CX Systems Engineering Lead — Columbus, OH

Job Posting End Date 10-23-2026 Please note the job posting will close on the day before the posting end date. Job Summary Serves as the lead solution engineer and architect for AEP's contact center and customer experience technology, including Genesys Cloud CX, Gigawatt AI solutions, workforce management, and the integrations and data that connect them. Designs how these platforms work together, gets hands-on to prove out and troubleshoot solutions, and guides internal teams, vendors, and partners from design through production. Ensures solutions are secure, scalable, reliable, and supportable, and align with Customer Operations and enterprise strategies. Job Description What you’ll do: The CX Systems Solution Architect is the technical owner of how AEP's contact center and AI capabilities work together. The role combines solution architecture with hands-on solution engineering: defining the target architecture and roadmap, then designing, prototyping, reviewing, and troubleshooting the solutions that deliver it. The role jointly manages the portfolio with the Strategy and Solutions Lead, who owns business priorities and outcomes, while this role owns technical direction, architecture decisions, and engineering quality. The first major initiative is the migration from Genesys Engage to Genesys Cloud CX, alongside expanding AI-enabled customer and agent experiences with Gigawatt. The role applies the same architecture and engineering leadership to adjacent customer platforms as priorities evolve. This is a hands-on technical leadership role, not a project manager, Scrum Master, platform administrator, or production-support coordinator. CX Architecture and Roadmap ·         Define current-state, transition-state, and future-state architecture across contact center, AI, workforce management, and connected customer platforms. ·         Translate product roadmaps into solution options, architecture decisions, integration approaches, and engineering plans. ·         Lead technical discovery and assess feasibility, dependencies, risk, effort, and sequencing. ·         Establish reusable patterns, engineering standards, and design-review practices, and evaluate buy, build, configure, and reuse options. Contact Center Platforms ·         Lead the technical migration from Genesys Engage to Genesys Cloud CX, from current-state assessment through each migration wave, cutover, and stabilization. ·         Own the Genesys Cloud CX target architecture, including telephony and carrier connectivity, routing and IVR design, identity and access, security, and integrations with AEP systems. ·         Design and review contact center solutions across voice, digital channels, routing, IVR, workforce management, recording, quality, and reporting. ·         Review vendor and systems integrator designs, configurations, and test evidence to protect AEP standards and long-term supportability. ·         Build internal platform skills across the team to reduce long-term reliance on vendors. AI and Automation (with Gigawatt) ·         Co-design AI-enabled customer and agent experiences with Gigawatt, including virtual agents, intent and conversation analysis, and agent assist. ·         Own the architecture for how AI solutions coexist and integrate with the contact center, including routing, handoffs between AI and agents, context passing, fallback, and monitoring. ·         Partner on proofs of concept, conversation design, and data and knowledge readiness. ·         Lead AI testing, evaluation, and production readiness alongside Gigawatt teams, and support ongoing tuning, expansion, or retirement decisions. Integration and Engineering ·         Design APIs, events, data flows, and integrations that connect contact center and AI platforms with AEP customer, CRM, and enterprise systems. ·         Get hands-on to build or guide prototypes, review code and configurations, and validate critical assumptions. ·         Promote DevSecOps, automated testing, infrastructure automation, and repeatable deployment. ·         Reduce brittle point-to-point integrations, unnecessary customization, and unsupported components. Readiness and Reliability ·         Own technical readiness for releases and cutovers, including performance, resilience, failover, rollback, and support handoffs. ·         Establish service objectives and observability for availability, performance, and recoverability across contact center and AI solutions. ·         Lead engineering analysis of significant or recurring incidents and ensure root causes are addressed. ·         Build in cybersecurity, privacy, data governance, accessibility, and regulatory requirements from the start. Technical Leadership and Decision Support ·         Provide technical direction to engineers, developers, vendors, and systems integrators, and challenge recommendations when needed. ·         Identify the skills, capacity, and sourcing needed and recommend how to staff the right technical resources. ·         Explain technical options, tradeoffs, risks, and cost to senior technical and operational leaders and prepare decision-ready recommendations. ·         Mentor technical resources and promote shared standards and internal knowledge. What We're Looking For A senior technical leader with broad engineering depth and sufficient Contact Center and CCaaS expertise to operate credibly from architecture through detailed technical decisions. The successful candidate can guide engineers and vendors, evaluate tradeoffs, secure the right technical resources, review configurations and designs, lead prototypes, and diagnose complex issues while maintaining focus on enterprise alignment and lifecycle sustainability. Education Requirements • Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or a related technical field is required. • An equivalent combination of education and related experience may be considered. Work Experience • Eight or more years of progressive software development, engineering, architecture, infrastructure, integration, or related technology experience is required. • Experience leading complex enterprise platforms or cross-functional technical teams is strongly preferred. Direct supervisory experience is not required. • Experience providing technical leadership for complex enterprise applications, platforms, integrations, infrastructure, or software-delivery initiatives. • Strong understanding of architecture, software engineering, APIs, integration, data flows, cloud, infrastructure, security, testing, deployment, observability, reliability, and supportability. • Experience translating product needs into technical options, architecture, plans, estimates, resource needs, and executable work. • Demonstrated ability to review technical designs or configurations, guide prototypes, lead problem diagnosis, and roll up sleeves when appropriate. • Experience leading through influence across internal teams, vendors, and systems integrators. Preferred ·         Experience with Genesys Cloud CX, including migration from Genesys Engage or another on-premises platform. ·         Experience with workforce management, quality management, or contact center analytics platforms. ·         Experience with AWS, API management, identity, data platforms, observability, and DevSecOps. ·         Experience in a regulated industry, preferably electric utility or energy. ·         Genesys, AWS, architecture, security, or AI/ML certification. Leadership Competencies ·         Technical Leadership ·         Systems Thinking ·         Architecture and Engineering Judgment ·         Customer Focus ·         Business Partnership ·         Collaboration and Influence ·         Decision Making ·         Risk Management ·         Problem Solving ·         Quality Orientation ·         Vendor Leadership ·         Innovation ·         Continuous Improvement Success Measures ·         A coherent architecture and executable roadmap across contact center, AI, and connected platforms ·         Successful migration to Genesys Cloud CX with no disruption to customer service ·         AI solutions that integrate cleanly with contact center platforms, with reliable handoffs between AI and agents ·         Measurable improvement in self-service containment, routing accuracy, and agent experience ·         High reliability, availability, performance, and release confidence ·         Reduced technical debt, duplicated integrations, and unnecessary customization ·         Stronger internal platform skills and reduced vendor dependency ·         Strong partnership with the Strategy and Solutions Lead, Customer Operations, and Gigawatt teams American Electric Power (On-Site) #LI-Onsite #AEPCareers   At AEP, we’re more than just an energy company — we’re a team of dedicated professionals committed to delivering safe, reliable, and innovative energy solutions. Guided by our mission to put the customer first, we strive to exceed expectations by listening, responding, and continuously improving the way we serve our communities. If you're passionate about making a meaningful impact and being part of a forward-thinking organization, this is the company for you! Compensation Data Compensation Grade: SP20-009 Compensation Range: $116,255.00 - $151,132.50 The Physical Demand Level for this job is: S – Sedentary Work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally (Occasionally: activity or condition exists up to 1/3 of the time) and/or a negligible amount of force frequently. (Frequently: activity or condition exists from 1/3 to 2/3 of the time) to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time but may involve walking or standing for brief periods of time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.   Hear about it first!   Get job alerts by email.  Log in to your Candidate Home Account today!  If you don't have an account, you can create one. It is hereby reaffirmed that it is the policy of American Electric Power (AEP) to provide Equal Employment Opportunity in all respects of the employer-employee relationship including recruiting, hiring, upgrading and promotion, conditions and privileges of employment, company sponsored training programs, educational assistance, social and recreational programs, compensation, benefits, transfers, discipline, layoffs and termination of employment to all employees and applicants without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, veteran or military status, disability, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. When required by law, we might record certain information or applicants for employment may be invited to voluntarily disclose protected characteristics.