IT Architect

City and County of Denver • Denver, CO

2d • $115,000 - $130,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Enterprise Architecture team sets the technical direction that guides how Technology Services delivers and evolves its systems. We focus on emerging technology strategy, infrastructure and application right-sizing, and the monitoring and observability strategy that keeps our environment healthy and transparent. We drive process improvement in support of the service delivery model, ensuring that architecture decisions align investments with business value, reduce risk, and strengthen the reliability, scalability, and sustainability of the technology that serves the City and County of Denver.
The Technology Services Department is seeking an IT Architect to help shape and advance the City’s enterprise technology strategy. Reporting directly to the Enterprise Architect within Technology Services, you will be a strategic, forward-thinking technologist who translates business direction into sound, scalable architecture across infrastructure, applications, and platforms.
In this role, you will define and promote target-state architectures, guide emerging technology strategy, and lead infrastructure and application right-sizing efforts that align capacity and cost with business need. You will help establish and mature the City’s monitoring and observability strategy so that services are reliable, measurable, and transparent.
You will drive process improvement in support of the service delivery model, working across Technology Services teams, business partners, and vendors to ensure architecture standards, reference patterns, and technology roadmaps are understood, adopted, and consistently applied.
This role engages closely with TS leadership—and at times with city leaders—to communicate architectural direction, present options and trade-offs, and build alignment on strategic technology decisions and investments.
You will develop architecture artifacts, standards, and roadmaps; evaluate emerging and existing technologies; and provide guidance and governance through mechanisms such as architecture and change reviews, helping teams adopt modern, sustainable, and well-governed solutions.
This role requires strong analytical and design skills, excellent communication, comfort working in both independent and collaborative environments, and a passion for solving complex problems through thoughtful, enterprise-grade technology architecture.

Requirements

• 3+ years in an IT architecture, solution architecture, or enterprise architecture role
• 3+ years designing infrastructure, applications, and integrations in a complex environment
• 5+ years of progressive IT experience in a complex, highly integrated environment
• Experience serving as a technical lead or advisor between business and technical teams
• Experience developing reference architectures, standards, patterns, and technology roadmaps
• Experience with infrastructure and application right-sizing (capacity, performance, and cost)
• Knowledge of monitoring and observability strategy, tooling, and practices
• Strong problem-solving skills for enterprise-scale systems and platforms
• Understanding of government systems (city/county/state) is helpful
• Excellent communication skills, including with senior and executive leadership
• Comfortable working independently and collaboratively
• Ability to align technology decisions with the service delivery model and business value
• Microsoft Office Suite, Visio (or comparable architecture/modeling tools)
• Azure DevOps (ADO) / Team Foundation Server (TFS) / JIRA-like tools
• ServiceNow
• SQL and general data/integration concepts
• Experience with APIs, integrations, and integration patterns
• Knowledge of architecture frameworks and modeling (e.g., TOGAF, BPMN, C4)
• Experience educating and advising stakeholders on best practices
• Strong documentation and diagramming skills
• Ability to communicate technical solutions to non-technical stakeholders
• Experience with monitoring/observability platforms and cloud (e.g., AWS) architecture
• Experience with ITIL change management and IT service delivery processes
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, Mathematics or a related field.
• Two (2) years of professional level information technology experience performing systems analysis, planning strategic and operational objectives, conducting business analysis, and overseeing enterprise systems architecture with regard to infrastructure, data, cyber security, and applications.
• One (1) year of the appropriate type and level of experience may be substituted for each required year of post-high school education.
• Additional appropriate education may be substituted for the minimum experience requirements.
• By position, requires a valid driver's license at the time of application.
• Must obtain Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) clearance within the probationary period.
• Licenses and certifications must be kept current as a condition of employment.

Nice To Haves

• Architecture experience in municipal, county, or state government
• Experience with AWS or other cloud architecture and migrations
• Experience with IT infrastructure (SQL Server, Linux, MS Server OS)
• Architecture certifications (e.g., TOGAF) and/or ITIL or Agile certifications
• ITIL or Agile certifications

Responsibilities

• Define, document, and promote enterprise and solution architectures aligned to TS’s technology strategy
• Guide emerging technology strategy and evaluate new platforms, tools, and approaches
• Lead infrastructure and application right-sizing to align capacity, performance, and cost with business need
• Shape and mature the City’s monitoring and observability strategy for reliable, measurable services and system process
• Develop reference architectures, standards, patterns, and technology roadmaps
• Partner with TS teams, business stakeholders, and vendors to drive adoption of architecture standards
• Drive process improvement in support of the service delivery model
• Provide architectural guidance and governance, including participation in architecture and change reviews
• Engage with TS leadership—and at times city leaders—to present options, trade-offs, and recommendations
• Contribute to continuous improvement of architecture practices, standards, and documentation
• Collaborate with the Enterprise Architect and support direction from TS leadership
• Coordinate and monitor system upgrade and remediation efforts
• Conduct architecture assessments, current-state analysis, and target-state design
• Identify integration, infrastructure, and platform needs and recommend solutions
• Create clear architecture artifacts, technical standards, and design specifications
• Advise stakeholders on architecture best practices (security, scalability, integration, resilience)
• Serve as the bridge between business strategy and technical implementation
• Define infrastructure and application right-sizing recommendations based on documented requirements
• Maintain and prioritize the architecture roadmap and technology backlog
• Support proof-of-concept, evaluation, and validation of proposed solutions
• Participate in Architecture Review and Change Advisory Board (CAB) reviews for production changes
• Continuously improve architecture tools, processes, and documentation
• Perform other duties as assigned

Benefits

• A guaranteed life-long monthly pension, once vested after 5 years of service
• 457B Retirement Plan
• 140 hours of PTO earned within first year + 12 paid holidays, 1 personal holiday, 1 Wellness Day and 1 volunteer day per year
• Competitive medical, dental and vision plans effective within 1 month of start date

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level