Solution Architect

Primary Job Responsibilities

• Provide end to end application architecture and design for complex business solutions
• Lead application architecture deliverables consisting of multiple disciplines of architecture such as technology, platform and information architecture
• Drive high throughput, highly scalable and high performing applications.
• Target the development and use of reusable designs and shared services
• Deliver conceptual and high-level designs incorporating appropriate input from various platform specialists and domain experts.
• Communicate effectively with development team, business analysts and IT managers, Business stake holders to assess support needs, assist in the identification of application needs, and to get buy-in to application architecture direction and strategy.
• Govern the application life cycle through governance tool called Build Permit and also to get buy-in from Architects in other specialties (security, data, infrastructure)
• Familiar with Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning such as Infrastructure Resilience, Backup and Recovery, Testing and Drills
• Familiar with data security concepts, including encryption, column-level encryption, and Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)

Technical Experience

• Up to date knowledge and experience of industry best practices, technologies and frameworks needed to deliver modern application architecture such as: microservices, Cloud platforms, SOA, multi-tier applications, web-based applications, Workflow automation, Object Oriented design.
• Experience designing highly scalable platforms using concepts such as clustering, load balancing, fault tolerance and on demand resource management
• Experience with applying architecture analyses to evaluate alternative options based on their impacts.
• Experience with trouble-shooting application performance and other application stability issues.
• Experience with utilizing modern SDLC processes and Agile methodologies to support iterative and incremental delivery.
• Prior experience with the Duck Creek Claims platform or other Claims platforms would be a plus.
• Experience with using DevOps and continuous integration for delivery would be a plus.
• Strong business acumen, instinct and understanding of products, risk appetite and niches.

Technical Skills

1. Azure Cloud Platform :

• Compute : Azure Virtual Machines, Azure App Service, Azure Functions
• Networking : Azure Virtual Network, Azure Load Balancer, Azure Application Gateway
• Storage : Azure Blob Storage, Azure Table Storage, Azure SQL Database
• Monitoring : Azure Monitor, Azure Log Analytics, Application Insights
• Security : Azure Active Directory, Azure Key Vault, Azure Security Center

1. Microservices Architecture :

• Containerization: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Container Instances
• Service Discovery, Load Balancing, Scaling

1. DevOps Practices :

• Jira / Azure Pipelines, Github Repos, Azure Artifacts
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using ARM templates - Good to have

1. Integration Best Practices and Patterns :

• Azure Logic Apps, Azure Service Bus, Azure Event Grid
• Azure API Management

1. Azure Integration and Analytics Stacks (Strong Plus):

• Azure Data Factory, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Synapse Analytics

1. Microsoft .NET :

• ASP.NET Core, C# Programming, Entity Framework
• Azure Functions with .NET, Azure SDK for .NET

Partnership and Team Work

• Good communication and leadership. Must be able to interact with business users, Business Stakeholders and provide guidance and feedback to technical resources (including contract resources) as well as managers.
• Demonstrate strong ability to work in a team environment with the ability to influence and foster cross-team and cross-area collaboration.
• Work with other tech leads and other architects to ensure alignment with architecture strategy escalating deviation as needed.
• Ensure documentation is captured appropriately and is easily accessible

Recommended Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree (required)
• 3 - 5 years application architecture experience, preferably providing solutions to the P&C Insurance industry - delivering P&C claims solutions would be a big plus
• Ability to execute and prioritize a number of tasks simultaneously
• Exceptional analytical and critical thinking skills, with thorough attention to detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong interpersonal/relationship management skills