to lead the architecture and delivery of a structured, guard railed AI engine designed for enterprise use. This is a high-impact contract role suited to someone who thrives at the intersection of product logic and advanced AI systems design. The successful contract AI architect will oversee the build of the core intelligence system, working directly with the founders.Key ResponsibilitiesArchitecture and System DesignDefine the end-to-end AI pipelinesDesign structured JSON schemas for inputs and outputsArchitect a robust RAG framework (vector database, chunking strategy etc)Design domain and geography-aware retrieval logicAI Orchestration and GuardrailsDevelop modular, section-based prompt orchestrationEnforce structured JSON outputsImplement hallucination controls and citation enforcementIntroduce prompt version controlBuild section confidence scoring and validation logicRetrieval and Evidence FrameworkDefine ingestion structures for curated regulatory and incident sourcesOversee embedding and chunking strategyImplement evidence weighting tiersEnsure citation traceability and validationTechnical LeadershipAct as technical lead across the offshore development teamDef