American Homes 4 Rent’s Philip Irby on AI use in the home

WRITTEN BY: HELEN ADAMS

American Homes 4 Rent rents homes & builds them. Chief Technology Officer

Philip Irby discusses AI & building a resident experience-focused platform

American Homes 4 Rent, also known as AMH, is one of the leading builders in the United States, which rents homes and builds homes to rent.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, AMH takes employee satisfaction very seriously. The company has won the Great Place to Work® accreditation, has been recognised for its sustainability initiatives, and is rated as one of America's Most Responsible Companies 2022 by Newsweek and Statista, as well as a Top ESG Regional Performer by Sustainalytics.

Philip Irby is the Chief Technology Officer for AMH. His role is to lead the transformation of its technology stack into a modern, flexible, resident experiencefocused platform.

“I've taken lessons learned throughout my career and applied them in a transformational platform for an emerging industry, in which there's not really a modern tech stack available,” says Irby. “I have the opportunity to pioneer and build something that hasn't been built.”

Irby’s job is to improve the resident experience through technology, to make it seamless and non-intrusive.

“My job is to effectively allow our residents to focus on what really matters to them, not paying the rent or having to figure out the platform so that they can get a maintenance request in, or something like that. It needs to be seamless and just very intuitive for them.”

Digital transformation and sustainability

At AMH, digital transformation is in flight. The company is building a truly modern platform, with domain-driven design, true microservices and event-based architectures, from the ground up.

“What this gives us is the ability to build a modular, transformative system that allows us to adapt and change as we evolve as a company,” explains Irby. “The term ‘digital transformation’ can be overused, as it means different things to different people. But for us, digital transformation means transforming the way a company works and focusing on the company ten years from now, not just the problems that we have today.”

Irby sees this as a transformation of how AMH works, whether it's through efficiency, streamlining or automation.

“Digital transformation changes who we are and adapts who we're going to become.”

AMH was recently recognised as one of the top ESG regional performers by Sustainalytics, which was deeply satisfying for the team.

“Our technology has been intertwined with the sustainability function from its inception,” says Irby. “We feel that technology really drives sustainability. There's a lot that we can do on the technology front that will improve our posture in the ESG areas.”

Philip Irby

TITLE: CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

LOCATION: LAS VEGAS