Sr. Middleware Platform Architect

American Electric Power•Columbus, OH

About The Position

At AEP, we’re more than just an energy company! We’re a team of dedicated professionals committed to delivering safe, reliable, and innovative energy solutions. Guided by our mission to put the customer first, we strive to exceed expectations by listening, responding, and continuously improving the way we serve our communities. If you're passionate about making a meaningful impact and being part of a forward-thinking organization, this is the company for you! The Sr. Middleware Platform Architect is a senior technical leadership role within the Middleware Platform organization, responsible for architecting, solutioning, and implementing enterprise middleware and integration platforms that support both modern, cloud‑native workloads and essential legacy integrations. This role focuses on defining how integration platforms are designed, built, deployed, and operated , with a strong emphasis on modern microservices architectures deployed on Kubernetes , while ensuring integration platforms remain secure, reliable, observable, and scalable as business demands evolve. Unlike Enterprise Architecture roles that operate primarily at the conceptual level, this position requires deep hands‑on architectural credibility with prior development experience and close partnership with platform engineers, application teams, security, and infrastructure to ensure architectural intent translates into operational reality. The role requires some hands-on work on projects and initiatives including proof-of-concept and reference implementation solutions.

Requirements

Extensive experience designing and operating enterprise middleware and integration platforms.
Strong expertise designing, building, and deploying microservices developed in Python or Java, hosted on Kubernetes container platforms.
Deep understanding of: Distributed systems and integration patterns, API‑first and event‑driven architectures, Secure, scalable platform design.
Proven experience using and leveraging Gen AI Tools (CoPilot, Claude Code, Codex etc) to boost developer productivity and unleash innovation.
Strong experience with Platform Observability Platforms such as Dynatrace and Splunk or similar.
Proven experience defining platform‑level architecture, not just application solutions.
Ability to influence engineers and architects through technical credibility.
Strong experience with workflow/orchestration engines (Camunda & n8n.io preferred) and Mainframe Integration platforms such as z/OS Connect.
Solid understanding of distributed system patterns and compensation models.
Strong Experience with building integration solutions using Integration Platforms such as MuleSoft, webMethods, TIBCO and migrated to cost effective and nimble solutions.
Strong expertise in designing, building and deploying microservices developed in Python or Java hosted on Kubernetes Container Platforms.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or related technical field is required.
8 years of relevant work experience is required.
An equivalent combination of education and related experience may be considered.

Responsibilities

Own and evolve the reference architectures for middleware and integration platforms, including: API management and gateway platforms, Event streaming and messaging platforms, File transfer and B2B/EDI platforms, Process orchestration and workflow engines, Cloud‑native integration components.
Provide architectural leadership for microservices‑based integration solutions, ensuring: Clean service boundaries and API contracts, Resilient interaction patterns, Proper use of asynchronous and event‑driven designs.
Partner with platform engineering teams to guide implementation decisions, not just documentation.
Design and govern integration architectures built as microservices in Python or Java, deployed on Kubernetes‑based container platforms.
Define best practices for: Service deployment, scaling, and resiliency on Kubernetes, Integration with API gateways, identity providers, and messaging platforms, Secure service‑to‑service communication.
Ensure containerized integration workloads align with enterprise standards for security, observability, and operations.
Establish and enforce architectural standards that improve platform non‑functional quality, including: Observability (logging, metrics, tracing across distributed integrations), System Reliability & Resilience (fault tolerance, retry patterns, DR readiness), Automation (build, deploy, onboard, operate), Security (identity integration, secrets management, certificate lifecycle), Performance & Scalability, Quality & Consistency.
Work with platform owners to ensure these non‑functionals are designed in, not bolted on.
Define platform guardrails, standards, and patterns that guide teams while still enabling flexibility.
Review and influence solution designs to ensure alignment with platform architecture standards.
Help prevent integration anti‑patterns and accidental platform sprawl.
Balance innovation with operational sustainability.
Collaborate closely with: Enterprise Architecture, Platform Engineering teams, Application and Data architects, Security and Infrastructure teams, Development teams.
Act as a technical authority and mentor, elevating architectural maturity across teams.
Communicate complex trade‑offs clearly to both technical and leadership audiences.