KOSTAL Group is a global, family-owned German company that develops market-leading solutions for the solar and automotive industries. The company has been established in 1912 and employs about 20 000 people at 47 locations in 22 countries. In Hungary, KOSTAL is about to build its first business service centre to provide business support in IT, finance, procurement, master data, sales and HR fields. This will be a global centre with high value-added and complex processes.

About the Role

We are seeking an AI Solution Architect to shape and drive the design, implementation, and continuous evolution of our AI ecosystem. This role is not only technical but also strategic, as the successful candidate will grow into the future lead of our internal AI team. You will lay the foundation for building a strong AI capability within the organization, with a focus on enhancing self-service AI offerings such as our internal KostalGPT, consulting IT experts on AI usage, and - most importantly - building and governing an AI platform while realizing AI use cases together with the internal team and external experts. You will work primarily with Microsoft Azure and leading AI providers, including OpenAI, to create scalable, innovative, and business-oriented solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design & Implementation: Architect, implement, and operate cutting-edge AI solutions that seamlessly integrate with our existing IT systems and processes.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate closely with business and technical stakeholders to understand requirements, running workshops to translate these needs into actionable AI solutions.
• Architectural Leadership: Provide thought leadership in the development, governance, and continuous improvement of our AI platforms.
• AI Strategy: Co-define and refine the IT AI adoption roadmap, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and future trends.
• Coaching & Enablement: Lead training sessions and knowledge-sharing workshops to upskill IT teams on current and emerging AI technologies.
• Team Leadership: Build, mentor, and lead an internal AI team, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and high performance.
• Hands-on Delivery: Take an active, hands-on role in prototyping, configuring, and deploying AI solutions, collaborating with internal stakeholders and external partners.
• AI DevOps Management: Guide and coordinate the future AI DevOps team (developers, operations specialists) to deliver robust, scalable, and resilient AI use cases.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Technical Expertise:
  • Proven experience architecting and delivering AI-driven solutions on leading cloud platforms (with a strong focus on Azure, OpenAI, etc.).
  • Deep understanding of AI/ML services, agentic AI architectures, orchestration frameworks, Kubernetes, and cloud-native environments.
  • Hands-on expertise with machine learning models, AI services, and analytics platforms.
• Business Acumen:
  • Ability to rapidly analyze and understand complex business processes and translate them into effective technical solutions.
• Leadership & Communication:
  • Demonstrated leadership ability, including team building, mentorship, and project management.
  • Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to clearly articulate technical concepts to audiences at all levels.
• Professional Background:
  • Minimum 5 years’ experience in IT, with at least 2 years directly in AI.
  • University degree in Computer Science or a closely related field.
  • Fluent English, both written and spoken.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing and executing enterprise-scale AI adoption strategies.
• Familiarity with enterprise data architectures and AI governance frameworks.
• Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Relevant professional certifications (e.g., Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert, AI Engineer Associate, etc.).

What We Offer

• The rare chance to shape the AI vision and foundation of a global organization.
• An innovative, forward-thinking culture where your contributions will have real impact.
• Opportunities for professional growth, training, and the chance to build and lead a high-performing team.

• Flexible working conditions with remote work possibility (in-person presence is required from time to time), you can have a real work-life balance
• Modern, newly renovated, sustainable office with parking space and bicycle storage area in the heart of Budapest
• Competitive salary, benefits and compensation packages (Medicover health insurance, bonuses, an extra day off on your birthday, eyeglasses contribution)
• Supportive, diverse and highly skilled community
• Ability to really make a difference and build new processes from scratch, you can participate in the formation and shape of the BSC processes
• You can enjoy our value-oriented work culture: we are down-to-earth, appreciative, inspiring and innovative