Principal Platform Architect

D.R. Horton; Arlington (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental and Vision

401(K)

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Flexible Spending Accounts

Job summary

D.R. Horton, Inc. in Arlington, TX, seeks a Principal Platform Architect to define the data, AI, and digital foundations for the company’s next generation of capabilities.

This hands-on leadership role will establish standards, patterns, and reference architectures used across enterprise teams, aligning strategy with scalable production platforms. You will drive architecture decisions, ensure security and cost discipline, and collaborate with Cybersecurity, Data, AI, and Governance functions to

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years architecture, platform engineering, software engineering, data engineering, cloud, or related experience in enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing enterprise-scale data, AI, integration, software, and hybrid cloud architectures.
• Strong understanding of security, identity, networking, APIs, data platforms, AI/ML platforms, containers, observability, resilience, and FinOps.

Responsibilities

• Define target-state architecture, reference architectures, technology standards, and reusable patterns across data, AI, software, integration, and hybrid infrastructure.
• Lead architecture decisions and tradeoff analysis across build, buy, partner, cloud versus on-premises, performance, scalability, security, interoperability, operational complexity, vendor lock-in, and total cost of ownership.
• Chair or lead architecture reviews for major priority products, platform changes, integrations, and technology selections.
• Translate enterprise strategy into implementable architecture and work hands-on with engineering teams to ensure designs become production standards.
• Partner with Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Data, AI, Software, Governance, and business teams on cross-cutting architecture decisions.
• Represent the function in cross-functional discovery, architecture, governance, operational-readiness, and continuous-improvement activities as appropriate.
• Stay current on relevant data, AI, digital, software, and industry practices and apply new capabilities when they create practical business value.
• Identify, shape, and pilot new opportunities where data, AI, and digital capabilities can create business value, operating with an owner's mindset and a bias toward building, testing, and learning quickly.

Skills

Enterprise-scale architecture

Cloud & hybrid cloud

APIs & integration

Security & FinOps

Leadership & communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or related field

10+ years architecture/platform/engineering experience

Experience designing enterprise-scale data/AI architectures

Strong security, identity, networking, APIs, data platforms, AI/ML platforms, containers

Tools

Azure

Snowflake

Microsoft ecosystem

NVIDIA

Kubernetes

Job description

Description

D.R. Horton, Inc., the largest homebuilder in the U.S., was founded in 1978 and is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. It is engaged in the construction and sale of high-quality homes designed principally for the entry-level and first time move-up markets. The Company also provides mortgage financing and title services for homebuyers through its mortgage and title subsidiaries. Please visit our website at www.drhorton.com for more information.

As the nation's largest homebuilder by volume, D.R. Horton is transforming how it uses data, AI, and digital solutions for the next generation of homebuilding, and we pair the reach of a national enterprise with a culture built on local ownership, practical innovation, and deep business partnerships. Our teams focus on solutions that work in the field and deliver real results, not technology for its own sake. In this role, you'll have a critical opportunity to shape modern capabilities that will influence how the company operates for years to come.

Principal Platform Architect

The Principal Platform Architect will help define the technical foundation for D.R. Horton's next generation of data, AI, and digital capabilities. This is a hands‑on architecture role for someone who wants to establish standards, make consequential technology decisions, build reference patterns, and influence how modern capabilities are designed and scaled across a large enterprise. The ideal candidate can connect strategy to implementation, challenge complexity, preserve technology optionality, and help engineering teams turn architecture into working platforms. This role owns enterprise‑level target architecture and standards; the AI Solution Architect and Integration / API Architect design within those standards at the solution and integration level. Success in this role means a target architecture that engineering teams actually build to, technology decisions that preserve optionality, and complexity and cost that stay in check as capabilities scale.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Define and maintain target-state architecture, reference architectures, technology standards, and reusable patterns across data, AI, software, integration, and hybrid infrastructure
• Lead architecture decisions and tradeoff analysis across build, buy, partner, cloud versus on-premises, performance, scalability, security, interoperability, operational complexity, vendor lock-in, and total cost of ownership
• Chair or lead architecture reviews for major priority products, platform changes, integrations, and technology selections
• Translate enterprise strategy into implementable architecture and work hands‑on with engineering teams to ensure designs become production standards
• Partner with Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Data, AI, Software, Governance, and business teams on cross‑cutting architecture decisions
• Represent the function in cross‑functional discovery, architecture, governance, operational‑readiness, and continuous‑improvement activities as appropriate
• Stay current on relevant data, AI, digital, software, and industry practices and apply new capabilities when they create practical business value
• Identify, shape, and pilot new opportunities where data, AI, and digital capabilities can create business value, operating with an owner's mindset and a bias toward building, testing, and learning quickly
• Conduct all business in a professional and ethical manner
• Ability to travel overnight

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 10+ years of architecture, platform engineering, software engineering, data engineering, cloud, or related experience in enterprise environments
• Demonstrated expertise in designing enterprise-scale data, AI, integration, software, and hybrid cloud architectures
• Strong understanding of security, identity, networking, APIs, data platforms, AI/ML platforms, containers, observability, resilience, and FinOps
• Ability to move between executive architecture discussions and detailed technical design with engineers
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, take ownership, communicate clearly, and deliver results in an evolving environment
• Ability to build trusted relationships across the organization, balancing enterprise standards with business needs and operating realities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Azure, Snowflake, Microsoft ecosystem, NVIDIA and on-premises or private AI inference (vLLM/NIM, open-weight models), AI gateways, model routing and provider abstraction, MCP (Model Context Protocol), APIs, Kubernetes, open data formats, semantic layers and data contracts, or comparable technologies is preferred
• Experience in homebuilding, real estate, construction, mortgage, title, land development, sales, purchasing, finance, customer care, or another distributed operating business is a plus
• Experience working in a large enterprise with complex enterprise environments is preferred
• Experience founding, incubating, or building new products, capabilities, or businesses from the ground up is a plus

Come join a winning team with a Fortune 500 company!

We are growing fast and are looking for enthusiastic attitudes and team players to join our success. We offer an excellent benefits package including:

• Medical, Dental and Vision
• 401(K)
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Flex Spending Accounts
• Life & Disability Insurance
• Vacation, Sick, Personal Time and Company Holidays
• Multiple Voluntary and Company provided Benefits

Build YOUR future with D.R. Horton, America’s Builder. #WeBuildPeopleToo