Backend Software Architect

Quality Technology Services•Ashburn, VA

11h•$151,512 - $228,277

About The Position

QTS is a global leader in digital infrastructure, designing, building, and operating advanced data centers that support AI, cloud, and digital transformation initiatives. The Backend Software Architect provides deep technical leadership and serves as a technical authority within a defined technology domain. The role translates business requirements, solution architectures, and enterprise standards into detailed technical designs, reusable patterns, engineering guidance, and practical implementation approaches. Working closely with Solution Architects, Engineering Leads, engineers, product teams, and delivery teams, the architect evaluates technical alternatives, resolves complex design and implementation challenges, and ensures solutions are secure, scalable, reliable, maintainable, supportable, and aligned with architectural principles and guardrails. The position stays close to engineering execution, validating decisions through detailed design, prototypes, reference implementations, configuration or code reviews, performance analysis, and other methods relevant to the specialization. It also mentors technical teams, promotes reuse, reduces unnecessary complexity and technical debt, and helps teams make increasingly autonomous technical decisions.

Requirements

At least 8 years of demonstrated experience in engineering, technical architecture, platform architecture, or technical leadership within the applicable specialization.
Deep technical expertise in backend software development.
Proven experience designing and guiding the implementation of secure, scalable, reliable, maintainable, and supportable production solutions.
Ability to translate solution-level requirements and architecture into detailed technical designs, standards, patterns, and implementation guidance.
Practical implementation experience sufficient to evaluate technical feasibility, validate designs, identify risks, and guide engineering teams.
Experience evaluating technical alternatives and articulating tradeoffs involving cost, complexity, delivery speed, security, performance, scalability, reliability, and maintainability.
Experience identifying and addressing technical debt, architecture risks, operational concerns, and modernization opportunities.
Ability to influence technical decisions and engineering practices across multiple teams without direct reporting authority.
Ability to mentor engineers and technical leads and communicate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
Familiarity with enterprise architecture principles, security requirements, operational support considerations, and technology lifecycle management.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, collaboration, written communication, and verbal communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting enterprise-scale technology environments and modernization initiatives.
Experience creating reference architectures, reusable patterns, technical standards, and architecture decision records.
Experience working within formal architecture governance, security review, risk management, or design assurance processes.
Experience with automation, observability, resilience engineering, DevSecOps, infrastructure as code, or equivalent practices relevant to the specialization.
Experience evaluating emerging technologies through prototypes, proofs of concept, benchmarks, or controlled implementation.
Relevant technical, architecture, cloud, data, network, security, or platform certifications appropriate to the specialization.

Responsibilities

Manage and maintain SharePoint Online sites, libraries, lists, and permissions.
Provide deep technical leadership and serve as a technical authority within a defined technology domain.
Translate solution architectures, business requirements, and enterprise standards into detailed technical designs, patterns, and practical implementation guidance.
Evaluate technical alternatives and tradeoffs, balancing security, scalability, reliability, performance, maintainability, cost, and delivery needs.
Establish and promote reusable technical patterns, standards, reference implementations, and engineering practices that reduce complexity and improve consistency.
Partner with Solution Architects, engineers, and product teams to resolve complex technical challenges and ensure implementations align with the intended architecture.
Validate technical approaches through design reviews, prototypes, reference implementations, code or configuration reviews, and other methods appropriate to the technical domain.
Identify and address architectural risks, technical debt, and modernization opportunities within the area of specialization.
Mentor engineers and technical leads, enabling teams to make increasingly autonomous technical decisions within established architecture standards and guardrails.