Solutions Architect
Location: Fully remote
Department: Information Security Architecture
Employment type: Contract to Hire
Key Hiring Focus | Must-Have Requirements:
Ideal candidate profile:
Important Note: This is not a Cybersecurity Architect role. The team is seeking a business-focused Solutions Architect with broad architecture experience across applications, integrations, cloud, infrastructure, and enterprise platforms. Security knowledge is important but should be part of an overall solution architecture background rather than the primary focus.
Position Summary
Client is seeking a Solutions Architect (Contractor) to translate business needs into secure, scalable, and cost-effective technology solutions. This role will partner with business and technology teams to understand their objectives, evaluate options, and design practical solutions that support the organization's strategic priorities.
Reporting to the Head Information Security Architect, this is a cross-functional technology architecture role-not a dedicated information security position. Its scope encompasses applications, integrations, data, infrastructure, cloud services, and third-party platforms. Security is an integral design consideration alongside functionality, usability, reliability, maintainability, and cost.
The Solutions Architect will connect business stakeholders with technical delivery teams, providing architectural direction from discovery through implementation. The role will help teams make informed technology decisions, navigate dependencies, and deliver solutions that fit the broader enterprise environment.
Key Responsibilities
Business Partnership and Requirements Discovery
Partner with business stakeholders to understand desired outcomes, operational challenges, and opportunities for technology improvement.
Translate business needs into functional requirements, technical requirements, and actionable solution designs.
Identify constraints, dependencies, assumptions, and success criteria early in the planning process.
Help stakeholders evaluate whether to adopt existing capabilities, purchase a solution, build new functionality, or integrate available services.
End-to-End Solution Design
Design solutions spanning business applications, enterprise platforms, data flows, integrations, infrastructure, and cloud services.
Balance business value, user experience, scalability, reliability, security, delivery complexity, and total cost of ownership.
Evaluate proposed solutions for compatibility with existing systems, enterprise standards, and long-term technology direction.
Develop architecture diagrams, integration specifications, architecture decision records, and implementation roadmaps.
Identify opportunities to simplify the technology environment, reuse existing capabilities, and reduce unnecessary duplication.
Technology Evaluation and Decision Support
Assess products, platforms, services, and vendors against business and technical requirements.
Present recommendations with clear explanations of alternatives, trade-offs, costs, risks, and operational implications.
Lead or support proofs of concept to validate feasibility and resolve material uncertainties.
Partner with procurement, legal, information security, and technology teams as needed during solution selection.
Delivery Guidance and Collaboration
Provide architectural guidance to engineering, infrastructure, application, and implementation teams throughout delivery.
Work with project and product leaders to align solution scope, dependencies, sequencing, and technical milestones.
Review implementation designs and help resolve cross-system or cross-team technical issues.
Identify material deviations from the agreed architecture and help teams evaluate and document appropriate changes.
Support transition to operations through clear documentation, ownership definitions, and knowledge transfer.
Architecture Alignment and Responsible Design
Collaborate with Information Security Architecture to incorporate appropriate safeguards into solution designs from the outset.
Partner with relevant specialists to address privacy, compliance, resilience, accessibility, and operational requirements.
Align solutions with established architecture principles and technology standards while supporting justified exceptions.
Surface material risks and unresolved decisions to the appropriate stakeholders and decision-makers.
Contribute reusable patterns, reference architectures, and lessons learned to improve future solution delivery.
Role Scope and Accountability
The role's primary accountability is the quality and suitability of the overall technology solution-not ownership of the information security program.
Business stakeholders retain ownership of business priorities, requirements, and acceptance.
Delivery teams retain responsibility for implementation and ongoing technical execution.
Security, privacy, compliance, and other specialist teams retain their respective policy, assurance, and approval responsibilities.
The Solutions Architect connects these perspectives into a coherent design, makes recommendations, and guides architectural decisions within delegated authority.
The reporting relationship provides a home for architectural leadership and secure design practices without limiting the role to security technologies, security reviews, or control enforcement.
Required Qualifications
Demonstrated experience designing and delivering technology solutions across multiple systems or technical domains.
Experience in solution architecture, software engineering, systems integration, infrastructure, cloud engineering, or a related discipline.
Strong understanding of application architecture, APIs, integration patterns, databases, networking, and cloud services.
Ability to translate ambiguous business needs into clear requirements and practical technical designs.
Ability to evaluate alternatives across functionality, security, performance, reliability, maintainability, and cost.
Experience producing architecture diagrams, technical documentation, and decision records.
Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to nontechnical audiences.
Ability to build consensus, influence decisions, and work effectively across teams without direct management authority.
Ability to work independently and collaborate effectively in a fully remote environment.
Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with enterprise applications, SaaS platforms, cloud services, and hybrid technology environments.
Experience with technology modernization, platform consolidation, or complex integration initiatives.
Familiarity with identity and access management, data protection, and secure design principles.
Experience evaluating vendors, developing proofs of concept, and assessing total cost of ownership.
Familiarity with DevOps practices, infrastructure as code, and automated delivery pipelines.
Relevant solution architecture, cloud, or enterprise architecture certifications.
A dedicated cybersecurity background or security certification is not required. Candidates should demonstrate the ability to incorporate security requirements into broader solution designs and collaborate effectively with security specialists.
Measures of Success
Proposed solutions address clearly defined business needs and measurable outcomes.
Stakeholders receive timely, actionable recommendations with transparent trade-offs.
Designs appropriately balance business value, cost, scalability, security, and operational sustainability.
Delivery teams have sufficient architectural clarity to implement solutions effectively.
Technical dependencies and significant risks are identified early rather than discovered late in delivery.
Solutions make appropriate use of existing capabilities and avoid unnecessary complexity.
Implemented solutions have clear ownership, documentation, and operational support arrangements.
