Cloud Architect | Onsite

Photon•Dallas, TX

11d•$64,000 - $224,000•Onsite

About The Position

Own the end-to-end architecture for UNFCU's Azure-based digital banking platform spanning solution, cloud platform, integration, and security architecture. Translate business outcomes into a secure, scalable, integration-ready, production-grade platform, and act as the single technical authority (architecture gate owner) from design through production readiness and operational transition. This role partners with the Front End Architect, who owns the client tier (React Native/web app architecture, component library, design system). The Solution Architect holds final authority on platform, backend/microservices, integration, cloud, and security decisions, and owns the BFF contract.

Requirements

15+ years in software engineering, incl. 5+ years in solution and/or cloud architecture.
Bachelor's in Computer Science / Engineering / Information Systems, or equivalent experience.
Proven end-to-end delivery (architecture → production) in Agile, cross-functional, distributed teams.
Azure: AKS, API Management, Functions/Durable Functions, Service Bus, Event Grid, Azure SQL, Storage, Monitor, Application Insights.
Architecture: cloud-native, microservices, API-first, event-driven, domain-driven design, BFF, enterprise integration patterns.
Security & identity: Microsoft Entra External ID, OAuth 2.0/OIDC/JWT, Zero Trust, secrets management, encryption.
Platform engineering: ARM/Bicep, Azure DevOps/CI-CD, architecture governance (ADRs, reviews).
Networking: VNets, ExpressRoute, private endpoints, DNS, secure connectivity.

Nice To Haves

Digital banking / credit union / regulated financial-services domain.
Fiserv DNA, MuleSoft, Oracle GoldenGate; Thales CipherTrust (CTVL) and/or Akeyless (secrets).
PCI-DSS-compliant Azure platforms; Azure AI Foundry / Azure OpenAI / AI Search.
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

Responsibilities

End-to-end architecture ownership: Own conceptual, logical, and physical architecture across application, platform, integration, and infrastructure layers. Author architecture decisions, reference architectures, and guardrails (ADRs); chair architecture/design reviews and the architecture sign-off gate. Ensure alignment with UNFCU enterprise architecture and the Azure Well-Architected Framework.
Solution & integration architecture: Define cloud-native, API-first, event-driven, microservices, and domain-driven patterns; own the Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) contract for mobile and web channels. Lead integration architecture across Fiserv DNA core banking, MuleSoft APIs, and near-real-time core data sync (CDC) via Oracle GoldenGate over ExpressRoute. Define resiliency, observability, and scalability patterns across the application landscape.
Cloud platform architecture (Azure): Design and govern AKS, API Management, Azure Functions/Durable Functions, Service Bus, Event Grid, Azure SQL/Storage, Azure Monitor & Application Insights. Define hub-and-spoke networking, ExpressRoute, private endpoints, DNS, and secure connectivity. Establish environment strategy (Dev/QA/UAT/Prod) and deployment topologies.
Security, compliance & resiliency: Define security architecture with identity/security teams: Microsoft Entra External ID (CIAM), OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT; Zero Trust, encryption, secrets management, and Key Vault integration. Own PCI-DSS scope definition, cardholder-data trust boundaries (CDE), tokenization strategy, and QSA coordination. Design HA/DR, failover, and operational-readiness (monitoring, logging, alerting).
DevSecOps & delivery enablement: Define CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code (ARM/Bicep, Azure DevOps) direction; guide deployment/release strategy and production readiness.
Technical leadership & stakeholder collaboration: Provide direction to engineering, QA, DevSecOps, and integration teams; resolve cross-team dependencies. Present architecture, trade-offs, and recommendations to leadership; collaborate with UNFCU and vendors (Fiserv, MuleSoft) through delivery and hypercare/handover.
AI-enabled engineering: Direct enterprise-approved AI tools across the SDLC with human review, secure prompt/data handling, traceability, and governance; define AI guardrails and adoption practices and own architecture-level review of AI-generated design/code.