Requirements

Description and Requirements

Principal Architect

Location: Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Department: Global Technology – Architecture (Asia)

Role Value Proposition

The Principal Architect is responsible for defining, governing, and scaling enterprise and domain architectures across Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI (GenAI), Agentic AI, Cloud & Infrastructure, Identity and Access Management (IAM), and Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM). The role ensures MetLife's platforms are secure, resilient, scalable, and compliant, while accelerating cloud‑first and AI‑driven digital transformation across Asia.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture Strategy & Leadership

Define and evolve current‑state and target‑state architectures, reference architectures, standards, principles, and roadmaps across AI, GenAI, Agentic AI, Cloud, Infrastructure, IAM, and CIAM domains.

Drive modernization and simplification through cloud adoption, platform standardization, reuse, and technical debt reduction.

Cloud & Azure Architecture

Provide architectural leadership for Microsoft Azure including landing zones, identity integration, governance, networking, security, resilience, and cost controls.

Define hybrid and multi‑cloud reference architectures aligned to enterprise and regulatory standards.

AI, GenAI & Agentic AI Architecture

Define enterprise architecture for AI, GenAI, and Agentic AI platforms including model lifecycle management, orchestration, tooling, and integration with enterprise platforms.

Architect Large Language Model (LLM) based solutions using commercial and open‑source models, applying retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), fine‑tuning, prompt engineering, and agent‑based patterns.

Establish standards and reference architectures for ML and GenAI tooling such as feature stores, vector databases, model registries, MLOps / LLMOps pipelines, and AI observability frameworks.

Ensure responsible AI, explainability, data privacy, bias mitigation, and regulatory compliance are embedded by design.

Infrastructure & Reliability Engineering

Lead infrastructure architecture for availability, disaster recovery, performance, observability, and resilience across cloud and on‑prem platforms.

Promote SRE, automation‑first, and reliability engineering practices.

IAM & CIAM Architecture

Own workforce IAM and CIAM architecture including authentication, authorization, federation, consent management, and digital identity lifecycle.

Drive zero‑trust, least‑privilege, and privacy‑by‑design identity solutions.

Architecture Governance & Risk Management

Serve as core contributor to Architecture Review Boards and AI governance forums, enforcing enterprise architecture, security, and AI risk standards.

Identify architectural risks and communicate technology trade‑offs to senior stakeholders.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

Provide people and matrix leadership to architects and technical leaders across Asia.

Act as a trusted advisor to senior business and technology leaders on AI, cloud, and platform strategy.

Skills & Competencies

Director‑level enterprise and domain architecture leadership
Deep expertise in Microsoft Azure architecture and cloud platforms
Strong hands‑on knowledge of AI, GenAI, Agentic AI, LLMs, and ML platforms
Experience with ML tools, frameworks, and AI orchestration patterns
IAM and CIAM security‑by‑design principles
Executive communication, influence, and decision‑making

Qualifications

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
15+ years of progressive IT and architecture experience
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (preferred)
Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate or Azure AI certification (preferred)
Architecture, cloud, security, or identity certifications preferred

About MetLife

Recognized on Fortune magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies and Fortune World's 25 Best Workplaces™, MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world's leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutional customers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Our purpose is simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world at large create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by our core values - Win Together, Do the Right Thing, Deliver Impact Over Activity, and Think Ahead - we're inspired to transform the next century in financial services. At MetLife, it's #AllTogetherPossible . Join us!

Principal Architect (AI, Cloud & Azure)