Lead Java Practice Architect (AWS)

TEKsystems•Atlanta, GA

9d•$160,000 - $225,000•Remote

About The Position

The Lead Java Practice Architect is a hands-on technical leader responsible for defining and delivering end-to-end solution architecture for complex client and internal initiatives. The role drives technical direction across teams, ensures solutions are scalable, secure, and maintainable, and guides delivery teams in building high-quality solutions aligned with enterprise modernization goals. The architect stays close to the code and runtime by validating architectural decisions, contributing to critical paths, establishing engineering guardrails, and leading design reviews. Success is measured by architectural quality and production outcomes, with the work primarily focused on hands-on solution engineering and minimal delivery support. Occasional travel may be required, such as for engagement kickoffs. The role leads and mentors architects and engineers and provides architectural oversight across multiple programs to support consistency, scalability, and engineering best practices. It also supports presales solution architecture and effort estimation, and evaluates new technologies and patterns. This is a permanent, fully remote position based out of Atlanta, Georgia. The listed pay range is $160,000–$225,000 per year. The position is anticipated to close on October 28, 2026.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or four-year college degree in Computer Science, or equivalent work experience.
15+ years of software development experience.
12+ years of strong hands-on Java experience.
5+ years of AWS experience.
5+ years of experience as a Practice Architect or Lead Architect.
Expert-level software engineering experience designing and governing distributed-system architectures, including boundaries, contracts, versioning, and data ownership.
Strong hands-on experience with Java frameworks such as Spring and Spring Boot, RESTful APIs, and microservices architectures.
Experience designing and delivering distributed, highly available systems.
Experience with relational and NoSQL databases, messaging, and integration patterns.
Deep Java expertise, including refactoring mature codebases, performance tuning, and pragmatic framework evaluation.
Ability to define and enforce quality strategies across teams, including test automation, testability standards, and measurable quality outcomes.
Hands-on experience prototyping, developing reference implementations, conducting deep code reviews, and contributing to critical-path development.
Experience with CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or similar tools.
Advanced DevOps practices, including CI/CD strategy, infrastructure as code, release safety, environment strategy, and scalable automation.
Experience with containerization, including Docker and Kubernetes.
Strong understanding of security, identity, compliance, and secure-by-default practices.
Full-stack solution design capability across frontend, backend, integration, and data layers, with depth in at least one area.
Ability to establish architectural patterns that improve maintainability, reduce coupling, and enable independent team delivery.
Strong AWS experience, including cloud-native design patterns, security and identity, networking, deployment scalability, and cost awareness.
Hands-on knowledge of AWS services such as ECS, EKS, Lambda, EventBridge, S3, DynamoDB, Systems Manager, API Gateway, ACM, Route 53, and CloudWatch.
Ability to define cloud reference architectures and guide trade-offs across reliability, performance, and delivery speed.
Hands-on experience building, operating, and troubleshooting production cloud workloads using observability tools.
Experience working with Agile methodology and iterative development.
Experience with unit testing, static analysis, and build automation.
Experience mentoring and coaching employees, with excellent leadership skills.
Strong communication and technical credibility to influence teams and stakeholders.
Ability to remain hands-on while owning technical direction and production outcomes.

Nice To Haves

Relevant technical certifications in cloud, architecture, or development.
Associate- or Professional-level AWS certification.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end solution architecture for a domain or major initiative, including integrations, data flows, and nonfunctional requirements.
Define and govern architecture for large-scale, distributed, cross-platform systems.
Translate business goals into a pragmatic technical roadmap with product and engineering leadership.
Lead architecture and design reviews; document key decisions, trade-offs, and guardrails.
Stay hands-on through prototypes, reference implementations, and technical spikes to mitigate risk.
Establish and enforce engineering standards across APIs, testing, CI/CD, and secure-by-default practices.
Embed operability by design, including observability, resilience, runbooks, and incident readiness.
Serve as a technical escalation point and drive root-cause analysis and systemic remediation.
Contribute across the SDLC, including estimation, design, and delivery.
Mentor senior engineers and emerging architects.
Support presales with solution architecture and effort estimation.
Continuously evaluate and adopt new technologies and patterns.
Lead and mentor a team of architects, providing architectural oversight across multiple programs to drive consistency, scalability, and adherence to engineering best practices.
Set expectations for responsible AI-tool usage, including validation, security, and intellectual property and privacy considerations.
Evaluate and enable adoption of AI tools that improve developer productivity and quality.
When relevant, define architectural patterns for integrating AI services with appropriate governance and monitoring.
Own technical direction and outcomes for a program or domain, drive clarity and decisions in ambiguous situations, and remain accountable for production reliability, security, and performance.
Maintain hands-on engagement so architectural decisions translate into successful delivery.
Mentor and coach employees and provide reusable reference solutions.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Critical illness, accident, and hospital coverage
401(k) retirement plan with pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions
Life insurance, including voluntary life and AD&D coverage for employees and dependents
Short- and long-term disability
Health Spending Account (HSA)
Transportation benefits
Employee Assistance Program
Paid time off, vacation, or sick leave
Potential additional earnings through incentive programs such as annual bonuses or profit sharing