Vice President, Architecture

Role Overview

• Define and own the long-term technical architecture and platform strategy
• Establish architectural principles, standards, and reference patterns
• Ensure architectural decisions align with organizational, operational and finance goals
• Serve as the final architectural authority for major platform and infrastructure decisions
• Balance near-term delivery needs with long-term sustainability
• Own cloud architecture strategy with a primary focus on AWS
• Drive cost efficient, scalable, and resilient cloud designs
• Partner with engineering and cloud operations to optimize infrastructure spend
• Standardize core platform capabilities such as networking, identity, data, and observability
• Guide decisions around build vs buy for platform services
• Define approved architectural patterns for AI and machine learning capabilities
• Ensure AI solutions are scalable, secure, cost effective, and production ready
• Partner with engineering and product teams to embed AI into the platform intentionally
• Avoid fragmented or experimental AI implementations that create long term risk
• Stay current on AI platform capabilities and guide responsible adoption
• Align architectural decisions across engineering teams to avoid duplication
• Review and guide major design decisions and technical proposals
• Ensure reuse of shared services and platform capabilities
• Reduce architectural drift as teams and products scale
• Establish lightweight governance that enables speed without bureaucracy
• Partner with the CTO on technology strategy and investment decisions
• Lead senior engineers and architects across the organization
• Mentor senior engineers across the organization
• Influence without direct ownership by building trust and technical credibility
• Communicate architectural direction clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field or equivalent experience
• 12 or more years of experience in software engineering and architecture roles
• Demonstrated experience designing and scaling SaaS platforms
• Deep experience with AWS based architectures
• Proven ability to define and evolve architecture in growing organizations
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, data platforms, and cloud native design
• Experience balancing technical quality, cost, and delivery speed
• Previous experience in a VP, Head of Architecture, or Principal Architect role preferred
• Experience driving architectural change in scaling SaaS environments preferred
• Hands on experience with AI and machine learning system design preferred
• Strong understanding of cloud cost optimization and financial impact preferred
• Experience influencing senior engineering leaders without direct reporting lines preferred
• Ability to communicate complex architectural concepts in clear, practical terms preferred.

Tech Stack

• AWS
• Cloud
• Distributed Systems

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Flexible work arrangements
• Professional development