Principal Architect

TEKsystems•Mount Arlington, NJ

3d•$65 - $90•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Architect to provide technical leadership and architectural direction across a portfolio of products, platforms, and shared services. This is a individual contributor role requiring a combination of strategic vision and hands-on engineering expertise. The Principal Architect will partner closely with engineering leadership, product stakeholders, data teams, and security partners to define target-state architecture, drive modernization initiatives, and establish scalable technology foundations that support long-term growth. The successful candidate will lead through influence, technical credibility, execution, and mentorship while helping engineering teams adopt common patterns, reusable capabilities, and modern architectural practices.

Requirements

10+ years of software engineering experience, including ownership of large-scale systems, platforms, or modernization initiatives.
Proven success defining technical strategy across multiple products, teams, or business domains.
Strong hands-on software engineering experience with the ability to design, prototype, review, and implement critical technical solutions.
Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction without formal management authority.
Experience modernizing legacy systems using incremental migration and modernization strategies.
Experience building and scaling internal platforms or shared services utilized by multiple teams.
Strong understanding of distributed systems, API design, integration patterns, and enterprise software architecture.
Experience establishing architecture standards, technical governance frameworks, and design review processes.
Familiarity with observability, reliability engineering, performance monitoring, and operational excellence practices.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and mentorship skills.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience within Life Sciences, Healthcare, Health Technology, Compliance Technology, SaaS, or other regulated environments.
Experience with data-intensive applications, enterprise data platforms, governance frameworks, or master data management concepts.
Experience supporting highly regulated products where security, auditability, and data quality are critical.
Experience guiding large-scale modernization efforts involving both legacy and modern technology stacks.
Experience with several of the following technologies and architectural patterns: React or other modern frontend frameworks, Python and API development frameworks, .NET and legacy modernization initiatives, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and other relational or NoSQL database technologies, Cloud-native application architecture, Event-driven and service-oriented architectures, Enterprise integration patterns, Data platforms and data engineering concepts, Modern DevOps and software delivery practices, AI-assisted software development tools and workflows.

Responsibilities

Define and maintain enterprise architecture principles, technology standards, and long-term platform strategy.
Establish target-state architecture and modernization roadmaps across multiple applications, products, and services.
Design and guide the evolution of shared platform capabilities, APIs, data services, and integration frameworks.
Lead modernization initiatives that transform legacy applications into scalable, maintainable, cloud-ready solutions through incremental migration approaches.
Partner with engineering and product leadership to align technical investments with business objectives and strategic priorities.
Create architectural patterns, reference implementations, and technical standards that enable consistent execution across engineering teams.
Design and implement critical platform components, prototypes, and proof-of-concepts to validate architectural approaches.
Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineering leads, architects, and engineers.
Promote best practices related to scalability, security, observability, reliability, performance, and maintainability.
Facilitate architecture reviews and technical decision-making processes while encouraging engineering autonomy.
Drive platform standardization, service reusability, and reduction of technical debt across the organization.
Evaluate emerging technologies and identify opportunities to improve engineering effectiveness and product capabilities.
Support adoption of AI-enabled engineering practices and modern software delivery approaches where appropriate.
Communicate architectural strategy and complex technical decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.