Your agent works in the demo. The architect decides whether it survives production.
FERG Search is a specialist recruiter for AI agent architects and AI solution architects on the Microsoft stack in Australia and New Zealand, permanent and contract: the people who design agents across Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry, Dataverse and Azure, and own the decisions underneath them. Every search is run by the founder, Fintan Ferguson.
Most agent programmes we see do not stall on the build. They stall on a decision nobody owned: which data the agent can see, which model it runs on, what it may do on its own and who answers for it when it gets something wrong. That is the architect’s job, and it is the seat most often filled by promoting the best builder and hoping.
First shortlist within 48 hours of an agreed brief.
The architects behind agents that last.
- AI agent architects designing multi-agent solutions across Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry.
- AI solution architects for Microsoft partners and the businesses that run Microsoft.
- Architects working towards the Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect exam for a partner’s specialization.
- Dataverse and Dynamics 365 technical architects moving into agents.
- Principal and lead architects for AI practices.
Checked technically and commercially, before you meet them.
- The agent they designed that is still running: who uses it, and what they would change.
- How they chose between Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry, and what drove the call.
- The identity, permission and data boundaries they set, and who signed them off.
- How they costed an agent before it went live, and how close they were.
What the seat pays.
Agent architect briefs stall when the seat is budgeted at a builder’s band and the job is design authority.
Senior AI engineer, pro-code on Azure and Microsoft Foundry: $170k to $210k. Sydney. The nearest published band. Melbourne $165k to $200k. Contract $900 to $1,200 a day.
AI architect bands are not in the first edition of the FERG Search Salary Guide. It publishes the senior AI engineer band above, and an architect who owns design authority across several agents is a different brief. Until then, ask: we will give you the band we are seeing accepted, declined and countered for the seat you are briefing. Permanent figures are base salary excluding super. Contract figures are per day excluding GST. Sydney unless stated; Melbourne generally runs 4% to 6% lower, and where a Melbourne band is shown, that band applies.
The badge asks for two. The work asks for more.
Microsoft’s Agentic Business Solutions specialization asks a partner for at least two people who have passed the Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect exam. That is the floor for the badge, not the number a growing agent practice needs, and the people who hold it are already employed by a partner that wants the badge too.
For businesses that run Microsoft the pressure is different. The first agent is usually approved by one team. The second and third need someone who can say what the platform underneath all of them should look like.
Straight answers on AI agent architects.
What is the difference between an AI agent architect and an AI engineer?
The AI engineer builds the agent: the prompts, the orchestration, the tools it calls and the tests around it. The AI agent architect decides what the agent should be in the first place: which platform, which data, which permissions, how it hands over to a person and how it is measured. One agent can be run by an engineer. A portfolio of agents needs an architect.
Who recruits AI agent architects in Australia and New Zealand?
FERG Search recruits AI agent architects and AI solution architects on the Microsoft stack for Microsoft partners and end users across Australia and New Zealand, permanent and contract. The founder, Fintan Ferguson, runs every search from Melbourne.
Should an AI architect come from Dynamics 365 or from Azure?
Both routes work, and the brief decides. An architect from Dynamics 365 and Dataverse knows the business process and the data model the agent acts on. An architect from Azure knows identity, networking and cost. Agents that act on business data need the first. Platforms that many teams build on need the second. We will tell you which one your brief describes.
Does an AI agent architect need the Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect certification?
For a Microsoft partner counting towards the specialization, yes, because the badge needs at least two people who have passed the exam. For the work itself, a design that is still running in production matters more, and it is the first thing we check.
Can I hire an AI architect on contract?
Yes, for a defined design phase or a first platform decision. The seat that owns the platform once several teams build on it is a permanent seat, and the break-even in the Salary Guide usually favours permanent well before the end of the first year.
Brief an AI architect role.
Tell us how many agents you expect to be running in a year, and who owns them today.