Application Architect

Pearson

About The Position

The Enterprise Architect – Application Architecture role at Pearson VUE is a strategic, enterprise-level position focused on defining the target-state architecture for applications across the VUE product ecosystem. This role is responsible for driving modernization initiatives, designing reference architectures, and guiding their implementation across multiple platforms and product domains. The Application Architect ensures that architectural direction aligns with Pearson VUE’s long-term technology strategy, promotes adoption of modern engineering practices, and accelerates the evolution of VUE products toward a scalable, resilient, cloud-native future. This role plays a critical part in shaping Pearson VUE’s technology strategy by driving the Tech Radar process, promoting new technology adoption, and defining standards, patterns, and reference models that provide architectural consistency across the enterprise. The architect will partner closely with platform and product architects, providing guidance, governance, and technical leadership to ensure that modernization goals are achieved and that application architectures support both customer needs and Pearson VUE’s strategic roadmap.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
Extensive experience designing and implementing software architectures in enterprise environments.
Proven track record of delivering scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions.
Hands-on expertise in cloud platforms, container orchestration (Kubernetes), and infrastructure automation.
Strong background in code review, technical mentoring, and cross-team collaboration.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing reference architectures for enterprise-wide adoption.
Architecture certifications (TOGAF, AWS/Azure Architect, SAFe Architect).
Experience in high-availability, high-volume enterprise systems such as scheduling, content delivery, or secure assessments.
Familiarity with AI/ML, AgenticAI, and modern data platforms.
Experience establishing technology standards, governance, and tech strategy at scale.

Responsibilities

Define and maintain the target-state application architecture for Pearson VUE platforms and products, ensuring alignment with enterprise strategy.
Design, document, and evolve enterprise-wide reference architectures, technology patterns, and best practices.
Lead architectural modernization initiatives, including cloud-native transformation, microservices redesign, event-driven architecture, and platform simplification.
Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend adoption strategies that enhance scalability, performance, security, and maintainability.
Establish architectural standards, guidelines, and decision frameworks to ensure consistency across product and platform teams.
Drive the enterprise Tech Radar process, identifying, evaluating, and promoting technologies for organization-wide adoption.
Mentor other architects and engineers, sharing best practices and supporting their technical growth.
Ensure conformance to established framework guidelines and documentation standards.
Guide engineering and product teams in the practical implementation of reference architectures and modernization patterns.
Provide architectural oversight during solution design, development, integration, and deployment to ensure alignment with target-state direction.
Ensure new systems, enhancements, and modernization efforts meet technical standards for scalability, resiliency, observability, and security.
Partner with teams to identify legacy pain points and recommend modernization pathways, including re-platforming, re-architecting, or tech stack upgrades.
Support implementation of roadmaps by defining architectural milestones, technical dependencies, and phased modernization plans.
Collaborate with platform architects, product architects, engineering leads, and other stakeholders to align on architectural direction and technology strategy.
Provide thought leadership and mentorship to engineering teams, promoting architectural rigor, technical excellence, and modern development practices.
Influence product and platform roadmaps by introducing new technologies, architectural improvements, and modernization strategies.
Represent Enterprise Architecture in cross-functional forums, architectural reviews, and strategic technology discussions.
Lead architectural governance processes to ensure compliance with enterprise standards and facilitate informed technology decisions across teams.