Agentic AI Principal (m/f/d)

## Le poste Agentic AI Principal (m/f/d), chez Thoughtworks, à Cologne (hybride). ## À propos du poste We are looking for an Agentic AI Principal to act as a senior technical authority and trusted client advisor for complex agentic AI transformation in Germany, the Netherlands and the wider DACH region. Operating at Principal level, you will shape enterprise AI strategy, define agentic architecture blueprints, lead high-value C-suite engagements and guide complex programmes from opportunity through delivery. You will bring deep hands-on credibility in multi-agent systems, governance and safeguards, while setting reusable patterns and raising capability across teams. The role has particular focus on sovereign, compliant and production-grade agentic AI for regulated German, Dutch and European enterprises, with a primary focus on healthcare and life sciences (pharma, biotech, medtech and healthcare providers). Experience from other regulated sectors, such as financial services and insurance, automotive and manufacturing, energy and telecommunications, is equally welcome. This is a client-facing, builder's leadership role. You will start with a small, senior team and grow it through technical depth, delivery excellence and thought leadership, rather than inheriting a large organisation. ## Responsibilities ### Shaping and winning - Shape and solution complex German, Dutch and DACH pursuits with account, commercial and delivery leaders, translating client needs into differentiated propositions, credible architectures and executable delivery approaches. - Independently drive complex pursuits with technical and executive stakeholders, including shaping the commercial model, trade-offs and risk. - Act as a sparring partner to C-suite buyers (CEO, CIO, CDO, CISO, COO): frame business-outcome hypotheses, challenge assumptions and define a thin slice of agentic delivery that proves value quickly. - Lead AI maturity assessments, identify and prioritise processes for agentisation, and connect architecture choices to measurable business value and ROI. ### Designing and building - Set the architecture direction for complex, production-grade agentic AI systems: multi-agent workflows, orchestration, tool use, memory, context strategy, retrieval, evaluation, observability and enterprise integration. - Integrate agents with the German enterprise core: SAP (S/4HANA, BTP), LIMS, QMS and clinical systems, MES/PLM and industrial systems, and legacy back-office platforms, using open protocols such as MCP and A2A where they fit. - Ensure agents run on trustworthy data foundations, working with data engineering and data product teams. - Design solutions for regulated German and EU environments, with strong consideration of data sovereignty, privacy, security and responsible AI, including the EU AI Act and GDPR; for healthcare and life sciences GxP, EU MDR/IVDR and the European Health Data Space; for other sectors DORA, NIS2 and BaFin requirements where relevant. - Guide teams in balancing rapid experimentation with robust production engineering: evaluation-driven development, testing, CI/CD, reliability, cost and performance optimisation. ### Governance and safeguards - Establish reusable patterns for observability, auditability, traceability and control of agentic systems. - Translate EU AI Act obligations (risk classification, human oversight, logging, technical documentation, GPAI-provider responsibilities) into concrete engineering controls and evidence. - Engage early with works councils (Betriebsrat, ondernemingsraad), data protection officers and information security, supporting DPIAs and co-determination processes. ### Principal-level leadership - Set reusable architecture patterns, engineering standards and governance practices across multiple teams and engagements. - Mentor senior engineers and technical leads, build the next generation of the German team, and raise AI fluency and agentic engineering standards across specialists and generalists.