Principal Architect

cf5674db-9e68-440d-9919-4e047e6a1415•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. As the team and its data capabilities grow, the role’s priorities will evolve. Early work will emphasize connecting enterprise systems and staging data reliably for data engineering and visualization teams. As that foundation matures, the role will increasingly lead 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 supervises the Data Engineer, Data Analyst, and Software Developer positions. It remains hands-on in architecture, technical problem-solving, and selected implementation work, while establishing engineering standards and leading technical professionals. This position is open to direct applicants only; third-party recruiters, agencies, and staffing firms will not be considered. Visa sponsorship is not available.

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.

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, compatibility with existing systems, cost, team capability, and long-term support; recommend whether to adopt, extend, or retire 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 the design and development of custom applications and internal tools as organizational 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.
Develop understanding of systems, integrations, data flows, and constraints to engage relevant experts, evaluate options and impacts, and facilitate decisions.
Document recommendations, tradeoffs, decisions, and follow-up actions in Confluence and translate approved decisions into deliverables for internal and external teams.
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 and review complex or high-impact designs and code.
Remain hands-on in architecture, technical problem-solving, and selected implementation work, particularly during early team growth or complex delivery.
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, who owns business requirements gathering and prioritization, by providing technical discovery, options, estimates, dependencies, and risk analysis.
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 clearly to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
Perform other duties as assigned, consistent with training and qualifications.