Principal Architect: Cloud-Native Platforms & Modernization

TEKsystems

Mount Arlington (NJ)

Hybrid

USD 90,000 - 124,000

Full time

5 days ago

Be an early applicant

Get more replies from employers

Send a job-specific resume in minutes.

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision

401(k) Retirement Plan

Life Insurance

Job summary

TEKsystems seeks an experienced Principal Architect to provide technical leadership and architectural direction across products, platforms and shared services. This contract-to-hire role is hybrid from Mount Arlington, NJ, combining strategic vision with hands-on engineering and mentorship.

The Principal Architect will partner with engineering leadership, product stakeholders, data teams and security partners to define target-state architecture, drive modernization, and establish scalable

Qualifications

10+ years of software engineering experience, including ownership of large-scale systems, platforms, and modernization initiatives.
Proven success defining technical strategy across multiple products, teams, and business domains.
Strong hands-on software engineering experience with the ability to design, prototype, review, and implement critical technical solutions.
Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction without formal management authority.
Experience modernizing legacy systems using incremental migration and modernization strategies.
Experience building and scaling internal platforms or shared services utilized by multiple teams.
Strong understanding of distributed systems, API design, integration patterns, and enterprise software architecture.
Experience establishing architecture standards, technical governance frameworks, and design review processes.
Familiarity with observability, reliability engineering, performance monitoring, and operational excellence practices.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and mentorship skills.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

Define and maintain enterprise architecture principles, technology standards, and long-term platform strategy.
Establish target-state architecture and modernization roadmaps across multiple applications, products, and services.
Design and guide the evolution of shared platform capabilities, APIs, data services, and integration frameworks.
Lead modernization initiatives that transform legacy applications into scalable, maintainable, cloud-ready solutions through incremental migration approaches.
Partner with engineering and product leadership to align technical investments with business objectives and strategic priorities.
Create architectural patterns, reference implementations, and technical standards that enable consistent execution across engineering teams.
Design and implement critical platform components, prototypes, and proof-of-concepts to validate architectural approaches.
Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineering leads, architects, and engineers.
Promote best practices related to scalability, security, observability, reliability, performance, and maintainability.
Facilitate architecture reviews and technical decision-making processes while encouraging engineering autonomy.
Drive platform standardization, service reusability, and reduction of technical debt across the organization.
Evaluate emerging technologies and identify opportunities to improve engineering effectiveness and product capabilities.
Support adoption of AI-enabled engineering practices and modern software delivery approaches where appropriate.
Communicate architectural strategy and complex technical decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.