Sr Engineer AI Platform
Academy Sports + Outdoors · Portola
Who We Are
At Academy Sports + Outdoors our vision is to be the best sports + outdoors retailer in the country — but what truly sets us apart is our people. We’re a passionate, purpose-driven team that’s as committed to each other as we are to our customers.
We’ve spent over 80 years building a culture that puts people first. We believe in creating opportunities for growth, fostering meaningful connections, and supporting every Team Member’s journey. What fuels us? Our belief in the power of fun.
Here, you won’t just help customers gear up for their next adventure — you’ll launch one of your own. Whether you're starting out or leveling up, Academy is a place where fun can’t lose!
What You Will Work On
In this role, you design, implement, operate, and continuously improve the enterprise platforms and integration capabilities that support AI agents and generative AI solutions. Your work helps teams move approved AI solutions from prototype to reliable production use across Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Google, and other approved enterprise AI technologies. You provide technical leadership for platform services that are secure, scalable, observable, cost-managed, governed, and supportable across development, test, and production environments.
Working across the platform lifecycle, you establish standards for source control, release management, deployment pipelines, environment separation, production readiness, and operational support. You implement governance controls for inventories, ownership, risk tiering, identity, access, data protection, runtime protection, audit logging, and periodic recertification, while also managing model access, quotas, capacity, private networking, endpoints, and onboarding controls. Your work also includes building telemetry and consumption controls, enabling secure integrations with enterprise systems, embedding automated evaluation and compliance checks, documenting reusable patterns, leading technical initiatives, mentoring engineers, and evaluating emerging capabilities that can improve security, reliability, scalability, efficiency, and adoption.
Who You Will Work With
You will partner across AI engineering, Cybersecurity, Identity, Enterprise Architecture, Data, Legal, Finance, and business teams to ensure AI platforms and integrations are secure, governed, supportable, and cost effective. You will also work directly with engineers, platform users, solution owners, business power users, and approved citizen developers, providing standards, documentation, enablement materials, technical guidance, and mentorship that support safe and consistent adoption.
What You Bring
Bring your energy, your ideas, and your love for sports and the outdoors.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Data, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
- 7+ years of experience in platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, DevOps, MLOps, cloud engineering, integration engineering, or related disciplines
- 2+ years of experience building or operating platforms for large language model, generative AI, AI agent, or intelligent automation workloads
- Experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise-scale cloud platforms, shared services, or internal developer platforms used by multiple teams
- Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Copilot Studio, Power Platform administration, Azure AI services, or comparable enterprise platforms
- Experience implementing infrastructure as code, source control, release gates, CI/CD pipelines, environment management, and production support practices
- Experience integrating enterprise applications through REST APIs, OAuth, service-to-service authentication, connectors, workflow tools, and systems of record
- Experience implementing platform monitoring, incident response, usage telemetry, cost controls, audit logging, and operational reporting
- Experience leading complex technical initiatives, establishing standards, and mentoring or guiding engineers and platform users
- Retail, regulated, or multi-site enterprise experience preferred
- Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Power Platform, identity and access management, cloud security, DevOps, MLOps, or related platform certification preferred
- Strong knowledge of cloud platform architecture, AI platform engineering, environment strategy, networking, identity, access controls, and enterprise security practices
- Deep understanding of authentication, authorization, least-privilege access, data protection, auditability, privacy, and responsible AI controls
- Ability to design and operate development, test, and production environments based on solution risk and support requirements
- Practical knowledge of Azure AI services, Copilot Studio, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Graph, Entra ID, Purview, Defender, or comparable technologies
- Experience with infrastructure as code and CI/CD technologies such as Bicep, Terraform, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or comparable solutions
- Experience with observability, incident management, performance monitoring, usage analytics, cost telemetry, and consumption controls
- Ability to design reusable identity, logging, evaluation, connector, integration, and deployment patterns for AI-enabled solutions
- Proficiency in Python, PowerShell, or another scripting language used for platform automation
- Strong analytical, troubleshooting, documentation, and problem-solving skills in distributed enterprise environments
- Ability to influence cross-functional teams, explain technical controls to technical and non-technical stakeholders, and provide technical leadership and mentorship
- A team-first attitude; while your core duties are your priority, you're happy to step in wherever you're needed
Work Style and Physical Requirements
- Flexible work schedule may be required to support business needs, platform changes, production incidents, or scheduled maintenance
- Regular in-office attendance is required
- Acceptable level of hearing and vision to perform job duties
- Ability to adhere to company policies and professional standards
Key Skills
Deployments, Lifecycle Management, Logging, Integration Projects, Dashboard Metrics, Information Assets Protection, Security Access
Equal Employment Opportunity
Academy is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate with regard to employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by law.
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