Principal Enterprise API Architect

Guardian Life; Holmdel Township (NJ); Hybrid; USD 152,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Guardian Life seeks a Principal Solution Architect for the Enterprise API Platform in Holmdel, NJ, with hybrid work three days on-site. You will define, scale, and govern enterprise API solutions, establishing patterns and guardrails across multiple teams and platforms.

Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Engineering, Product, Cybersecurity and Platform teams to ensure secure, scalable, and compliant designs that align to business strategy and enable rapid delivery.

Qualifications

• Deep experience designing and governing enterprise-scale solution architectures across multiple teams and domains.
• Experience modernizing API ecosystems, including API management platforms, API lifecycle platforms, gateway patterns, integration patterns, performance and scalability improvements.
• Proven ability to define and drive adoption of architecture standards, frameworks, and reusable patterns.
• Strong understanding of modern technology ecosystems (application architectures, APIs and delivery, integration patterns, AI, cloud platforms, and data flows).
• Experience balancing business priorities, technical trade-offs, and risk at an enterprise level.
• Demonstrated ability to operate at both strategic and hands-on levels when needed.
• Strong experience influencing technical direction across distributed teams without direct reporting authority.
• Ability to bridge business and technology, translating strategy into clear architectural direction.

Responsibilities

• Own and shape enterprise or business solution architecture strategy, standards, and patterns across multiple platforms and domains.
• Define and maintain reference architectures and reusable design patterns (“golden paths”) for solution delivery.
• Establish architectural guardrails that enable scalable, secure, and consistent solution design across teams.
• Owns reusable solution patterns, reference architectures, golden paths, and cross-team design consistency.
• Lead enterprise-level or business-level design decisions for complex, high-impact initiatives that span multiple value streams or business units.
• Provide architectural oversight and guidance across portfolios, ensuring alignment to enterprise standards and long-term strategy.
• Drive API modernization and domain-aligned data models across platform teams.

Skills

Enterprise architecture

API modernization

Security and governance

Stakeholder collaboration

Mentoring engineers

Architecture patterns

Cross-team coordination

Cloud platforms

Job description

Guardian Life seeks a Principal Solution Architect for the Enterprise API Platform in Holmdel, NJ, with hybrid work three days on-site. You will define, scale, and govern enterprise API solutions, establishing patterns and guardrails across multiple teams and platforms.

Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Engineering, Product, Cybersecurity and Platform teams to ensure secure, scalable, and compliant designs that align to business strategy and enable rapid delivery.