Principal Architect

Goodwill Industries of Central Texas•Austin, TX

About The Position

Goodwill Central Texas is seeking a hands-on Principal Architect to set technical direction and lead the design and delivery of applications, integrations, and data solutions. The role defines system and solution architecture, selects frameworks and patterns, and guides implementation to ensure technology is secure, reliable, maintainable, and aligned with organizational needs. Priorities will evolve as the team and its data capabilities grow: early work emphasizes enterprise-system integrations and reliable data staging, followed by greater focus on custom applications and internal tools that improve staff workflows and organizational services. The Principal Architect partners with business owners and the Technical Program Manager, contributing technical discovery, architecture, estimates, dependencies, and risk analysis. The position leads technology initiatives from intake and discovery through launch and post-launch review, and remains hands-on in architecture, technical problem-solving, and selected implementation work. It also establishes engineering standards, coordinates with Technology and data teams, and supervises Data Engineer, Data Analyst, and Software Developer positions. Direct applicants only; third-party recruiters, agencies, and staffing firms will not be considered. Visa sponsorship is unavailable.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
10 or more years of experience in software development, systems architecture, application engineering, or related technical delivery, including substantial experience designing and building production solutions.
Experience leading and developing technical professionals, including reviewing work, coaching others, and establishing engineering standards.
Strong software development background, including application design, APIs or other integration methods, testing, code review, deployment, and production support.
Experience designing systems and integrations across multiple applications while considering security, reliability, maintainability, and operational support.
Experience defining technical architecture, evaluating frameworks or platforms, and documenting design decisions and tradeoffs.
Experience establishing source control, automated testing, and deployment practices for software teams.
Ability to translate technical constraints and options into clear recommendations for business and technical stakeholders.
Strong planning, problem-solving, and collaboration skills across concurrent initiatives and teams.
Ability to manage moderate levels of workplace stress.
Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Nice To Haves

Experience building or leading a software development, application engineering, or platform team.
Experience with Microsoft Azure and enterprise platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, HubSpot, ADP, or comparable systems and their integrations.
Experience working alongside data engineering and data visualization teams, including familiarity with modern data platforms such as Microsoft Fabric.
Experience establishing architecture practices, reusable frameworks, and development and deployment standards.
Experience working with vendors or implementation partners and transferring solutions into internal support.
Experience using AI-assisted development tools in a secure and responsible software development process.
Experience in retail, workforce services, distributed operations, or nonprofit environments.

Responsibilities

Define and maintain target architectures and technical roadmaps for applications, integrations, data flows, and internal tools.
Establish system boundaries, integration patterns, API approaches, and reusable frameworks.
Evaluate frameworks, platforms, and tools based on business needs, security, existing systems, cost, team capability, and long-term support; recommend adoption, extension, or retirement of technologies.
Document architecture decisions, assumptions, tradeoffs, dependencies, and exceptions.
Plan for security, privacy, reliability, performance, maintainability, observability, supportability, and technical debt throughout the solution lifecycle.
Coordinate architecture decisions with infrastructure, security, application owners, data specialists, and other Technology teams.
Lead design and development of custom applications and internal tools as priorities and data capabilities mature.
Translate approved business needs into application architecture, technical designs, and implementation plans with the Technical Program Manager, business owners, and developers.
Guide application work from discovery and prototyping through testing, deployment, support handoff, and ongoing improvement.
Identify opportunities to replace manual or fragmented workflows with maintainable software and automation.
Lead assigned technology initiatives from intake and discovery through launch and post-launch review, owning technology scope, delivery plan, schedule, dependencies, risks, and status.
Translate business priorities and technology roadmaps into workstreams, milestones, backlogs, resource needs, release plans, and success measures.
Understand systems, integrations, data flows, and constraints sufficiently to engage experts, evaluate options and impacts, and facilitate decisions.
Document recommendations, tradeoffs, decisions, and follow-up actions in Confluence and translate approved decisions into deliverables.
Establish and maintain standards for source control, code review, testing, build and deployment pipelines, configuration, documentation, monitoring, and production support.
Coach developers on architecture and implementation decisions; review complex or high-impact designs and code.
Remain hands-on in architecture, technical problem-solving, and selected implementation work.
Manage technical dependencies, delivery risks, quality, and operational readiness across engineering work.
Use AI-assisted development tools where appropriate, applying sound review, security, and quality practices.
Hire, coach, develop, and evaluate software development, data engineering, and data visualization team members as the team grows.
Set expectations for technical quality, delivery, documentation, collaboration, and professional development.
Partner with the Technical Program Manager, providing technical discovery, options, estimates, dependencies, and risk analysis while the Program Manager owns business requirements gathering and prioritization.
Coordinate with data engineering and data visualization staff, providing architecture and engineering direction without owning their specialized day-to-day implementation.
Work with business owners, Technology peers, vendors, and implementation partners to resolve technical questions and transfer knowledge into ongoing support.
Communicate architecture options, decisions, risks, and progress to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
Perform other duties as assigned, consistent with training and qualifications.