Principal Platform Architect: Cloud-Native & API Strategy

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

Job summary

Stellarus Technology is seeking a Principal, Application Architecture to lead architecture decisions for major platform capabilities across payer operations, member experiences, and integrations. You will translate strategy into executable designs for distributed systems and cloud-native platforms, while guiding engineers on API contracts, data models, and production tradeoffs.

You will mentor senior engineers, drive build-vs-buy, and work across teams to modernize the platform with emphasis on

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or High School Diploma/GED with 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.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture decisions for major platform capabilities and cross-domain initiatives.
• Own architecture direction and resolve high-impact risks and cross-team design conflicts.
• Drive build-vs-buy, integration consolidation, and modernization decisions for platform capabilities.
• Mentor senior engineers, architects, and technical leads to align on standards.
• Translate platform strategy into clear architecture direction and execution for engineering teams.

Skills

Architecture leadership

Cloud-native

Microservices

API design

OpenAPI

PostgreSQL

Azure

AWS

Education

Bachelor's degree or High School Diploma/GED

Tools

OpenAPI

PostgreSQL

Job description

Stellarus Technology is seeking a Principal, Application Architecture to lead architecture decisions for major platform capabilities across payer operations, member experiences, and integrations. You will translate strategy into executable designs for distributed systems and cloud-native platforms, while guiding engineers on API contracts, data models, and production tradeoffs.

You will mentor senior engineers, drive build-vs-buy, and work across teams to modernize the platform with emphasis on