IT Solutions Architect (Software Developer)

City of Austin

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

This position is responsible for defining and designing architecture that drives the City towards targeted outcomes by leveraging existing and innovative technology to enable the City’s future-state business capabilities and business models. This position aligns IT and enterprise strategy, maintains business capability models to reflect new or improved processes or IT systems, creates common standards to ensure integrity of the models, and influences enterprise strategy. The City of Austin is seeking an IT Solutions Architect to join the Application Development & Integration workgroup. While the official title is "Solutions Architect", this role functions primarily as a senior-level software developer. This position is responsible for developing enterprise-level web applications and complex system integrations that connect and enable communication between disparate systems and services. The candidate will collaborate closely with project teams to support the full lifecycle of application and integration projects. This includes gathering requirements, translating business needs into technical specifications, designing software solutions, troubleshooting issues, deploying solutions, and monitoring performance to ensure the stability and efficiency of applications supported by this work group.

Requirements

• Knowledge of business architecture tools and techniques, including strategy on a page, strategic planning, business model canvas, disruptions and trends, balance scorecard, economical modeling, risks and interdependencies, process models, business capability modeling, ecosystems modeling, customer and user profiling, journey maps, and human-centric design.
• Knowledge and understanding of different types of business and operating models (existing, new, emerging and hybrid).
• Knowledge of existing, new and emerging technologies and being able to practically incorporate them into new business designs and business models.
• Knowledge of architecture methodologies (e.g., SABSA, Zachman, TOGAF) and modeling languages (such as UML and ArchiMate).
• Knowledge in all aspects of designing and constructing business processes, functions and organizational structures.
• Knowledge of facilitation and organization change management.
• Skill in analytical and conceptual skills and proven ability to create original concepts and theories for a variety of projects.
• Knowledge of finance, accounting, valuation and metrics development.
• Skill in statistical and information analysis.
• Skill in financial analysis, architecture evaluation, solutions delivery orchestration, project management, road mapping, risk management, interdependency management, agile methodologies, information security, cloud computing infrastructure, data architecture skills.
• Ability to be organizationally savvy, understanding of the political climate of the City and how to navigate obstacles and politics.
• Ability to apply multiple technical solutions to enable future-state business capabilities that, in turn, drive targeted business outcomes.
• Ability to communicate, influence and persuade — both business and IT leaders as well as peers.
• Ability to adapt to rapidly changing technology and apply it to business needs.
• Ability to establish and maintain a high level of customer trust and confidence.
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment and lead cross-functional teams, with the proven ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to leverage intellectual curiosity to inform solutions and innovate.
• Ability to take responsibility for personal growth and acquire strategies for gaining new knowledge, behaviors and skills.
• Ability to adhere to required compliance to all change management policies and procedures.
• Ability to adhere to required compliance to all information security policies and procedures.
• Graduation with a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in a field related to the job, plus four (4) years of experience in a related field.
• Experience may substitute for education for up to four (4) years.
• Graduation with a Master's degree from an accredited college or university in a related field may substitute for two (2) years of experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in the design and development of enterprise-level Java web applications and complex integrations of disparate systems using APIs, messaging, and middleware.
• Strong understanding of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) principles.
• Experience with Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) concepts, tools, and best practices.
• Familiarity with Design Patterns, MVC Frameworks, RESTful/SOAP Web Services, XSLT, and XPath.
• Experience with message brokers such as Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ or ActiveMQ.
• Experience with integration frameworks like Apache Camel or Spring Integration.
• Proficiency in developing, analyzing, troubleshooting, debugging, and optimizing application and middleware integration solutions.
• Experience with relational databases (RDBMS), SQL, and persistence frameworks such as JPA or Hibernate.
• Experience with software development life cycle (SDLC) including requirements gathering, development, testing, deployment, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience following team standards, coding conventions and best practices.
• Experience using both Agile/Scrum and Waterfall development methodologies.
• A deep understanding of software development practices, frameworks, and integration technologies.
• Ability to design and develop secure, scalable, and maintainable enterprise applications.
• Experience with application integration (e.g., integrating enterprise systems via APIs, messaging queues, or middleware).
• Commitment to code quality, testing, and adherence to established development standards and best practices.
• Ability to provide technical guidance, conduct code reviews, and support the professional growth of peers.
• Proficiency in estimating level of effort, prioritizing tasks, and delivering projects on schedule.
• Strong collaboration skills with diverse teams, stakeholders, and business partners.

Responsibilities

• Promotes digital business initiatives and identifies potential impact on the City’s critical financial metrics and economic architectures.
• Supports business and technology innovation that drives the City’s objectives.
• Engages key business stakeholders and product managers to facilitate both strategy and innovation planning.
• Collaborates with stakeholders involved in digital strategy and digital innovation to develop an IT investment roadmap.
• Creates deliverables that illustrate how to strategically move the business forward.
• Works with enterprise architects and key organizational stakeholders to define a strategic plan for leveraging integrated architecture as part of the enterprise architecture.
• Participates in enterprise strategy development, including environmental analysis, opportunity identification, value cases and business innovation portfolio development.
• Provides strategic consultation to product managers in defining or designing business capabilities, processes, functions and organizational structures, as well as in researching, identifying and internally marketing, selling and enabling technologies based on business and end-user requirements.
• Participates in enterprise architecture development, including business architecture, information architecture, application portfolio and technical architecture, and champions the balance of flexibility and risk.
• Facilitates agreement on organizational work models and processes to meet business requirements.
• Seeks ways to apply new technology to, and reuse existing technology for, business processes.
• Researches and provides information on technical trends and competitors' practices relevant to assigned products and value streams.
• May provide leadership, work assignments, evaluation, training, and guidance to others.

Benefits

• Generous leave
• Work-life balance programs
• Extensive benefits
• City of Austin Employees' Retirement System
• Access to public transit
• Bike-friendly infrastructure
• Wellness programs
• On-site fitness centers
• Mental health support
• Professional development
• Leadership opportunities

What This Job Offers

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