Application Architecture, Principal

Blue Shield of CA; Baltimore (MD); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Stellarus Technology seeks a Senior Principal, Application Architecture to set direction for distributed systems and cloud-native platforms. You will translate platform strategy into concrete architectural patterns that teams can implement, test, deploy, and operate.

You will mentor engineers, guide API contracts, data models, and cross-domain initiatives, and balance build-vs-buy decisions while staying hands-on enough to keep credibility with developers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering, application architecture, or related technical experience.
• Experience leading architecture for distributed systems, cloud-native platforms, microservices, internal platforms, or modernization initiatives.
• Hands-on engineering background guiding service design, API contracts, code structure, data modeling, testing, deployment, and production tradeoffs.
• Deep experience with domain-driven design, service decomposition, integration architecture, and reusable platform patterns.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and translate platform strategy into architecture direction and execution standards.
• Experience designing and operating microservices and event-driven systems in a cloud environment (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP transferable).
• Strong API and data architecture judgment (REST, OpenAPI, PostgreSQL, analytics handoffs, isolation, auditability).
• Experience mentoring senior engineers, architects, and tech leads.
• Healthcare, payer, pharma, SOC 2, HIPAA, or security-sensitive platform experience is a plus.
• Enterprise architecture experience a plus when paired with hands-on delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture decisions for major platform capabilities and cross-domain initiatives.
• Drive build-vs-buy, integration consolidation, and modernization decisions for platform capabilities.
• Turn platform strategy into actionable architecture direction and execution standards.
• Mentor senior engineers, architects, and technical leads.
• Balance long-term architectural goals with hands-on delivery and production tradeoffs.

Skills

Architecture leadership

Distributed systems

Cloud-native platforms

Microservices

API design

Domain-driven design

Vendor integrations

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Azure

AWS

GCP

Job description

Your Role

The Stellarus Technology team builds and operates the platform for payer operations, member experiences, customer integrations, pharma workflows, internal products, and marketplace capabilities. The Principal, Application Architecture will report to the Senior Director, Application Architecture. In this role, you will lead architecture decisions for major platform capabilities and cross-domain initiatives, and turn platform strategy into systems that engineering teams can build, test, deploy, and operate.

The platform is built around domain-owned microservices, reusable APIs, event-driven workflows, vendor integrations, and a marketplace of capabilities that can be composed across customers and product lines.

This is a senior individual-contributor architecture role. You will own architecture direction for major platform capabilities and cross-domain initiatives, resolve high-impact technical risks and cross-team design conflicts, and stay close enough to the code and system design to make that direction credible to engineers. This role has overlap with enterprise architecture, and a background in enterprise architecture is a plus, but the work is closer to the code, system design, engineering execution, AI development improvements, vendor integration, and production tradeoffs than to enterprise architecture theater.

Stellarus generally takes a build-over-buy approach when the capability is core to our platform. This role will drive build-vs-buy, integration consolidation, and modernization decisions for the platform capabilities it owns, and help teams design products for payer, provider, pharma, and partner workflows.

Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow - personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for people who are energized by creative and critical thinking, raising the technical bar across teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor's degree or High School Diploma/GED and 4 years of additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
• 10+ years of software engineering, application architecture, platform engineering, or related technical experience.
• Experience leading application architecture for distributed systems, cloud-native platforms, microservices, internal platforms, or modernization initiatives.
• Strong hands‑on engineering background with the ability to guide service design, API contracts, code structure, data modeling, testing, deployment, and production tradeoffs.
• Deep experience with domain-driven design, service decomposition, integration architecture, shared services, customer extensions, and reusable platform patterns.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and translate platform strategy into clear architecture direction and execution standards.
• Experience designing and operating microservices and event-driven systems in a cloud environment. Azure experience is preferred; AWS or GCP experience is transferable.
• Strong API and data architecture judgment, including REST, OpenAPI, event contracts, PostgreSQL, analytics handoffs, authorization, tenant/customer isolation, and auditability.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers, architects, and technical leads.
• Healthcare, payer, pharma, regulated‑industry, SOC 2, HIPAA, or security‑sensitive platform experience is strongly preferred.
• Enterprise architecture experience is a plus, especially when paired with hands‑on application architecture and delivery execution.
• Excellent written communication. You can make architecture decisions clear, concise, and useful to the teams who need to execute them.