Solutions Architect

PortX • Mercer Island, WA

29d • $180,000 - $220,000

About The Position

PortX Solutions Architects are consultants first, engineers second. You are the customer-facing owner of solution shape: you run discovery, scope the engagement, design against the PortX platform and ORCA reference architecture, and govern delivery so the implementation ships on the platform — not around it.
The measure of a great SA here is not the code you write; it's how little bespoke code the engagement needs, how fast delivery squads become self-sufficient, and how much of what you design becomes a reusable, sellable asset.

Consulting & customer leadership
Lead discovery, scoping, solution design, and estimation for integration engagements, ensuring solutions are scalable, supportable, and commercially sound — estimates tie to standard deliverables and templated effort, not open-ended custom builds.
Engage directly with customers across pre-sales and delivery: build trusted-advisor relationships, elicit the business problem behind the stated requirement, and translate it into the smallest platform-native solution that solves it.
Facilitate customer workshops, architecture reviews, whiteboarding sessions, and executive presentations; communicate solution designs and trade-offs clearly to both technical and business audiences.
Own the written solution artifacts — Solutions Design Documents, ADRs, estimates, and definition-of-done criteria — to a quality standard fit for architecture review and customer sign-off.

Architecture & governance
Act as SME for the PortX platform (Integration Manager, ORCA, connector library) and end-to-end integration lifecycle, providing architectural guidance from intake through go-live and handover.
Design template-first: default to fixed-price-engineering (FPE) patterns, reusable connectors, and configuration over custom code. Bespoke code is an explicit, justified exception — documented as an ADR and taken through architecture review — never a default.
Enforce ORCA contract fidelity and platform conventions across implementations; contribute findings and standards back through the Architecture Review Council.
Gate solution quality at intake: validate that scope, requirements, and estimates are sound before delivery commits, and flag misfit deals early.

Enablement & Leverage
Mentor and coach PortX and customer development teams; the goal is squads that design, build, and support integrations with progressively less SA involvement — SA time concentrates at solution shape and review, not implementation.
Convert engagement work into product: every project should leave behind a reusable asset — a connector, template, mapping, pattern, or documented playbook — that reduces the cost of the next similar engagement.
Use AI tooling as a first-class delivery instrument: code generation against templates, spec-driven scaffolding, automated conformance scoring, and documentation generation. Fluency here is expected, not optional.
Drive continuous improvement across integration patterns, delivery methodology, estimation models, tooling, and documentation.

Hands-on credibility
Lead by example through hands-on problem solving where it unblocks the team — spikes, reference implementations, and rescue work — while resisting becoming the delivery bottleneck.

What success looks like (first 90 days)
Engagements you architect ship on templated/FPE patterns with zero unreviewed bespoke code.
Delivery squads enable you to handle standard integrations end-to-end without SA escalation.
Your engagements produce reusable connectors and templates adopted by subsequent projects.
Estimation accuracy improves because your designs map to known, repeatable units of work.

This is a chance to join a fast-growing company at the forefront of AI-powered banking integration and data innovation. You will work in a collaborative, high-impact environment where your technical expertise and customer-facing skills directly influence business growth and customer success. At this stage, ownership isn't a talking point - it's the job. You'll drive your space end to end, which means your time and availability flex with what the work actually needs, not a fixed clock. If that type of environment is energizing rather than exhausting, you'll thrive here.

Requirements

• Strong enterprise integration consulting and implementation experience: APIs, event-driven architecture, integration platforms/iPaaS.
• Demonstrated customer-facing skills: discovery, workshop facilitation, estimation, executive communication, and managing scope with commercial awareness.
• Fluency reading and reviewing Java/Spring Boot code well enough to govern quality, review PRs, and prototype.
• Hands-on experience with AI-assisted engineering (code generation, agentic tooling, spec-to-code workflows).
• Working knowledge of containerization, Kubernetes/GitOps-style deployment, and AWS.
• Experience with OpenAPI-first design, consuming and specifying web services, Git, and standard build tooling.
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Excellent spoken and written English communication skills
• Highly organized, with strong prioritization and time management skills
• Flexible and responsive, with the ability to adapt to changing priorities and tight deadlines
• Confident, customer-facing presence with the ability to build trust and engagement
• US Citizenship required

Nice To Haves

• Banking, credit union, or payments domain experience (core banking systems, digital banking, ACH/ISO 20022).
• Experience productizing services delivery: templates, SDKs, connector libraries, fixed-price packaging.
• Experience standing up or operating architecture governance (review boards, ADR practice, conformance standards).

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery, scoping, solution design, and estimation for integration engagements, ensuring solutions are scalable, supportable, and commercially sound.
• Engage directly with customers across pre-sales and delivery to build trusted-advisor relationships and translate business problems into platform-native solutions.
• Facilitate customer workshops, architecture reviews, whiteboarding sessions, and executive presentations.
• Own written solution artifacts such as Solutions Design Documents, ADRs, estimates, and definition-of-done criteria.
• Act as SME for the PortX platform and end-to-end integration lifecycle, providing architectural guidance.
• Design template-first, defaulting to fixed-price-engineering (FPE) patterns, reusable connectors, and configuration over custom code.
• Enforce ORCA contract fidelity and platform conventions across implementations.
• Gate solution quality at intake, validating scope, requirements, and estimates.
• Mentor and coach PortX and customer development teams to enable self-sufficiency.
• Convert engagement work into reusable assets like connectors, templates, mappings, patterns, or playbooks.
• Utilize AI tooling for code generation, scaffolding, conformance scoring, and documentation.
• Drive continuous improvement across integration patterns, delivery methodology, estimation models, tooling, and documentation.
• Lead by example through hands-on problem solving for spikes, reference implementations, and rescue work.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation: attractive equity opportunities at a venture-backed startup
• High Impact Role: Have a direct and immediate impact on revenue & scaling the business
• Insurance (medical, dental, vision)
• 401(k)
• Unlimited PTO
• Be a part of a collaborative and highly motivated team culture where your voice is heard and you're not just a number in a big company

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed