Architect V - Enterprise Application

JOB SUMMARY

This position is responsible for technology leadership, with responsibilities including the development of strategic application architecture frameworks and the envisioning, planning and development of technology roadmaps across a wide array of fields.  Assignments include the most advanced expert analytical, technical, and administrative work in information technology (IT) serving mission critical operations.  The incumbent performs as the highest-level subject matter expert in modern application architecture, managing projects and taking major responsibility for the engagement of personnel, work products, standards, policies, and use of information technology assets.  The incumbent is expected to identify and resolve the most complex work problems in a way which supports or complements ongoing organizational efforts. The incumbent provides guidance and leadership to achieve and maintain superior customer service levels.  Work routinely requires technology leadership, initiative, creativity, and original thinking.  Assignments are generally performed independently or under the general guidance of senior management with extensive latitude for individual and team initiative, judgment, and discretion.  

The Enterprise Architecture team is seeking a Principal Enterprise Application Architect to lead the design and evolution of our modern application landscape — from customer-facing web applications to core SaaS platforms and the emerging AI-enabled systems that sit alongside them. You will define architectural standards for building, integrating, and governing applications on Azure, guide how the organization adopts agentic AI within the software development lifecycle, and ensure our SaaS investments (Salesforce, Dynamics 365) and event-driven integrations (Kafka) fit coherently into the broader enterprise architecture.

This is a hands-on architecture leadership role for someone equally comfortable reviewing a microservices design, prototyping an agentic workflow with LangChain, and advising business and IT leadership on build-vs-buy decisions across a modern SaaS and cloud-native landscape.

Candidate will have at least 15 years experience working for a company or governmental agency with at least 300 employees (if private sector) or 500 employees (if governmental agency).

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Application & Cloud Architecture

• Define and own architectural standards, reference architectures, and design patterns for modern web applications (SPAs, microservices, APIs) deployed on Azure.
• Lead architecture reviews and serve as a technical authority in governance boards, evaluating proposed application designs for scalability, security, maintainability, and cost.
• Architect event-driven and streaming integrations using Kafka to enable real-time data flow between applications, SaaS platforms, and downstream analytics systems.
• Design secure, well-governed integration patterns (APIs, event streams, iPaaS) that connect custom-built applications with enterprise SaaS platforms and legacy systems.
• Partner with Cloud/Platform Engineering to define Azure landing zone, networking, identity, and DevOps standards that application teams build against.

  AI Development Lifecycle & Agentic AI

• Define how AI is integrated into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) — from AI-assisted design and code generation to automated testing, review, and deployment practices.
• Champion the adoption of AI-powered developer tools such as Cursor across engineering teams, establishing best practices for AI-assisted coding, review, and productivity within existing Azure DevOps/GitHub workflows.
• Design and prototype agentic AI workflows and applications using LangChain and LangSmith, establishing patterns for agent orchestration, tool use, observability, and evaluation.
• Architect conversational AI agents deployed across chat and voice channels (e.g., web/mobile chat, contact center, IVR), integrating speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and telephony/channel platforms with underlying LLM/agent logic.
• Establish enterprise guardrails for building and operating AI-enabled and agentic applications, including prompt/version management, monitoring, cost control, and responsible AI practices.
• Evaluate and pilot emerging agentic AI and LLM tooling, recommending adoption paths that align with enterprise architecture and security standards.

  SaaS Strategy & Enterprise Integration

• Maintain architectural awareness of core enterprise SaaS platforms — particularly Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 — and guide how custom applications extend, integrate with, or complement them.
• Advise on build-vs-buy and platform-fit decisions, ensuring SaaS extensions and customizations follow enterprise integration, security, and data governance standards.
• Partner with SaaS platform owners and business stakeholders to ensure application architecture decisions support end-to-end business processes, not just individual systems.

  Governance, Mentorship & Collaboration

• Mentor senior and staff engineers on architecture best practices, design reviews, and modern application patterns; act as a force multiplier across engineering teams.
• Document architectural decisions, patterns, and reference implementations in clear, reusable artifacts that accelerate delivery and onboarding of new teams.
• Create and maintain Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) that document key design decisions, alternatives considered, rationale, trade-offs, and resulting architectural implications.
• Collaborate closely with Security, Data Engineering, and Enterprise Architecture peers to ensure application designs are secure, compliant, and interoperable across the enterprise.
• Present architectural recommendations, risk assessments, and technology roadmaps to technical and executive stakeholders.

  JOB QUALIFICATIONS: Education & Experience Requirements

• Bachelor degree in computer science, system analysis or a related study.
• Minimum of 12+ years of enterprise level development and architect level experience in a diverse technical environment with multiple programming languages and software packages
• Candidate must have experience with architecting and implementing secure mobile solutions covering both client side and server side aspects, tools and technologies
• Proven experience architecting modern web applications — SPAs (React/Angular), RESTful/GraphQL APIs, and microservices — deployed on cloud infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience with Azure cloud services (App Services, AKS, Functions, API Management, Azure DevOps) as the primary cloud platform.
• Hands-on experience building agentic AI applications or workflows using LangChain, with experience using LangSmith for tracing, evaluation, and observability.
• Hands-on experience building and deploying AI agents for chat and voice channels (e.g., web chat, messaging, IVR/contact center), including integrating speech and telephony services with LLM-based agent logic.
• Experience in the logistics, transportation, or supply chain domain (e.g., warehouse, fleet, or distribution systems) is a strong plus.
• Working knowledge of Kafka or similar event-streaming platforms for building event-driven, real-time integrations.
• Working knowledge of enterprise SaaS platforms such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365, including how custom applications typically integrate with or extend them.
• Demonstrated experience defining and evolving the AI development lifecycle — integrating AI/LLM tooling into design, development, testing, and deployment practices.
• Hands-on experience with Azure DevOps and/or GitHub (repos, Actions/Pipelines, code review workflows) for source control and CI/CD.
• Hands-on experience using AI-powered coding tools such as Cursor to accelerate development, code review, and prototyping.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with a track record of influencing architecture decisions across engineering and business teams.
• Minimum of 3+ years in a solution or technical architect role using service and hosting solutions such as public cloud and SaaS platforms
• Candidate must have experience integrating with object databases, caches, and search engines (such as MongoDB/CosmosDB, Redis, etc.)
• Candidate must have experience with Design, develop, and oversee implementation of end-to-end IT cloud integrated systems.
• Guide projects to follow reference architectures, strategic technology stacks and standards and best practices.
• Resolve architecture issues and guide application integration / architecture implementation, testing and deployment for the Core Transformation initiative.
• Experience of working with across multiple interconnect systems. Working across Salesforce, Dynamics365, and ServiceNow and supporting departmental level integrations.
• Demonstrated understanding of strategic and new and emerging technology trends, and the practical application of existing, new and emerging technologies to new and evolving business and operating models.
• Demonstrated understanding of Agile methods and processes, and capability of supporting agile project teams by providing advice and guidance on opportunities, impact and risks, taking account of technical and architectural debt.
• Ensures that all systems are working at optimal levels and offers support to application development department regarding new technologies and system requirements.
• Requires a bachelor's degree in Information Technology or Computer Science.
• Demonstrated understanding of Agile methods and processes, and capability of supporting agile project teams by providing advice and guidance on opportunities, impact and risks, taking account of technical and architectural debt.

  MANAGEMENT & SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILTIES

• Typically reports to Management. 
• Direct supervisor job title(s) typically include: Manager / Director 
• Job is not directly responsible for direct report (e.g., hiring/termination and/or pay decisions, performance management)

  JOB QUALIFICATIONS: Essential Skills, Abilities and Example Behavior(s)

• CUSTOMER FOCUS: Provides service excellence to internal and/or external customers. Provides added value. Looks for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. Addresses the unidentified, underlying and long-term client needs. Enhances client service delivery systems and processes. Anticipates clients' upcoming needs and concerns.
• RESULTS ORIENTATION: Focuses efforts on achieving high quality results consistent with the organization’s standards. Exceeds standards. Defines ambitious, but realistic, personal goals and standards. Evaluates personal progress against standards. Undertakes significant challenges. Adjusts actions to meet and exceed expectations. Tries new ways to get things done, while taking steps to reduce the risks.
• TEAMWORK / COLLABORATION: Works collaboratively with others to achieve organizational goals. Proactively assists and involves others. Initiates collaboration with others. Assumes additional responsibilities to facilitate the achievement of team goals. Seeks input from other team members on matters that affect them.
• HIGH STANDARDS: Follows up on procedures, ensures high quality output, takes action to solve quality problems or notify quality issues as appropriate. Exceeds quality standards set by organization. Follows all the policies and procedures for quality set by the organization. Works at a level that consistently meets and often exceeds quality standards set by the organization. Seeks opportunities to improve how work is done, raising the quality of the output.
• BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE: Uses an understanding of business issues, processes and outcomes to enhance business performance. Makes recommendations to improve business operations. Offers concrete suggestions to reduce costs, improve quality or revenue for aspects of key products or services in own area. Identifies potential new clients for own area. Recognizes the value of all major business areas, avoiding a "single area" bias.
• CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION: Generates viable, new approaches and solutions. Modifies current approaches. Modifies current approach to better meet needs. Thinks about problems from a new perspective. Expands on the thinking or solutions proposed by others. Demonstrates curiosity, digging for information below the surface.
• FOSTERING COMMUNICATION: Listens and communicates openly, honestly, and respectfully with different audiences, promoting dialogue and building consensus. Fosters two-way communication. Recalls others' main points, taking them into account in own communication. Checks own understanding of others' communication (e.g., paraphrases, asks questions). Elicits comments or feedback on what has been said. Maintains continuous, open and consistent communication with others.
• INITIATIVE: Deals with situations and issues proactively and persistently, seizing opportunities that arise. Addresses current issues. Acts on issues in own area of responsibility instead of waiting or hoping the problem will solve itself. Tries varied approaches and solutions to resolve a problem. Persists when significant difficulties arise.
• PROBLEM SOLVING: Identifies problems and the solutions to them. Solves standard problems. Identifies standard problems based on a range of factors, most of which are clear. Identifies alternate solutions, considering applicable precedents. Identifies optimal solutions based on weighing the advantages and disadvantages of alternative approaches. Evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of solutions after implementation.
• TECHNICAL CAPABILITY: Understands and applies functional and technical knowledge and skills to accomplish work objectives. Keeping up to date with new development in the subject area and continuing to enhance the skills. 
• Applies technical knowledge and skills in a range of typical situations, with minimal or no guidance. Follows standard procedures, where applicable, for common tasks. Seeks support from senior staff when encountering atypical issues.

  • SYSTEM DESIGN: Identifying and selecting system options which are balanced and optimized and applying techniques to a variety of system design contexts to ensure system interoperability, scale, performance, usability, and security. Demonstrates solid knowledge and ability, and can apply the competency, with minimal or no guidance, in the full range of typical situations. Would require guidance to handle novel or more complex situations. Maintains control over the system design life cycle. Analyzes architecture business requirements and prepares system design proposals. Provides support for problem resolution activities. Conducts impact analysis for proposed changes to the system. Provide system design guidance to the team.

  • SYSTEMS INTEGRATION AND PORTING: The integration and testing of software products, components and/or subsystems and their interfaces into existing, new or modified software and hardware platform environments to deliver automated solutions according to business and technical specifications. Demonstrates solid knowledge and ability, and can apply the competency, with minimal or no guidance, in the full range of typical situations. Would require guidance to handle novel or more complex situations. Produces integrated software builds using complex programming and software modules. Configures the hardware environment, produces integration test specifications, and conducts tests as required. Verifies that the logical design components are consistent with integration target architecture requirements. Carries out support and production assurance for common systems integration problem resolution activities.

  • INFRASTRUCTURE/PLATFORMS: Supporting the enterprise computing infrastructure (e.g., enterprise servers, client server, storage devices and systems, hardware and software) in the provision, management, storage, operation, scheduling, support and maintenance of the infrastructure. Demonstrates solid knowledge and ability, and can apply the competency, with minimal or no guidance, in the full range of typical situations. Would require guidance to handle novel or more complex situations. Describes how the platform integrates with other enterprise elements. Uses performance data collection tools and techniques to mitigate down-time and improve performance. Installs software and hardware on the platform. Solves routine hardware and software problems, documenting new problems and their solution for future reference. Uses appropriate diagnostic tools to solve complex problems. Executes standards without supervision, suggesting modifications to these standards.

  • PROCESSES, METHODOLOGIES, AND TOOLS: The development of expertise and the provision of advice, assistance and leadership in processes, methodologies and tools used in any specific area of technology by focusing on definition, management, repeatability and measurement to ensure appropriate and effective use throughout the organization. Demonstrates basic knowledge and ability and, with guidance, can apply the competency in common situations that present limited difficulties. Selects appropriate tools and methodologies to deliver applications and systems that meet defined organizational business needs. Works with the QA Team to contribute to the continual improvement of QA standards and best practices. Reviews all integration components to ensure that source code control practices are followed. Captures functional and nonfunctional requirements. Develops business analysis practices and standards, as well as associated tools, templates and techniques. Reviews and identifies modifications to existing software development/integration process approaches. Develops new ways to achieve process improvements. Identifies where software process, methodologies and/or tools would increase the IT organization capacity to contribute to meeting business needs. Evaluates the effectiveness of development and integration processes, methodologies and tools used in application systems development activities.