Lead Solutions Architect

GATX; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 112,000 - 178,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Short-term incentive plan

Job summary

GATX is seeking a Lead Solution Architect to drive the design and governance of enterprise application architecture. You will collaborate with the Enterprise Architect to monitor trends, assess technologies, and define adoption strategies that align with GATX’s long-term goals.

You will lead strategy and implementation efforts across projects, balancing business needs with security, scalability, and maintainability. The role reports to the VP of IT Strategy and Technology in Chicago.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, systems analysis or a related field.
• Ten to fifteen years of cross-domain software engineering design and development experience.
• Familiar with Java/J2EE methodologies and software delivery tools.
• Proficient with SQL and relational database concepts.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS/Azure) and containerization (Docker/Kubernetes).
• Experience defining software architecture, design principles, and best practices.

Responsibilities

• Stay current with technologies, tools, processes and platforms and assess their value for GATX.
• Ensure application project designs align with the Enterprise Architecture direction.
• Support vendor selection including proofs of concepts and evaluations.
• Develop strategies to adopt new technologies into the GATX landscape.
• Collaborate with external resources to adopt technologies.
• Translate business requirements into logical technical architecture in project inception.
• Provide guidance for external development resources to ensure reusable, scalable designs.
• Document architecture design and analysis work.
• Define governance principles to guide technology decisions for the enterprise.

Skills

Java/J2EE

Java programming

Spring Framework

Angular

React

Vue

JMS

AWS

Azure

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

CI/CD

SQL

Data architecture

Databricks

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, systems analysis or related field

Master’s degree in computer science or related field (desirable)

Tools

VSCode

Eclipse

ANT

Maven

JUnit

JMeter

Job description

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, GATX Corporation (NYSE: GATX) is an industry leader with 125+ years of success—success that is powered by our people. We are proud of our high-performance culture, hard-working and enthusiastic management team, and beautiful office space in the Willis Tower.

At GATX, we hire the best and offer our employees a dynamic, energetic, collaborative environment to enable them to make an impact from day one. Enjoy the perks and benefits of a global company with the close-knit culture and community of a much smaller one. In the same way we strive to empower our customers to propel the world forward, we are dedicated to providing our people with the tools and resources they need to advance in their careers.

The Lead Solution Architect leads the facilitation, analysis, and solution design activities required to deliver high-quality application architecture and technical solutions. This role collaborates closely with the Enterprise Architect to monitor industry trends, assess emerging technologies, recommend architectural enhancements, and define adoption strategies that support the evolution of the GATX Enterprise Architecture.

The Lead Solution Architect position reports to the VP of IT Strategy and Technology and is responsible for supporting development and evolution of GATX Enterprise Architecture and ensuring application project technical designs are consistent with it. The incumbent will work closely with business users and various IT groups to balance the needs of those groups with security, systems management and the long‑term strategic vision for GATX’s Enterprise Architecture.

Responsibilities:

Strategy and Planning

• Stay abreast of technologies, tools, processes and platforms. Assess value to GATX and recommend if/when to incorporate into GATX technology landscape
• Ensure that application project technical solutions and designs are consistent with the Enterprise Architecture (EA) direction, while taking into consideration short‑term business and project needs
• Support software and services vendor selection efforts including Proof of Concepts and other vendor evaluation activities. Support the evaluation and selection of hardware and software technologies
• Develop strategies and approaches to adopt and incorporate new technologies into GATX technical landscape
• Engage and collaborate with external resources to ensure effective identification and adoption of new technologies into GATX landscape

Implementation

• Actively participate in IT project inception phase to translate business requirements into logical technical architecture. Ensure project technical and functional solutions are aligned with overall business and technical objectives. Strike appropriate balance between strategic architectural goals project requirements, schedule demands, and budget constraints
• Make sound informed decisions regarding the allocation of functional capabilities and information to the appropriate applications, business processes, services and data stores. Strike the appropriate balance between delivery expediency, architectural “purity” and ongoing maintainability
• Provide guidance and oversight for external development resources to ensure that solutions are consistent with GATX enterprise architecture and that they are designed for reusability, maintainability, scalability and performance
• Based on logical technical architecture and business requirements, facilitate identification of technical components, work units and stories required to deliver required capabilities
• Facilitate estimation of effort to implement technical components, work units and stories
• During project delivery, proactively develop/update technical designs and architecture components in advance of upcoming development activities
• Use knowledge gained from project architecture activities as input to the ongoing process of updating/refining the Enterprise Architecture to meet GATX needs
• Document architecture design and analysis work

Process Improvement and Architecture Governance

• Be an advocate of the EA process, its outcome and ongoing results
• Assist with designing the governance activities associated with ensuring EA compliance
• Define the principles that guide technology and architecture decisions for the enterprise

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, systems analysis or a related study. Master’s degree in computer science or related field is desired but not mandatory
• Ten to fifteen years of cross‑domain software engineering design and development experience
• Familiar with Java/J2EE methodologies and software delivery tools
• Possess sound Java programming skills
• Experience with open‑source frameworks such as Spring, Angular, React, Vue and JMS
• Good understanding of the low‑code application development platforms such as Salesforce Lightning
• Good understanding of standard JAVA development tools such as VSCode, Eclipse, ANT, Maven, Cruise Control, JUnit, JMeter, etc.
• Hands‑on experience designing and supporting application delivery processes, including development, code integration, CI/CD pipeline implementation, release management, and multi‑environment deployments
• Experience with application development utilizing Service Oriented Architecture, Microservices architecture
• Proficient with SQL and relational database concepts
• Experience with data architecture
• Familiar with Databricks
• Experience defining software architecture, design principles, and best practices
• Expertise with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS and Azure) and containerization technologies
• Good understanding of containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and infrastructure as code (Terraform, Ansible)
• Familiar with best‑practices for application deployment in hybrid environments (On‑prem/Cloud/Saas)
• Familiar with best practices for application performance monitoring in hybrid environments (On‑prem/Cloud/Saas)
• Good understanding of best practices for application security in hybrid environments (On‑prem/Cloud/Saas)

Salary range:

As of the post date, the salary range for this position is:

$111,800.00 USD - $178,000.00 USD

This range is a reasonable estimate and takes into account several factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including, but not limited to, geographic location, skill set, experience, education, training, internal equity, and other business needs.

This role may be eligible to participate in the Company’s short‑term incentive plan, the details of which will be provided to the applicant upon hire.

Posting Duration:

This posting will remain open until the role is filled.